‘Untitled’ by Angela Chavez

This piece was part of the Ánimo Voices Writing Competition, which invited students to write about innovators, upstanders, visionaries, or rebels that have made a difference in their local or broader communities. The competition was an opportunity to motivate, recognize, and celebrate our strong student voices and writing skills.

Untitled

by Angela Chavez, 8th grader, Ánimo Ellen Ochoa Charter Middle School

Laverne Cox is an actor, reality television star, television producer and a transgender woman. Laverne Cox has a huge impact on the Lesbian, Gay, Bi-sexual, Transgender, and Questioning (LGBTQ) community because she has come such a long way and it shows other transgender people and other people in the LGBTQ community that they can also do great as well. Laverne Cox is also a spokesperson for transgender people. She speaks at transgender events and fights for their rights. Lastly, Laverne highly promotes self-love and appreciation. She believes that we should always believe in ourselves and love ourselves for who we are.

Laverne Cox is a huge LGBTQ advocate. She fights for LGBTQ rights and speaks at events. She once went to the National Conference On LGBTQ Equality and spoke about LGBT rights. On April 12, 2017 Cox attended and spoke at Florida International University. She talked to students about her journey on becoming transgender, and she talked to students about how they should always be comfortable in their own skin. She wants the LGBTQ community to have the same rights as any other person, straight or not, she wants all of us to be equal. She wants all of us to be treated equally.

Laverne is a spokesperson for transgender people. She is the first transgender person to be on the cover of TIME’S Magazine which really helps other trans people with their self-esteem and to be comfortable with themselves. She also once had a show called TRANSform Me which aired on March 15, 2010, and ended May 3, 2010. The whole point of the show was for her to show and express her journey becoming trans, and helping other people who identify as trans as well. She went around helping our trans people feel comfortable in their own skin. She also once spoke out against Donald Trump because of his transgender military policy. She tweeted on Twitter, “My fellow trans Americans despite what some may say your existence is valuable. Your lives, safety & service matter. #TransIsBeautiful” This wasn’t directly tweeted towards Trump himself, but she mentions about trans’ people service to this country, so she’s noticing all the transgender people in the military and showing that she cares about them and that their service mattered. She also talked more about this in an interview. She highly believes that trans people should get the rights that they deserve.

Laverne highly promotes self-love. She wants everyone to love themselves and feel comfortable with themselves. She once said in an interview, “Hang in there, find support, you don’t have to do it alone. And remember, you are loved.” She doesn’t want anyone to feel like they’re alone, or that they don’t matter. She believes that everyone matters and that nobody should feel lonely. This really impacts the world because she’s trying to help everyone out and make sure that we feel good about ourselves. She doesn’t want us to go through the pain and suffering that she had to go through when she was younger. Laverne Cox has showed me how to love myself for who I am. Before I knew about her, I didn’t like myself and how I looked. Once I found out about her in sixth grade, I started to like myself and embrace who I am, and I told myself that no matter what anyone says, I’m going to keep doing me and not care about what other people say about my appearance, how I act, or who I like. I can like whoever I want and I can be. Laverne Cox taught me that, and I’m very grateful that I got to learn about her.

So, in conclusion, Laverne Cox had and still has a huge impact on the LGBTQ community because she fights for their rights, helps and supports transgender people, and she wants all of us to be happy and content with ourselves and who we really believe that we are.