Sun. May 29, 2016
Transgender actress Candis Cayne says in an It Got Better video that she was told that being gay was "evil" by a high school teacher.
The 44-year-old Cayne, who currently appears on Caitlyn Jenner's reality series I Am Cait, got her break in 2007 when she was cast to play Carmelita, a transgender mistress, on ABC's Dirty Sexy Money.
In the video, Cayne recalls being thrown out of a high school in Los Angeles.
"I was devastated," Cayne said. "And I went back to one of the teacher's houses where I was living and she looked at me and said, 'You know you're getting kicked out because you're gay. And what you are is dirty and what you are is evil.'"
"That was [a] big moment in my life where I saw first hand the devastation of true homophobia," she said.
Cayne came to the realization that she "wanted to grow old as a woman" while living in New York, where she performed in drag.
"I think the reason why I kind of got through it was my parents were there for me. They have always taught me to be who you are and always be true to yourself," Cayne added.
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