However, contemporary LGBTQ culture has largely (though not universally) moved past this gatekeeping. The understanding today is that the fight for sexual orientation rights and gender identity rights are two branches of the same tree: the right to self-determination, bodily autonomy, and freedom from coercive social norms. When a lesbian is told she "looks like a man," or a gay man is called "effeminate," the violence is rooted in the same gender-policing that harms trans people. Thus, the trans struggle is inseparable from the queer struggle.

The community is not a monolith. Experiences are shaped by the overlap of gender and orientation with race, disability, and class Chosen Family: