Being self-supporting is important to me.

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.

When I realised I was transgender I was so afraid of what my transition would do to everyone else in my life and how they would react to it and would I be rejected?

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.

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.

I've been embraced by a new community. That's what happens when you're finally honest about who you are; you find others like you.

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