Three years ago, the outlook for transgender people in America was optimistic: Time Magazine announced the “Transgender Tipping Point” in May of 2014, as pop culture milestones and minor legal victories were falling into place at a pace that suggested more substantial victories would not be far behind.

But by 2015, the anti-transgender backlash had already begun – and today, the optimism of 2014 seems like a distant dream. The anti-LGBT groups who first put transgender people in the state-level crosshairs now hold sway in the White House, and they have been using their power to make life hell for a community that was already living in legal purgatory. But even these dire circumstances, transgender people have made genuine gains, both cultural and political. The Trump administration’s actions may have delayed full equality, but the progress made in 2017 proves that it won’t be out of reach for long .

Here are the five best and worst moments of a year that saw the transgender community persisting under unprecedented political pressure.