He told me that I will be a wife but I was just innocent, I wanted to come to school. But that man wanted me to be a third wife. I told him, I will not be your wife, and he caned me.

I was taught that God is merciful and compassionate, and so must we be.

The most important thing is that you be a good person and you live by the golden rule of do unto others. If you live by that, that's all I care about.

Like all great love stories, they never end.

I actually hope that one day videos like this and the whole coming out process are just not necessary, but until then, I am going to do my best and do my part to cultivate a culture that is accepting, that is compassionate.

NFL player Carl Nassib coming out to his followers during Pride Month, making NFL history as the first openly gay player

Human rights require a dedication to equality at every intersection of life.

By truly embracing transgender equality, I believe we can all begin to define what it means to be a man or a woman on our own terms and liberate ourselves from the gender oppression we impose on ourselves and each other.

Being exceptional isn’t revolutionary, it’s lonely. It separates you from your community. Who are you, really, without community? I have been held up consistently as a token, as the “right” kind of trans woman (educated, able-bodied, attractive, articulate, heteronormative). It promotes the delusion that because I “made it,” that level of success is easily accessible to all young trans women. Let’s be clear: It is not.

The goal in the end is not to win elections. The goal is to change society.