Laverne Cox, who made history Thursday
as the first transgender actress to be nominated for an Emmy Award,
told The Advocate that she attempted to run away from her
gender identity.
(Related: Laverne
Cox: First transgender actress nominated for primetime Emmy.)
Cox's journey is the subject of
Advocate's August/September cover.
Attending high school in Alabama, Cox
said she “definitely did not identify as male, but I didn't
identify as a woman yet either, not until later.”
“I started wearing culottes and
bell-bottoms and makeup. I was very androgynous in high school, and
continued in college.”
While studying at Marymount Manhattan
College in New York City, Cox went “full femme” for the first
time when she entered a beauty pageant at the Pyramid Club in the
East Village.
She said “I'm transgender” out loud
for the first time when she was about to get her first hormone shot.
“I never really said that before, and
owning that was just a relief,” she said. “I feel like it was
something I'd been running away from my whole life. Something I'd
been fighting and trying not to be and trying to negotiate, instead
of just trying to be who I am. It was just a relief.”