A mature discussion of the relationship must acknowledge that it is not always harmonious. Within LGBTQ culture, there have been painful schisms.

Johnson, a self-identified gay transvestite and sex worker, and Rivera, a Latina trans woman, fought relentlessly against police brutality. In the years following Stonewall, they founded , a shelter for homeless LGBTQ youth, specifically trans youth, who were rejected by both their biological families and, tragically, sometimes by the mainstream gay establishment.