Laverne Cox LANDS "TIME" Cover, Opens Up About BULLYING And TRANS PEOPLE + NeNe Leakes DEMANDS A RAISE Of Her Alleged $1M "RHOA" Salary

Newly dubbed transgender icon, Laverne Cox, covers TIME magazine where she opens up about the pains of being bullied and transgender politics.  Read interview highlights inside and get the deets on NeNe Leakes' "RHOA" raise requirements.

On the heels of their controversial Beyonce cover (which was 1 of many other covers of the Most Influential issue), TIME magazine follows up with another cover story that will get Americans talking.  "Orange Is The New Black" star Laverne Cox covers the latest issue of the magazine that addresses the plight of Transgender people.  Inside, Laverne opens up about her own journey to self-acceptance and open some old wounds from childhood.   Highlights:

Are there any particular instances of bullying that stand out in your memory?

There was this one instance in junior high when I had gotten off the bus and I was chased by a group of kids, which was, you know, pretty normal. They couldn’t really bully me on the bus because the bus driver could see in the rearview mirror, and that wasn’t allowed. But the second we got off the bus, they would try to beat me up. So I’d have to start running, immediately. So that day I was running for my life, basically, and four or five kids caught me. They were in the band. And I remember being held down and hit with drumsticks by these kids. And a parent saw it, the parent of some other student, and called the principal and the principal called my mother and my mother found out about it.

Is there a moment or time you remember first feeling like you might be transgender?

I tell this story about third grade. My third grade teacher called my mom and said ‘Your son is going to end up in New Orleans wearing a dress.’ Up until that point I just thought that I was a girl and that there was no difference between girls and boys. I think in my imagination I thought that I would hit puberty and I would start turning into a girl.

The people out there in America who have no idea what being transgender means, what do they need to understand?

There’s not just one trans story. There’s not just one trans experience. And I think what they need to understand is that not everybody who is born feels that their gender identity is in alignment with what they’re assigned at birth, based on their genitalia. 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.

Why do you think that makes people so uncomfortable?

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?’ We want to just coast along in a belief system that makes us feel secure, because we are a culture, as Brene Brown would say, that is intolerant to vulnerability. And if we are in a position where we have to begin to question this very basic idea of ‘A man has a penis and a woman has a vagina,’ then that’s a lot of vulnerability.

Where is America when it comes to the acceptance of trans people?

We are in a place now where more and more trans people want to come forward and say ‘This is who I am.’ And more trans people are willing to tell their stories. More of us are living visibly and pursuing our dreams visibly, so people can say, ‘Oh yeah, I know someone who is trans.’ When people have points of reference that are humanizing, that demystifies difference. Social media has been a huge part of it and the Internet has been a huge part of it, where we’re able to have a voice in a way that we haven’t been able to before. We’re being able to write our stories and we’re being able to talk back to the media … We are the reason. And we are setting the agenda in a different way.

Read the full interview here.  Laverne's TIME cover is available now.  And she is looking FABULOUS.

 

BONUS: 

Watch Laverne give advice to a bullied child.

Behind-the-scenes

 

 

In other entertainment news...

Last year, we told you that NeNe Leakes reportedly commanded $1 million a season on "RHOA". Now she's telling Life & Style that she wants a raise. 

“All of us deserve a raise,” NeNe, who allegedly makes $1 million per season, tells the mag. “I haven’t asked for more money yet, but I damn sure plan to!”

Even if NeNe does get a raise, she's not necessarily happy about how season 6 played out. You'll recall she battled ex-bff Cynthia Bailey, former friend Marlo Hampton and troublemaker Kenya Moore.

“Everybody has been invited back, but I don’t know exactly what I’m doing. This past season was very dark and toxic; there was a lot of negativity. I just don’t want to work with so much negativity.”

Are you TEAM NENE?

 

Photo: Nene's Instagram

Source: http://theybf.com/2014/05/29/laverne-cox-lands-time-cover-opens-up-about-bullying-and-trans-people-nene-leakes-demands

Demi Moore Courteney Cox Christina Aguilera