This article presents a case study of trans activism based on qualitative data in Indonesia and Iran, drawing on the existing public discourses as well as discourses and practices among activists. The article consolidates the work of Nancy Fraser on the politics of recognition, while it uses Judith Butler’s ideas on intelligible and unintelligible subjects to argue how the workings of recognition and misrecognition of trans* status affect the liveability of trans* people and how they are constituted as intelligible and unintelligible subjects in society.