I wanted to show America a different kind of man. If there was someone like me when I was growing up, my whole life would have been different.

I came out around 25 publicly.

There's a gender in your brain and a gender in your body. For 99 percent of people, those things are in alignment. For transgender people, they're mismatched. That's all it is. It's not complicated, it's not a neurosis. It's a mix-up. It's a birth defect, like a cleft palate.

Deep down, my mom had long suspected I was gay... Much of her anger and hurt came from her sense of betrayal that she was the last to be told.

Obviously the transgender movement has not progressed in the way that the gay and lesbian movement has. But Im an activist - thats just the kind of person I am.

People who don't have gender dysphoria aren't going to catch it by watching me dance on television.

Around 2001, I started analyzing lesbians. I started to realize that even really butch-acting or -dressing women still had a strong female identity that I never had.

I thought, transgender people are much worse off than I am. That's why they're willing to risk everything to be who they are. But the older I got, the harder it got to stay in my body.

I always wanted to shave. It is a very natural process. For my birthday I got a lot of shaving stuff.

Parents have to understand: if your kid isn't you, don't blame the kid.

I absolutely believe in assimilation. I don't believe I'm any different from straight people. My wants and needs are the same as theirs. I don't look at sexual orientation as that big of a deal. It's just an orientation.

I had felt uncomfortable as a woman my whole life.