31 TV Characters Trumps America Needs Right Now

WEST HOLLYWOOD, CA – OCTOBER 13: Laverne Cox attends the premiere of Fox’s ‘The Rocky Horror Picture Show: Let’s Do The Time Warp Again’ at The Roxy Theatre on October 13, 2016 in West Hollywood, California. (Photo by Tibrina Hobson/Getty Images)

21. Sophia Burset- Orange is the New Black

Sophia Burset (Laverne Cox) is a transgender woman portraying a transgender woman on Orange is The New Black– something rarely seen on TV. Cox can relate to a lot of the experiences her character goes through on the series because of this. She mentions in an interview with Time when she first realized she was in the wrong body. “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.” Although her character in the show figured this out a lot later (when she was married with children), she’s still doing everything in her power to portray it as authentic as possible.

Sophia Burset is the character we need on TV. So many people are just confused over the whole gender identify conversation. And confusion leads to hate, and that’s toxic for someone questioning his or her own gender. Cox explains how kids in school used to beat her up everyday and that she just wants to help people understand one another so things like that don’t happen anymore.