In a stunning short film shot by Kloss Films, 42 members of the trans and non-binary community, including Laverne Cox, iO Tillet, Carmen Carrera and Paris Lees talked to British Vogue about what it means to be visible in a world that changes day by day.

Model and actor, Kenny Ethan Jones spoke to British Vogue about his own experiences as a young trans person: “It all started when I was fourteen, so I got diagnosed with having gender dysphoria. For a doctor to turn around and say we want to take you down this road of transitioning, that was such a weight off my shoulder.”

Rebekah Bruesehoff – the youngest contributor to the video – spoke about turning to activism after a sign she made went viral:

“I’m Rebekah, I’m 11 years old. I’m a trans girl and I live in New Jersey. I made a sign that said ‘I’m the scary transgender person the media warned you about’. It went viral. It’s made me want to make my story heard, and be a message of hope to others who are not as lucky as me. I am meant to be who I am, and I am a girl.”

Paris Lees stressed the significance of visibility for trans and non-binary children: “Kids that are being born now are being born into a world where trans women appear on the cover of magazines and front their own shows, and appear in videos for Vogue, and that wasn’t the world I was born into.”

Laverne Cox rounded the short film off by reiterating the importance of being wholly yourself in a world where trans people face erasure, eradication, and invalidation every day:

“One of the affirming things about being me in 2018 is that I get to be me. I mean, I’m Laverne Cox!

“When folks are like ‘We don’t want transgender women going to the women’s room’, they’re really saying ‘We don’t want trans people to exist.’ I feel like there’s been, throughout my life, efforts to erase me, and what I mean by that is erasing my womanhood in the face of all kinds of policies that try to erase us. In the face of murders, trans people exist. We exist and we will never be erased, we cannot be erased, eradicated, dismissed or invalidated. We aren’t going anywhere and it’s incredible.”