The life of Laverne Cox

Brut America

She's a trailblazer for transgender women of color in Hollywood and a fierce advocate for marginalized communities.   This is the life of Laverne Cox.

Transcript

00:00If Laverne Cox can live her dreams, maybe anything is possible.

00:03♪

00:19We live in a world that constantly tells women we aren't enough,

00:22but for today, I have to tell myself that this is it.

00:25This is who I am and what I look like.

00:29Today, today I have to look in the mirror and say

00:33not only that this is enough, but that this is beautiful.

00:37♪

00:54Bullied because of my gender expression.

00:56Because I didn't act the way someone assigned male at birth was supposed to act.

01:01And so I was called sissy, I was called the F word,

01:04I was chased home from school practically every day.

01:06♪

01:25The only way that I was able to accept my womanhood

01:28was when I finally moved to New York and actually met the first transgender women I would meet.

01:32♪

01:47When I saw her on television, I understood that this is possible.

01:50It is possible to be openly trans and to be an actor.

01:53♪

02:05I'm more man than you can handle.

02:07♪

02:15I thought how amazing would it be for this hip-hop mogul

02:18to embrace this African American transgender woman on national television.

02:23That felt like the kind of change I wanted to see.

02:25So that's why I did it.

02:48♪

02:58I need some of these.

03:00I made my own couture.

03:03Commissary don't carry a size 13.

03:05♪

03:14As I walked in the processional to this stage,

03:16I couldn't help but think that four years ago,

03:20four short years ago,

03:22I had not booked an acting job in almost a year.

03:26And I was thinking about, this time it was May of 2012,

03:30I was thinking about going back to graduate school

03:33because maybe the acting thing was not going to work out for me.

03:36♪

03:48Oh my goodness, you have like photos of me.

03:51It's a dream come true being on such a popular show

03:54and the show has completely changed my life for the better.

03:57I mean, I'm nominated tonight, which who would have thought, you know,

04:00a black transgender woman from Mobile, Alabama

04:02would be nominated for a Critics' Choice Award.

04:05♪

04:17A lot's happened in the years since we last gathered here together.

04:21Same-sex marriage has gone into effect in 10 more states.

04:25Laverne Cox was on the cover of Time.

04:28♪

04:37I am so honored to stand before you this evening,

04:42a proud African-American transgender woman.

04:47It is my hope that this moment tonight will inspire

04:52so many people to understand that the issues of transgender women

04:57are women's issues.

04:59♪

05:08Anti-trans legislation targeting trans children

05:12is being introduced and in some cases becoming law

05:16all around this country right now.

05:19We are here to demand that our government

05:22reunite migrant children with their families right now.

05:26Our coming together today is a resistance.

05:30We come with demands for justice, for equity.

05:34We come today peaceably, but we also come to fight.

05:39♪

05:51I love history and I love sort of looking back

05:56so that we can have a better understanding of where we are now.

05:59I think what my story demonstrates is that anything is possible.

06:03I think that particularly in my country, in the United States,

06:06there's not a template really for black transgender women

06:09to be successful and to live out loud

06:12and to enjoy this level of sort of acclaim.

06:17So I think my story is one of the American dream in a lot of ways

06:22and it's one of possibility.

06:24And I think that if Laverne Cox can live her dreams,

06:26maybe anything is possible.

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