"Ain't I a Woman?" Seeing Laverne Cox gave me life.

Disclaimer: I am way behind on submitting this to my blog and turning it in on BlackBoard, due to the fact that I didn’t realize there was a specific date that it needed to be turned in by.

I saw Laverne Cox April 9, 2015 and I felt invigorated when I left, like a spiritual awakening. I was surrounded by people who wanted to see her just as badly as I did and the feeling of giddiness I got throughout was reminiscent of when I went to the Texas Capitol in June 2013 to be part of the unruly orange mob to watch the House of Representatives debate over the House counterpart to the bill that Wendy Davis would later filibuster. The feeling of knowing you're witnessing something great and making history.

It had been a long day and I had a 3-5 page paper to turn in by 11:59 that night, and I’d been in class pretty much all day. I even left class early to walk over to the Coliseum. All I wanted to do was take a quick nap and gain the energy to finish the paper but I wanted to and had to go see Laverne Cox speak.

I found my seat and ended up sitting next to a fellow classmate of mine from two of my other classes. We sat together and ended up talking for a short bit about how excited we were and, more importantly for me, when we thought it would end. Again, I was tired and needed to finish a paper, so I was hoping that the speech would end by no later than 9 p.m.

Before the speech, Greg Abbott had been announced as the commencement speaker for the UNT graduation, which caused a lot of controversy, especially among the LGBT community and the people who support them. We ended up discussing this and asking why UNT thought it was a good idea to have Greg Abbott speak, especially in light of the fact that UNT claims to be LGBT friendly and going so far as to have Laverne Cox, a known transgender advocate and activist, speak in front of a crowd of hundreds of people.

This was in the back of my mind when Laverne Cox finally took the stage, to the sound of a roaring applause from the audience, who all stood up and cheered.

She looked amazing, by the way.

I am a huge fan of Orange is the New Black, which was part of the reason I really wanted to see her speak. I have binge watched both seasons numerous times. My favorite characters in the show are Poussey, Taystee, Nicky and Sophia for their story lines and their humor in the show.

She spoke about her experiences and her life and spoke so eloquently but what I loved most about her speech was how, in between anecdotes and stories of her childhood and growing up, she added facts, startling facts, about transgender youth- suicide statistics, statistics about homelessness, and other statistics about the horrors that transgender people go through when they first come out and transition. The reason I loved these parts of her speech isn’t because I like the actual statistics- those actually break my heart. I love that she manages to be an advocate and activist for others even when talking of her own experiences and her own childhood.

The audience was made up of people of all ages and all backgrounds. I saw several drag queens in just a 50-foot radius around me as well as LGBT activists and other college students. I can’t say that I people watched much once Laverne took the stage, because she had my undivided attention until the moment she left the stage.

I left the coliseum feeling invigorated and feeling more aware, even just a little bit, of the issues that transgender men and women face. And I am extremely grateful for the opportunity given to me by my university to see an amazing human being speak.