Well, one of the things we felt was missing from the greater conversation is that transgender people have been living and working in America for years...People may think it's a "new" thing; it's not...So we wanted to show not just the political side, which is what you see with Caitlyn Jenner. And not the other side with Laverne Cox, who's great.

There are times when I haven't been proud of America or really proud. But there have been times that I've been incredibly proud of the country.

I think because I've gotten permission from my style icons like Tim Gunn and André Leon Talley, who say to me, "You don't need to dress like anyone else, because you're your own fashion icon. You represent comfortable. And you do fashion your way, and you should be at Fashion Week." They gave me permission to enjoy it! And it's great!

I grew up in a time when it would never have occurred to anyone to tell me there was anything I couldn't do.

You couldn't always trust the history books. They told a diluted truth, a truth by committee.

Taking action is hard, but know what? Enduring a bad situation can be its own hell.

I believe that parts of people like John Garfield and Moms Mabley, the parts of them that I needed to be able to do what I'm doing, came into me. There's a very nice feeling that there are many, many spirits inside of me looking after me . . .