100+ Inspirational Transgender Quotes to Empower and Uplift

"Whoever you say you are that day, just be that person. Whatever that looks like for you, go with it and surround yourself, at least, with people that are going to be open to that and supportive of that as you’re going through those changes."

- Marquise Vilsón Balenciaga

"I will center and take care of myself. I am the priority."

- Gia Love

"There’s power in naming yourself, in proclaiming to the world that this is who you are. Wielding this power is often a difficult step for many transgender people because it’s also a very visible one."

- Janet Mock

"We should all feel free to be who we want to be."

- Ts Madison

"Nature made a mistake, which I have corrected."

- Christine Jorgensen

"How many years has it taken people to realize that we are all brothers and sisters and human beings in the human race? I mean how many years does it take people to see that? We’re all in this rat race together!"

- Marsha P. Johnson

"I live proudly in a body of my own design. I defend my right to be complex."

- Leslie Feinberg

"When I was younger, I wish I would have been told more often that I was right and nothing was wrong with me, that I was deserving of everything this world has to offer, and that my visions for my future were worthy of pursuit."

- Janet Mock

"I love that I am trans. And I love that I am queer. And the more I hold myself close and fully embrace who I am, the more I dream, the more my heart grows and the more I thrive."

- Elliot Page

"I want to make sure that people understand that, behind this national conversation around transgender rights, there are real people who hurt when they're mocked, who hurt when they're discriminated against, and who just want to be treated with dignity and respect."

- Sarah McBride

"Being transgender isn't a medical transition. It's a process of learning to love yourself for who you are."

- Jazz Jennings

"The more I hold myself close and fully embrace who I am, the more I thrive."

- Elliot Page

"We have to be visible. We are not ashamed of who we are."

- Sylvia Rivera

"I want it to be that transgender is normal. Let us live our lives. Let us be happy. The world will be a better place when we have that freedom. I think I'm going to be alive to see it."

- Jazz Jennings

"Trans people are extraordinary, strong, intelligent, persistent and resilient. We have to be. And we will not stand for the picking and choosing of rights. We still have hope."

- Sage Grace Dolan-Sandrino

"We are not what other people say we are. We are who we know ourselves to be, and we are what we love. That’s okay."

- Laverne Cox

"I think what you're seeing is a profound recognition on the part of the American people that gays and lesbians and transgender persons are our brothers, our sisters, our children, our cousins, our friends, our co-workers, and that they've got to be treated like every other American. And I think that principle will win out."

- Barack Obama

"Always keep looking for authentic ways to belong. Find the people who will celebrate and uplift every aspect of your beautiful self. You're worth it!"

- Sophie Labelle

"Gender is a galaxy! You’re a miraculous embodiment of belonging, possibility and wonder! There’s nobody like you in the universe—that’s exactly why you belong. (Trust your star stuff.)"

- samantha rise

"We live in a world that has always been biologically and culturally sex/gender diverse. Rise up and celebrate this birthright."

- Jenn Burleton

"Instead of 'I’ve always been this way,' I think: 'I have always been becoming who I am right now.'"

- Johnny Blazes

"Sharing yourself, your feelings and your dreams is a gift of connection. Surround yourself with people who want to exchange gifts."

- Alex Gino

"How we present ourselves is language, reclamation, magic, joy, and power. Wear whatever you want. Break all the rules. Be all the genders."

- Addie Tsai

"Don’t wait until tomorrow to make your art. Be creative with your whole self, right now."

- SJ Sindu

"After 25 years, the only regret I have about transitioning is that I couldn’t live my truth as soon as I knew it — age 4."

- Scott Turner Schofield

"When you show up as your authentic self, whatever that may be, you allow others to do the same, creating the world we all deserve."

- Shanna Katz Kattari

"When we find each other, celebrate, honor one another and are held in the center of trans community, it frees us to live joyfully!"

- Julia Terry

"The world is so much Queerer than I was raised to believe! My transition has given me everything the world said I would lose."

- Dresden Graff

"Gender is not what people look like to other people; it is what we know ourselves to be. No one else should be able to tell you who you are; that’s for you to decide…Man and woman are two of many – stars in a constellation that do not compete but amplify one another’s shine."

- Alok Vaid Menon

"Nature chooses who will be transgender; individuals don't choose this."

- Mercedes Ruehl

"Donald Trump, Mike Pence, and Jeff Sessions are using their powers and offices to make life as difficult as possible for everyone from the transgender worker to the gay widower to the queer undocumented immigrant. These efforts are not about bathrooms or religious freedom; they're about driving LGBTQ people out of public life."

- Sarah McBride

"Being transgender, like being gay, tall, short, white, black, male, or female, is another part of the human condition that makes each individual unique, and something over which we have no control. We are who we are in the deepest recesses of our minds, hearts and identities."

- Linda Thompson

"HB2 discriminates against fellow citizens because of who they are. This law directly challenges the legitimacy of the identity of transgender persons and then compels them to deny it every time they use a public restroom."

- Ted Olson

"The struggle isn't just about being straight or gay or transgender - it's a human struggle. That's always really been my kind of starting point: If you're out there and you're odd, come over to my house."

- Boy George

"I wanted people not to care about whether you were gay, straight, black, white, transgender, whatever it may be... That being said, there's more work to be done... I still want to change the world, absolutely."

- Boy George

"I think this is the most exciting time to be alive right now. We have a black president. There are transgender movies and media out there now. Gay characters are playing non-stereotypical versions of themselves. I feel like as a society, or in television at least, we're rising up. Even in society we're rising up."

- Vincent Rodriguez III

"Between 'Orange' with Laverne, the show 'Transparent,' and Caitlyn Jenner, obviously we're in the middle of something enormous - a transgender movement. I'm just proud to be alive during this massive shift in the world."

- Ruby Rose

"When I realised I was transgender I was so afraid of what my transition would do to everyone else in my life and how they would react to it and would I be rejected?"

- Chaz Bono

"For me, it was never a question of whether or not I was transgender. It was a question of what I'd be able to handle transitioning and having to do it in the public eye. One of the issues that was hard for me to overcome was the fear of that."

- Chaz Bono

"Let's be under no illusions: There are attacks on, for example, transgender Americans from the Oval Office, picking on troops - people willing to lay down their lives for this country - not to mention teenagers in our high schools. So we've got to end the war on trans Americans."

- Pete Buttigieg

"I don't think we should be discriminating against anyone. Transgender people are people and deserve the best we can do for them."

- Orrin Hatch

"Every single lesbian and transgender woman is a woman."

- Patricia Arquette

"When you become the image of your own imagination, it’s the most powerful thing you could ever do."

- RuPaul

"I genuinely hope that… anti-trans folks someday experience the joy and liberation of being comfortable in your own skin enough to know that the liberation of others is no threat to you. Equality is not a pie; there is more than enough for everyone."

- Charlotte Clymer

"There isn’t a trans moment….It’s just a presence where there was an absence. We deserve so much more."

- Hari Nef

"Each step forwards to become the person we are makes it harder to go backwards, to return to the shadowy, private world of closed doors and shuttered windows. The experience, the awakening of one’s true self, after being so long suppressed, can never be adequately explained with language."

- Lili Elbe

"Let's destroy all hierarchies and create the space for gender, sexual, social and political self-determination for everyone."

- Mattilda Bernstein Sycamore

"We have the power to create our own reality. Dream it, Think It, Say It, Do It."

- Twiggy Pucci Garçon

"There’s power in being seen. By living authentically and fully as ourselves, we’re also ensuring that those who need to see someone like us, can."

- Andy Duran

"You aren’t hard to love (your existence is a blessing). Your pronouns (or if you don’t use them) aren’t a burden. You’re a dream fulfilled."

- Julián Jamaica Soto

"I want all my Queer and Trans siblings to remember that we are not alone. We never have been and we never will be."

- James Dillon III

"Tell your stories. Often and loudly. We need to hear you, and you need to be heard. Tell your stories. Someone is listening. I promise."

- Tony Amato

"Prioritizing your own mental health and safety ensure those who experience you in relationship will have a positive impact on their wellbeing and mental health."

- Brielle

"Experiencing the sacred bond and devotion of queer TGI kinship and the warmth that comes from existence as a celebration is nothing short of holy."

- Rommy Torrico

"I want back the years I worried about my own authenticity. Turns out, confidently being yourself makes you a source of strength for other people"

- Everett Maroon

"There's a tremendous amount of power in community and in defiant joy. Keep your chin up, find people who get you, have each other’s backs."

- Fureigh

"So many of us feel like we need permission to do things we want or need. So, you have my permission. Keep going."

- Isaiah Roby

"Self-worth shall be defined by the individual seeking. Keep an open mind, be kind, and always make time for yourself."

- Cameron Loomis

"No matter who you are or what you do in the world, you make a difference every single day."

- Simon

"Life is about human connection achieved through small acts of kindness and compassion. I remember this through life's challenges, and I keep those connections alive"

- Mason Caminiti

"You are who you are. No one can tell you who you are but you. Whoever you know yourself to be, you are right."

- Maybe Burke

"I was the mystery of an anatomy, a question asked but not answered."

- Lee Mokobe

"The most radical thing that any of us can do is to stop projecting our beliefs about gender onto other people’s behaviors and bodies."

- Julia Serano

"There’s magic in being seen by people who understand—it gives you permission to keep going."

- Alok Vaid Menon

"But when you hear the same stories over and over again, from people from all over the world, you start realizing that transgender is not an anomaly. It’s a part of the spectrum of people’s realities. Then you stop wondering about the cause and you start realizing it’s a part of reality."

- Susan Kuklin

"As long as we are living in a culture where one has to prove their womanhood or manhood, we are not living in a free culture."

- Laverne Cox

"Your sexuality or gender is as natural as your eye color, and you should never be ashamed of it."

- Juno Dawson

"We are pitted against each other in order to keep us from seeing each other as allies. Genuine bonds of solidarity can be forged between people who respect each other’s differences and are willing to fight their enemy together. We are the class that does the work of the world, and can revolutionize it. We can win true liberation."

- Leslie Feinberg

"As I pondered a pronoun change, I began to think of gender less as a scale and more as a landscape. Some people are born in the mountains, while others are born by the sea. Some people are happy to live in the place they were born, while others must make a journey to reach the climate in which they can flourish and grow. Between the ocean and the mountains is a wild forest. That is where I want to make my home."

- Maia Kobabe

"Despite the constant hatred we face as the LGBTQ+ community, we must stand united and strong in spreading our message of love."

- Jazz Jennings

"It is revolutionary for any trans person to choose to be seen and visible in a world that tells us we should not exist."

- Laverne Cox

"We deserve to experience love fully, equally, without shame, and without compromise."

- Elliot Page

"Gender is between your ears and not between your legs."

- Chaz Bono

"Being transgender is not just a medical transition. It’s discovering who you are, living your live authentically, loving yourself, and spreading that love towards other people and accepting one another, no matter the difference."

- Jazz Jennings

"People changed lots of other personal things all the time. They dyed their hair and dieted themselves to near death. They took steroids to build muscles and got breast implants and nose jobs so they'd resemble their favorite movie stars. They changed names and majors and jobs and husbands and wives. They changed religions and political parties. They moved across the country or the world — even changed nationalities. Why was gender the one sacred thing we weren’t supposed to change? Who made that rule?"

- Ellen Wittlinger

"There’s nothing wrong with you. There’s a lot wrong with the world you live in."

- Chris Colfer

"Never stop believing in yourself. You had it all along."

- Karamo Brown

"All human beings deserve equal treatment, no matter their gender identity or sexuality."

- Andreja Pejic

"I once worried that there was no place for trans people like me to participate in any way in our politics. Since coming out, though, I’ve seen that change is possible and I’ve learned that the only things that are truly impossible are the things we don’t try. You can run, you can win and you can serve."

- Sarah McBride

"Putting yourself out there is hard, but it’s so worth it. I don’t think anyone who has ever spoken out, or stood up or had a brave moment, has regretted it. It’s empowering and confidence-building and inspiring. Not only to other people, but to yourself."

- Megan Rapinoe

"I want to make sure that any young person or anyone really who is looking up to me—who sees a glimpse of I am as a person—that they see no shame, that they see pride, and that I’m truly unabashed about the person that I am."

- Samira Wiley

"There’s no right or wrong way to be gay. No right or wrong way to come out. It’s your journey, do it the way you wanna do it."

- Tan France

"There's a gender in your brain and a gender in your body. For 99 percent of people, those things are in alignment. For transgender people, they're mismatched. That's all it is. It's not complicated, it's not a neurosis. It's a mix-up. It's a birth defect, like a cleft palate."

- Chaz Bono

"Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender teens are bullied and ostracized in epidemic proportions. It's disgusting, and it must change."

- Monica Raymund

"When gay, lesbian and bisexual individuals come out, their friends and families, for the most part, understand what it feels like to love and to lust. Cisgender people have more of a challenge when it comes to transgender identities. I discovered that analogy of homesickness in conversations with my parents, in trying to bridge that empathy divide."

- Sarah McBride

"I've always been transgender, and I always will be. Having said that, my spirit is feminine. If you had to divide humanity into two groups, I would sit with the women."

- Anohni

"I thought, transgender people are much worse off than I am. That's why they're willing to risk everything to be who they are. But the older I got, the harder it got to stay in my body."

- Chaz Bono

"My name is Sarah McBride, and I am a proud transgender American."

- Sarah McBride

"You know, gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender - people are people."

- Judith Light

"Historically, our culture has not made room for the nuances of humanity. People have not been kept safe: women, people of colour, queer people, transgender people."

- Indya Moore

"To be fully seen by somebody, then, and be loved anyhow – this is a human offering that can border on miraculous."

- Elizabeth Gilbert

"I want to make a difference in the world by speaking out and spreading hopeful messages. I want to send the message of ‘you are not alone and you are safe’ to other transgender kids."

- Rebekah Bruesehoff

"I want to change the world by making it much more friendly for trans people."

- Trinity Neal

"The best thing about being a girl is, now I don’t have to pretend to be a boy."

- Avery Jackson

"Darling, I want my gay rights now."

- Marsha P. Johnson

"It takes courage to grow up and become who you really are."

- E.E. Cummings

"To be yourself is truly a revolutionary act. And I think more and more people should try it, because it’s gotten me a pretty cool life."

- Lena Waithe

"Never allow yourself to be made a victim. Accept no one’s definition of your life; define yourself."

- Harvey Fierstein

"The single best thing about coming out of the closet is that nobody can insult you by telling you what you’ve just told them."

- Rachel Maddow

"How can people change their minds about us if they don’t know who we are?"

- Harvey Milk

"Personally, coming out was one of the most important things I’ve ever done, lifting from my shoulders the millstone of lies that I hadn’t even realized I was carrying."

- Sir Ian McKellen

"Owning our story and loving ourselves through that process is the bravest thing we’ll ever do."

- Brené Brown

"Everyone has people in their lives that are gay, lesbian or transgender or bisexual. They may not want to admit it, but I guarantee they know somebody."

- Billie Jean King

"Self-love means that I have a relationship with myself built on trust and loyalty. I trust myself to have my own back, so my allegiance is to the voice within."

- Glennon Doyle

"Do I think I'm transgender? Yes, 1000 percent! Do I identify as my natural born gender? 1000 percent!"

- Trisha Paytas

"I encourage everyone struggling to run on pure spite for the status quo. We need numbers, and we can do it together."

- Quin Pox

"If public figures came out of the closet, then the LGBT kids who saw them on TV would feel safe before they even knew why they felt dangerous. Maybe if enough people came out of the closet, gay kids would never feel dangerous. Maybe we could have a world where we could all just live. We may not all agree, but why can’t we just all live?"

- Margaret Cho

"We have to be visible. We should not be ashamed of who we are."

- Marsha P. Johnson

"If I wait for someone else to validate my existence, it will mean that I’m shortchanging myself."

- Zanele Muholi

"Military members understand that the focus is on completing the mission. We don't care if you are tall or short; have dark skin or pale skin or freckles; or are gay, straight, or transgender."

- Ted Lieu

"The transgender bathroom thing - it's just so obvious that people are scared of what they don't understand. It's like, 'I don't want to deal with the fact that some people might have been born in the wrong body.'"

- Nikki Glaser

"Let’s destroy all hierarchies and create the space for gender, sexual, social and political self-determination for everyone."

- Mattilda Bernstein Sycamore

"The movement for justice needs every skill and ability, including yours. For everyone making a stirring speech, there’s someone who remembered to change the megaphone batteries."

- S. Bear Bergman

"I believe marriage equality is a simple change that sends a powerful message. It is a chance for us to say, as a nation, to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and intersex Australians: your love is equal under the law."

- Bill Shorten

"It takes no compromise to give people their rights… It takes no political deal to give people freedom."

- Harvey Milk

"Being a human is hard work, but it's easier to carry that load together. Keep showing up and extending grace for yourself and others."

- Mx. Pucks A'Plenty

"Those who have survived the unthinkable are also those who know how to create a better world – because it’s ended for us before."

- Kai Cheng Thom

"My femininity makes me a better man."

- Mars Wright

"A lot of parents never speak to their transgender kids again; that's not the case in my family."

- Chaz Bono

"I have a transgender nephew on my father's side of the family. So I'm extremely aware of how important it is to support and advocate for young people who are experiencing that in their lives."

- Emma Walton Hamilton

"Obviously the transgender movement has not progressed in the way that the gay and lesbian movement has. But I'm an activist - that's just the kind of person I am."

- Chaz Bono

"On 'Glee,' we often tackle the tough topics that young people face - in fact, my recurring character, Wade 'Unique' Adams, is a transgender teenager who finds herself navigating a lot of the same problems many young people face around the globe."

- Alex Newell

"I kind of cheer the presence of any gay characters at all - I think the more we can saturate television with any gay character or lesbian character or transgender character, I think that's a really great thing. We're kind of getting past the fact that they're the punchline or that they're the novelty."

- Jesse Tyler Ferguson

"For many older Americans who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender, a lifetime of discrimination has undermined their right to a retirement with dignity."

- Ted Deutch

"I have had a small handful of truly blatantly discriminatory experiences for being transgender, but the vast majority are simply the differences between being a man versus being a woman in science and business."

- Vivienne Ming

"With the removal of questions about gayness and transgender status in the Census, we really stand to lose a lot of the progress that has been made, and certainly not to make further progress. In order to have a fair system, you need a system you can measure."

- Andrew Solomon

"We’re all born naked, and the rest is drag."

- RuPaul

"It is time that we all see gender as a spectrum instead of two sets of opposing ideals."

- Emma Watson

"Obviously, there is much similarity among the challenges of transgender people and all women - from health care to harassment to discrimination in the workplace."

- Gloria Steinem

"I am very proud of the role I played in getting legal equality for people who are lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender, and in helping get rid of the prejudice by being visible about it, helping to block the conviction of Bill Clinton of impeachment."

- Barney Frank

"I don't want to be just that transgender performer or that transgender musical artist. I want to create songs and art and have those be judged on their merit alone."

- Laura Jane Grace

"It took me about a year to understand and to feel the support from the transgender community."

- Fallon Fox

"There will not be a magic day when we wake up and it’s now okay to express ourselves publicly. We make that day by doing things publicly until it’s simply the way things are."

- Tammy Baldwin

"We cannot be antiracist if we are homophobic or transphobic… All Black lives include those of poor transgender Black women, perhaps the most violated and oppressed of all the Black intersectional groups."

- Ibram X. Kendi

"It is important and vital is to keep that education for critical consciousness around intersectionalities, so that people are able to not focus on one thing and blame one group, but be able to look holistically at the way intersectionality informs all of us: whiteness, gender, sexual preferences, etc. Only then can we have a realistic handle on the political and cultural world we live within."

- Bell Hooks

"I believe that marriage isn’t between a man and a woman, but between love and love."

- Frank Ocean

"Do not allow people to dim your shine because they are blinded. Tell them to put on some sunglasses, because we were born this way."

- Lady Gaga

"The more I’ve been able to learn about gay rights and equal pay and gender equity and racial inequality, the more that it all intersects. You can’t really pick it apart. It’s all intertwined."

- Megan Rapinoe

"I am a huge fan of the transgender community."

- Kesha

"Our society needs to recognize the unstoppable momentum toward unequivocal civil equality for every gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender citizen of this country."

- Zachary Quinto

"Of course, attitudes change, but only because brave people like Ellen [DeGeneres] jump into the fire to make them change. And if I hadn’t seen her on TV, I would have thought, ‘I could never be on TV. They don’t let LGBT people on TV.’ And more than that, I would have gone on thinking that I was an alien and that I maybe didn’t even have a right to be here."

- Kate McKinnon

"When I dare to be powerful, to use my strength in the service of my vision, then it becomes less and less important whether I am afraid."

- Audre Lorde

"I remember in 2004, I had three gorgeous transgender models on the runway. That was my strength, in a way. That I did what I thought was gonna work, and I never paid attention to the industry's rules."

- Betsey Johnson

"Openness may not completely disarm prejudice, but it’s a good place to start."

- Jason Collins

"I always enjoyed doing transgender songs."

- Patti Smith

"At the beginning of each year, we have conceptual meetings. How are we going to challenge ourselves this year? So we suggested a transsexual or transgender. And to be honest, I am shocked they let us do it."

- Jai Rodriguez

"Church can be feeling pleasure, when the world would have you feel none, church can be your body, under the heat of the stars."

- Emma Loomis-Amrhein

"I am a transgender identified person."

- Jinkx Monsoon

"Love takes off the masks we fear we cannot live without and know we cannot live within."

- James Baldwin

"People used to think I was a monster. And for a long time, I believed them. But after a while, you learn to ignore the names that people call you and you just trust who you are."

- Shrek