Orange is the New Black star Laverne Cox covers the new issue of Time magazine and opens up to the respected news weekly about the unique challenges she's faced as a transgender actress.
"I just thought that I was a girl and that there was no difference between girls and boys," Cox says of her childhood gender identity."I think in my imagination I thought that I would hit puberty and I would start turning into a girl."
Cox shares some horrifying instances of childhood bullying and the many difficulties she's faced both before and after transitioning.
Asked to summarize what she'd like the uninformed to know about trangender people, Cox says:
"There's not just one trans story. There's not just one trans experience...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."