Laverne Cox
Actress, producer and transgender advocate; co-creator and star, 'TRANSform Me'
CeCe McDonald: Survivor and Leader
Posted: 11/26/2012 5:33 pm
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/laverne-cox/cece-mcdonald-survivor-and-leader_b_2175392.htmlThis year I spent Transgender Day of Remembrance on the set of Orange Is the New Black, an original series for Netflix in which I play Sophia Burset. A large part of me felt that I should have been at events memorializing those we have lost this year to anti-trans violence, but sometimes we have to work, and thankfully I have a job at the moment.
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What moved me so much about CeCe's call for more collaboration among LGBTQ communities was her vision of stepping into a role of leadership, even from a prison cell, and her courage to do so. She writes:
After giving myself such a relevant and accurate [Tarot] reading, I know that this is where I belong (referring to being a leader). That most times in our lives we question our greatness, and sometimes feel that we won't or can't deal with the pressures of being leaders, to own the power to have authority and make changes, even if it's what we want the baddest in life. And from the Leadership Development Program review, I know that our beliefs can be passed on and taught to our future leaders of the LGBTQI community. To have rights and a voice. To be able to walk in this world, not afraid and actually feel like a human being and not a shadow in a corner. At [Trans Youth Support Network], we believe that our trans youth know themselves, believe in each other, can create the basis of respect by understanding our fears, are all teachers and learners all the time, that we are all mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters, daughters and sons, but most importantly we are all worth it, worthy, beautiful, strong, more than a binary, are able to become self-actualized, can and have already succeeded as a person, and of course, leaders.
