Laverne Cox is more than an actress. For years Cox has been an advocate for LGBT rights and has breaking down gender stereotypes by sharing her story with TIME magazine.
Cox explained to the magazine she doesn't believe she represents the transgender community. In her opinion, her story is a fraction of what transgender people have experienced. Check out the best snippets of Cox's interview below. You can read the full interview here.
Cox on what she was like as a child:
"I was really creative. I started to dance very young. I loved to dance. I begged my mother to put me into dance classes and finally, in third grade, she did. Tap and jazz but not ballet. She thought ballet was too gay ... Throughout all of that, I was very feminine and I was really bullied, majorly bullied. There was this side of me that was this over-achiever that loved learning. But then I was also taunted at school. I was called names. I was made fun of."
Cox on a vivid memory of her being bullied as a kid:
"There was this one instance in junior high when I had gotten off the bus and I was chased by a group of kids, which was, you know, pretty normal. They couldn't really bully me on the bus because the bus driver could see in the rearview mirror, and that wasn't allowed. But the second we got off the bus, they would try to beat me up. So I'd have to start running, immediately. So that day I was running for my life, basically, and four or five kids caught me. They were in the band. And I remember being held down and hit with drumsticks by these kids."
How Cox's perception of her physical features changed as she got older:
"I started trying to find a compromise in terms of gender in high school. I started embracing androgyny. I was just really scared and in a lot of denial. And I wanted to make everybody proud and happy and find a place for myself in the world. The funny thing is being in this androgynous space really wasn't any better, in terms of perception or reception from people. It was part of my journey that got me to where I am now."
Cox on how she feels about anti-gay rights supporters:
"It's scary to me. There's a lot of fear mongering. I try to see their side of the story. They think that there are these people who were assigned this at birth, who are going to be infiltrating these spaces and, basically, our girls are going to be unsafe. It's a thing that stigmatizes trans identities ... These opponents don't really understand who we are. They don't really understand who trans people are when they're opposing these bills. Sometimes we're used as scapegoats too, to get other unfortunate agendas passed. That's the cutthroat thing that's going on. Some folks, they just don't understand. And they need to get to know us as human beings. Others are just going to be opposed to us forever. But I do believe in the humanity of people and in people's capacity to love and to change. God help me for that."
