Throughout LGBTQ history, transgender people has always been there.

But there is a difference between us transgender people and the rest of our queer family.

We have been raped more.

We have been attacked more.

We have been kicked out of our families more.

We have been denied basic health coverage more.

We have been diagnosed with HIV/AIDS more.

We have had to turn to sex work more.

We have been discriminated against even worse than the rest of our queer family.

And through this all, we have still worked hard to fight for LGBTQ rights, right besides all of our Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Queer allies. We lead the Stonewall Riots, we fought Prop. 8, DOMA and we fought for same sex marriage!

After the victories of same sex marriage, the rest of the community has declared victory and closed shop, and while it is an amazing victory, it is not really a victory for us transgender people. We have been left out without any of our rights addressed, and now there are even movements to remove the T from LGBTQ because the transgender community is seen as an anchor holding back everyone else.

So no more, the transgender community is standing for ourselves and fighting for our own rights. We are fighting the various public accommodation bills around the country. We are educating the rest of the world. We are pulling ourselves up, with or without the help of everyone else. And while we are doing so, we are also bringing up our other marginalized families. We are fighting for the rights of our people of color, disabled, intersexed, gender queer, immigrant families.

My name is Sophia Lee.

I am a Software Developer at Microsoft.

I am an Immigrant.

I am Korean American.

I am a Person of Color.

And I am a Transgender Woman.

I will not be a silent T.