Laverne Cox
Time
As a young child Laverne has always had an inkling of knowledge of who she is. As a child she was always into dance, art, etc. Her mom didn’t allow her to do ballet, in fear of her being gay. She was always bullied for as long as she can remember, for being feminine. She never told her mom when she was bullied, she kept it to herself in fear of being yelled at for not fighting back. Not only were other kids bullying her, her teacher had called her mom telling her ‘Your son is going to end up in New Orleans in a dress’ if she didn’t do something about it. After this, she was forced to go to conversion therapy where the idea of being a girl is wrong was drilled into her. At the time Laverne didn’t know there was a difference between boys and girls, she thought she was just going to hit puberty and just become a girl.
She spoke about how in order for progress to be made in this country towards the nationwide acceptance of trans people, there needs to be more education about gender in our school systems. When people are put in a box at such a young age it is difficult to think that someone has broken out of that box, and it makes them somewhat afraid. That’s why there is so much stigma surrounding trans people and that’s why some people choose to remain ignorant. Laverne is inspiring trans youth to continue to explore their gender identity and to learn to love themselves regardless of gender. She provides us with an image of an incredibly strong, courageous, and successful trans woman. She is going to push our society in the right direction, and she is on the right side of history. |