Transgender rights displaced gay rights as the central culture-war front.

Evidence

With same-sex marriage legalized and gay and lesbian representation normalized in media, the cultural spotlight turned to transgender rights. Caitlyn Jenner’s 2015 transition gave the movement early momentum, and terms like cisgender, sex assigned at birth, gender expression, and deadnaming reached the mainstream discourse. A corporate convention emerged in which people were encouraged to introduce themselves with their pronouns—for example, she/her, they/them. Meanwhile, conservatives vilified transgender people, stoking fears about “biological males” competing in women’s sports and using public restrooms. — W. David Marx, Blank Space, 464

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to Marx’s broader ‘omnivore monoculture’ thesis — mainstream normalization of one identity category makes the next category the culture-war battleground.