One warm June night in 1969, the lights flared on, and the music cut out. The police had arrived for another raid. Usually, the patrons would line up quietly, accepting the harassment as the price of their existence. But that night, the atmosphere shifted. "I've had enough," Marsha whispered, her voice steady.
Studies consistently report high levels of stigma and victimization, noting that trans individuals are at higher risk for hate crimes than the general public [32].
: While trans people have always been present, the modern "transgender" label gained prominence in the 1960s, popularized by activists like Virginia Prince who distinguished sex from gender.