In honor of Women’s History Month, here are just some of the most inspirational women who have shared their experiences with students at Colorado State University:

Laverne Cox

Cox visited CSU in 2014, but she is still an inspiration in 2018. Mostly known for her role in “Orange Is The New Black,” which is a Netflix Original series that aired in July of 2013, Cox is a Transgender woman who has experienced a lot of discrimination because of who she is. Still she rose above all the negative comments, and at the end of the day, she knows who she really is and what she stands for.

“It is revolutionary for any trans person to choose to be seen and visible in a world that tells us we should not exist,” Cox said.

Jennicet Gutierrez

Gutierrez is an undocumented, LGBT activist and a transgender woman. She also founded the “Trans Queer Liberation Movement.”  She attracted attention when she interrupted one of President Obama’s speeches to ask him what he was going to do about the safety of transgender women who are incarcerated. She explained how they are being abused and she advocated to stop all deportations.

“I wanted to send a very strong message to president Obama, and what I was trying to say was for Mr. Obama to release all LGBTQ detainees in detention centers in addition to stop the abuse and the torture trans women are facing in detention,” Gutierrez said in an interview with Democracy Now in 2015.

“I am no longer accepting the things I cannot change. I am changing the things I cannot accept”

-Angela Davis, activist

Angela Davis

Well known in the African-American community, Davis is an activist, worked with the Black Panther party and advocated for African Americans during the Civil Rights Movement. Not all of the work she did was pleasing to many people. She even ended up on America’s top ten most wanted list. She is admired because she is someone who stood for something and did not let anyone get in her way, no matter how many obstacles there were.

“I am no longer accepting the things I cannot change,” Davis famously said. “I am changing the things I cannot accept”

Collegian reporter Isabelle Rayburn can be reached at entertainment@collegian.com or on Twitter @Seiss_Diosaa.