At its core, being transgender means that a person's gender identity—their internal sense of being male, female, or another gender—does not align with the sex they were assigned at birth.
From the underground balls of Harlem in the 1980s (documented in Paris is Burning ) to the mainstream catwalks of today, trans women of color created voguing, "realness," and the ballroom culture lexicon. Words like "shade," "reading," "slay," and "banjee" entered global LGBTQ vernacular directly from trans and gender-nonconforming communities of color. Without the trans community, there is no RuPaul—though RuPaul himself has had a complicated history with trans identity, illustrating the ongoing dialogue. Shemale - Trans 500 - Juliette Stray - Throat F...