Allure's LAVERNE COX

On her personal site, Laverne Cox says "You can define what it means to be a man or a woman on your own terms," and she is most definitely living proof of that statement. An Emmy nominee for her role as Sophia Burset on Orange is the New Black, Laverne recently stripped down for Allure's annual nude celebrity portraits, but not before turning down the offer to do so twice.

"Going through life, you try to cover and hide, but it doesn't really work," says the Orange Is the New Black star, 30, who at first turned down Allure's request to pose nude. "I said no initially, thought about it, and said no again," she says.

"But I'm a black transgender woman. I felt this could be really powerful for the communities that I represent. Black women are not often told that we're beautiful unless we align with certain standards. Trans women certainly are not told we're beautiful. Seeing a black transgender woman embracing and loving everything about herself might be inspiring to some other folks. There's beauty in the things we think are imperfect. That sounds very cliché, but it's true."

Cox wanted these pictures for herself, too: "I honestly just want to make myself happy most, and if other people like it, then that's great. If they don't, then I'm still happy."

Well, we think you're beautiful Laverne. Keep doing you and fuck the haters. They're just externalizing their own self loathing and over compensating for latent feelings they don't want to confront. 

----------------------------------------------------------------------

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B_xlqPQYn6xKWDVKcVJGUGQxTVk/view?usp=sharing