For many of us, Pride is the happiest time of the year. It’s an electric month or weekend – depending on where you live – that affords us the opportunity to be ourselves in a heightened way. The sun shines a little brighter, and old Juanga and Chavela songs start sounding extra melodic this time of year. Of course, Pride is more than just about decadence and frivolity, but the anticipation for boozy street parties and texts punctuated with rainbow emojis are part of an indefinable seasonal euphoria that sweeps through the community.

There is no denying the LGBTQIA+ community faces plenty of pressing challenges, from shady Supreme Court rulings on “religious freedom” to the violence trans women face on the streets. And of course, there’s every waking day the queer community spends living under Donald Trump’s greasy, nauseating administration.

Pride Month is about visibility, about honoring our fallen brothers and sisters, and remembering the heroes that fought for us at Stonewall, Pulse, and during the AIDS crisis. It’s a time to revisit our history, exuberant and cruel as it may be, and look it in the eye so we can share our stories of hope and resistance with the next generation.

This year we’ve put together a list of trailblazing queer and trans artists breaking boundaries and finding success on their own terms. There has always been queer and trans talent in our midst, but a decade ago we might have been hard-pressed to put together a list this far-reaching and diverse. Necessary conversations on queerness and trans rights are finally happening in mainstream spaces, and by supporting the art and entrepreneurs of our community, we can keep pushing the movement forward.