Laverne Cox
Actress, producer and transgender advocate; co-creator and star, 'TRANSform Me'
Everybody's Trans: Gender Oppression Hurts All of Us
Posted: 06/19/2012 4:38 pm
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/laverne-cox/everybodys-trans-gender-o_b_1605314.htmlWhen I was bullied as a child, called names, chased home from school, and sometimes physically attacked, it was because of my gender expression. The way I acted was way more feminine than how most of the people around me thought a boy "should" act. Though I was often told I acted like a girl as a child, I was also usually called anti-gay slurs, like "sissy" or "->-bleeped-<-got." I was bullied because of my gender expression, but everyone called it "gay" years before I knew I liked boys, years before I understood I was trans.
I can't even count how many times I have been interviewed and had to explain that "gay" and "trans" aren't the same thing, that being gay is about whom you're attracted to whereas being trans, transgender, or transsexual is about how you see yourself and how you identify your gender and is separate from whom you're attracted to. They aren't the same thing. But even though "gay" and "trans" are distinctly different and separate concepts and identities, we can't fully eradicate homophobia without eradicating transphobia, as well.
