We are not what other people say we are. We are who we know ourselves to be, and we are what we love. That's okay.
It is revolutionary for any trans person to choose to be seen and visible in a world that tells us we should not exist.
Each and every one of us has the capacity to be an oppressor. I want to encourage each and everyone of us to interrogate how we might be an oppressor and how we might be able to become liberators for ourselves and for each other.
If you have a problem with people living their lives and being authentically who they are, you really should go and do some soul-searching.
I think transwomen, and transpeople in general, show everyone that you can define what it means to be a man or woman on your own terms. A lot of what feminism is about is moving outside of roles and moving outside of expectations of who and what you're supposed to be to live a more authentic life.
By doing the work to love ourselves more, I believe we will love each other better.
There are lessons in everything. The bad, the good. Our job is to listen, and to continue to learn, so that maybe we get better at this. Maybe get better at life.
We are born as who we are, the gender thing is something that is imposed on you.
My third grade teacher called my mother and said, 'Ms. Cox, your son is going to end up in New Orleans in a dress if we don't get him into therapy.' And wouldn't you know, just last week I spoke at Tulane University, and I wore a lovely green and black dress.
If someone needs to express their gender in a way that is different, that is okay, and they should not be denied healthcare. They should not be bullied. They don’t deserve to be victims of violence. … That’s what people need to understand, that it’s okay and that if you are uncomfortable with it, then you need to look at yourself.
Who you are authentically is alright.
When I was perceived as a black man I became a threat to public safety. When I was dressed as myself, it was my safety that was threatened.
I believe that when we love someone, we respect them, and we listen to them; we feel that their voice matters. And- we let them dictate the terms of who they are and what their story is.
When a trans woman gets called a man, that is an act of violence.
Whether you're transgender or not, most of us get to a point in our lives where we can no longer lie to ourselves.
I was assigned male at birth, is the way I like to put it, because I think... we're born who we are... and the gender thing is something someone imposes on you. And so, I was assigned male at birth, but I always felt like I was a girl.
Believing that you are unworthy of love and belonging or that who you are authentically is a sin or is wrong, is deadly.
Just me existing, as an openly black transgender woman from a working-class background, thriving, is a political act. My brother always reminds me that if you are black in America and you're alive, you deserve a round of applause. There are so many forces that don't want us to be alive, and so just being openly who I am, and happy and thriving, is a political act.
I honestly just want to make myself happy most, and if other people like it, then that's great. If they don't, then I'm still happy.
I believe if we have something that we love to do, that can save our lives. That can get us through.
Healthcare for trans women is a necessity. It is not elective. It is not cosmetic. It is life saving.
Quality is my principle and qualified is my attitude.
We live in an uncertain world and we want to believe that what a man is and what a woman is-I know that. And people don't want to critically interrogate the world around them. Whenever I'm afraid of something or I'm threatened by something, it's because it brings up some sort of insecurity in me. I think the reality is that most of us are insecure about our gender. They think, 'Okay, if there's this trans person over here, then what does that make me?
Many in the trans community are fed up with L.G.B.T. organizations that continue to erase trans identity or just give lip service to trans issues. We need our cisgender allies - gay and straight - to treat transgender lives as if they matter, and trans people need multiple seats at the tables in the organizations that say they're interested in L.G.B.T. equality; this absence has been painful since Stonewall.
I'm a Self-made Woman in Every Sense of the Word
