Trans women have consistently been left without credit for their input on the feminist movement. They have been an unseen, but integral part of this movement. Many iconic trans women such as Christine Jorgensen, Marsha P. Johnson, Sylbia Rivera and many others have fought for their own rights and paved the way for broader conversation around gender identity, bodily autonomy, and reproductive rights.  

Marsha P. Johnson, along with others, has been credited with starting the Stonewall Uprising in 1969. This protest is considered the start of the modern LGBTQ+ rights movement. It began on the 28th June 1969 when a police raid on a gay bar in New York City was protested by bar patrons and neighbourhood residents who had also been subjected to similar police harassment. This escalated to six days of protest.  

She has continued with her activist work, co-founding the Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries (STAR) House with Sylvia Rivera. This was the first LGBTQ+ youth shelter in the US.  

Sylvia Rivera has also been an incredible activist for trans rights, queer rights, and women’s rights. She was at the Stonewall Uprising and has been credited as one of the first to confront the police. She created the STAR house with Johnson, and has continued to battle for transgender people, and against systemic poverty, racism, homophobia, and gender discrimination.  

Lile Elbe- born 1882, was also an influential trans woman in history. She was the first to have gender confirmation surgery in Denmark and has written about the experience in her autobiography “Man into Woman”. She died just a year after her surgery, after an attempt to give her a transplanted uterus.  

Trans women have consistently been left unappreciated when reflecting on feminist history. Many influential trans women have fought and risked their lives for their cause. They have not only fought for their rights, but also the rights of other LGBTQ+ people, and cis women.