In the wake of numerous “bathroom laws” barring transgender Americans from using the restrooms matching their gender identity, President Obama issued a statement to public school administrators in the U.S. directing them to allow transgender students to use facilities matching their gender identity. This is a victory for the LGBT community.

Or is it?

To answer that question, we must break down “LGBT” -- lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender. Though it has expanded since its origin, LGBT remains the go-to umbrella for the so-called “queer” (those who identify as non-conventional) community.

But within the four-letter acronym are two subsets: sexuality and a gender identity. And despite being bundled into one acronym, the two are vastly different. To be lesbian, gay, or bisexual is to express a sexual orientation, while to be transgender is to express a gender identity. In plain terms, sexual orientation is a phenomenon involving attraction to a specific sex (or all sexes). Gender identity, on the other hand, is much more complex, involving physical and emotional and social and physiological dimensions.

It makes sense historically to group both of these subsets together. In 1969, the Stonewall riots were led by “queer” people, which included both LGB and T people. At the time, these brave individuals worked together to show the world that their “divergent” lifestyles weren’t so divergent after all. Together, they sparked the LGBT civil rights movement which continues through the present day.

But the issue arises when we trace the development of that LGBT civil rights movement and find that it in itself is divergent.

When we look at the progress that has been made for LGB people, there is so much to celebrate. Less than 50 years ago, there were laws in this nation that criminalized “homosexual acts” in the privacy of one’s home. Since then, not only have these sodomy laws been struck down, but the LGB population can serve openly in the military, freely marry someone of the same sex, and enjoy the security of being recognized as valid (if not accepted and embraced) by the general public. The final frontier for the LGB population is nuance: preventing (infrequent) discrimination; diminishing stigma; incorporating inclusive sex-ed classes; among other issues of such magnitude. So much has advanced socially and legally for the LGB population since Stonewall.

All of this progress for the LGB community begs the question: Where does the T come in?

Since Stonewall, little in the way of progress has been made to advance equality for transgender Americans. The transgender population today still struggles to convince the average American of their basic existence, let alone advance legal and social equality. If we can’t convince people that being transgender is even valid, then how can we convince people that they deserve to be treated with respect and dignity in the eyes of the law?

It leads us to question the celebrations of how far the LGBT rights movement has come. How much progress has really been made? Well, a tremendous amount for lesbian, gay, and bisexual Americans who have gained most of the legal and social equality demanded in the past 50 years. But how can we really say that the LGBT civil rights movement has been successful when transgender people still aren’t even recognized as valid in the eyes much of the law and even more of the public?

It leads us to question whether it is even justifiable to keep calling it the LGBT community, or if we should split the movement into two: one for sexual orientation and one for gender identity.

Presently, grouping both into one community, one movement, simply invalidates the struggles still faced by only the transgender community. When we see headlines like “Supreme Court Ruling on Same-Sex Marriage a Victory for the LGBT Community,” we are mislabeling. It isn’t a victory for the LGBT community, but for the LGB community. While lesbians, gays, and bisexuals celebrated their victory on the right to marry nearly a year ago, transgender people were (and are still) fighting for the basic right to exist.

That’s a problem. Part of a community seeking to include people seen as “different,” the LGBT civil rights movement does a poor job including the transgender population when they celebrate their “victories.” It is unjust to claim victory for a group when only part of that group sees the benefits of that victory.

Given the social and legal atmosphere in the U.S., and the disparity between the progress the LGB and T communities have made, it is only just to separate these movements. If the transgender community is allowed to make its case independently, it will be taken more seriously.

At the moment, most Americans see the LGBT population as equal, but they only connote lesbians, gays, and bisexuals to be part of that population. The transgender community is implicitly left out because they lack a medium of their own to say they’re not equal.

It only makes sense to give transgender people their own medium to make their case to the people. It is unjust to force them to use the same medium used by the LGB population, which has already advanced well beyond the struggle for basic existence faced by the transgender population.

Let’s allow the transgender community to start advancing their rights in a meaningful and dignified way, and allow the LGB community to continue their progress independently.

Let’s allow the LGBT civil rights movement to split into two separate movements -- one for sexual orientation and one for gender identity.