The Trans Movement Is Failing Where the Gay-Rights Movement Succeeded

NRPLUS MEMBER ARTICLE

T
he transgender and gay-rights movements are often lumped together — including in the very acronym LGBT — so many observers assume that the transgender cause will follow a similar trajectory. But there’s a reason why transgender activists won’t experience the level of rapid success that gay-rights activists enjoyed over the past several decades.

Broad acceptance of gay marriage represented one of the most extraordinary shifts of public opinion on a major social issue in American history. In 1996, the Defense of Marriage Act sailed through both chambers of Congress and was signed into law by Bill Clinton. In 2004, the year …