Modern LGBTQ culture celebrates authenticity over assimilation. While early gay movements wanted to prove that gay people were "just like everyone else," the trans community—especially trans women of color—has argued that respectability politics are a trap. The brilliance of ballroom culture (documented in Paris Is Burning ), founded largely by Black and Latina trans women, created an entire aesthetic and social system that celebrated the very things mainstream society despised: flamboyance, poverty, and defiant self-creation. This legacy lives on in voguing, slang (like "shade," "realness," and "yas"), and the entire concept of "choosing your own label."

"Transgender" is an umbrella term for individuals whose gender identity—their internal sense of being male, female, or another gender—differs from the sex they were assigned at birth. HRC | Human Rights Campaign Diverse Identities:

When discussing the term "babe shemale," consider the following: