I have seen a lifetime of transgender people and it was hard enough being gay in the '50s and early '60s. One couldn't imagine the cruelty that trans people had to face back then.

Art is by nature optimistic. Art is optimistic because it is alive.

I liked being on stage, I just didn't like the theatrical aspect of being in front of people.

I always wear the same thing onstage.

I think its very important that we enjoy our life, that we get everything we can out of it.

I wasn't attractive, I wasn't very verbal, I wasn't very smart in school. I wasn't anything that showed the world I was something special, but I had this tremendous hope all the time. I had this tremendous spirit that kept me going... I was a happy child, because I had this feeling that I was going to go beyond my body physical... I just knew it.

I don't think," he insisted. "I feel.