Historically, gay bars and lesbian land communities provided safety. But as the transgender community gained visibility, questions arose: Are trans women welcome in women’s spaces? Are trans men welcome in men’s spaces? The resolution within progressive LGBTQ culture has largely settled on inclusivity. Yet, the debate reveals how deeply cisnormativity (the assumption that all people are cisgender) is ingrained, even within queer circles.
Leo arrived early, clutching a worn leather notebook. He’d been coming to The Foxhole for six months, ever since he’d moved to the city from a small town where the only other queer person he knew was his cousin, who had since moved to Portland. Here, he’d found a family of misfits—elderly lesbians who played competitive bridge in the corner, a pack of non-binary artists who argued about the ethics of glitter, and a rotating cast of drag kings and queens who treated the single bathroom mirror like sacred ground. shemale tube solo patched