ANIKKE: FROM INDIA TO BOSNIA, CHINA TO KENYA, PEOPLE ARE CONFRONTING TRADITIONAL NORMS AROUND GENDER AND SEXUALITY.

AND DESPITE DISCRIMINATION FROM THEIR COMMUNITIES, THESE PEOPLE ARE EMPOWERED WITH THE COURAGE TO TRULY BE THEMSELVES.

IN OUR FIRST STORY, WE EXPLORE A NEW PROGRAM IN MUMBAI THAT CHALLENGES TEENS TO RECONSIDER WHAT IT MEANS TO BE A WOMAN IN MODERN-DAY INDIA.

ENTIRE GENERATIONS ARE ADOPTING NEW BEHAVIORS THAT PROMOTE EQUALITY.

BOYS ARE HELPING OUT WITH FAMILY CHORES.

AND GIRLS ARE FINALLY GETTING THE CHANCE TO STAY IN SCHOOL.

ANIKKE: LIKE MANY CHILDREN RAISED AMIDST THE BOSNIAN CONFLICT, DRAGAN KISIN GREW UP WITH AGGRESSION AND VIOLENCE AS SYMBOLS OF MANHOOD.

BUT NOW HE HAS EVOLVED FROM A BULLY INTO A LEADER AND IS REDEFINING WHAT IT TRULY MEANS TO BE A MAN.

[INDISTINCT CHATTER] [EXCHANGING GREETINGS] [GUNFIRE] [INDISTINCT CHATTER] ANIKKE: DESPITE SOME PROGRESS, HOMOPHOBIA REMAINS A VERY REAL CHALLENGE TO MORE THAN 60 MILLION MEMBERS OF CHINA'S LGBT COMMUNITY.

SHANGHAI COFFEE SHOP OWNER SHIANG CHI OPENS HER DOORS TO ALL PEOPLE WHO NEED A SAFE PLACE TO EXPRESS THEMSELVES.

MAN: ACTUALLY STOOD UP FOR HERSELF AND SAID IT'S NOT OK THAT SHE WAS FIRED.

ANIKKE: COMEDIAN SARAH FRANKEN IS USING HUMOR TO SHARE HER STORY AS A TRANSGENDER WOMAN.

COMEDY HELPS HER EDUCATE AUDIENCES ABOUT THE INTOLERANCE TRANSGENDER PEOPLE FACE EVERY DAY.

SARAH: THE FIRST TIME YOU HAVE SOMEBODY LIKE A BIG GUY COME BY AND SAY, "ACT LIKE A MAN, YOU DISGUST ME," AND IN A CROWDED TUBE PLATFORM WHERE EVERYBODY'S HEARING THIS ABUSE AND NOBODY IS JUMPING TO YOUR DEFENSE, IT'S LIKE, WOW, I FELT SO ALONE.

AND I WISH I DIDN'T HAVE THAT FEELING, YOU KNOW?

IT PUTS YOU IN A VERY DEFENSIVE FRAME OF MIND, AND SOMETIMES I DO WORRY THAT I'M CHEATING MYSELF OUT OF LIFE BECAUSE I'M, YOU KNOW, SO FEARFUL AND RESENTFUL AND--I MEAN, I'LL SEE THINGS OUT OF THE CORNER OF MY EYE AND GO, THERE'S TWO BIG GUYS STARING AT ME LAUGHING AND I'LL LOOK UP AND IT'S LIKE, YOU KNOW, TWO YOUNG CHINESE GIRLS, LIKE, ON THEIR iPHONES.

WOMAN: OK, KEEP IT GOING, KEEP IT GOING.

SHE IS AMAZING.

SHE'S GONNA BE WELCOME.

WELCOME SARAH FRANKEN!

[CHEERING AND APPLAUSE] SARAH: HI.

I'M SARAH, AND I'M GONNA BE DOING SOME CHARACTER COMEDY FOR YOU THIS EVENING.

I'M ALSO TRANSGENDER, SO I DON'T WANT YOU THINKING THIS IS A CHARACTER AS WELL.

BUT I WANT TO START OFF WITH TWO DIFFERENT, UH, ANECDOTES ABOUT, UH, SOME OF THE ABUSE I GET BEING AN OUT TRANSGENDER IN THE YEAR 2015.

UM, SO ON ONE END OF THE SPECTRUM, YOU GET THIS KIND OF OUT-AND-OUT ABUSE.

THEN THE OTHER END OF THE SPECTRUM, YOU HAVE PEOPLE WHO LIKE TO CONFESS THINGS TO YOU BECAUSE THEY THINK YOU'RE INTO EVERYTHING BECAUSE YOU DRESS LIKE THIS.

SO I USUALLY GET OLD WOMEN AT BUS STOPS WHO'LL COME UP TO ME AND SAY, "DID YOU KNOW, I HAD A LESBIAN LOVER AT ONE TIME."

[LAUGHTER] "WE TOOK A HOLIDAY TO TENERIFE.

AND THIS WAS IN THE SEVENTIES, WHEN LESBIANISM WAS QUITE NEW."

[LAUGHTER] "BACK IN THOSE DAYS, YOU DIDN'T HAVE STRAP-ONS, AND WE--WE HAD VEGETABLES."

TO ME IT WAS AN EVOLUTIONARY PROCESS.

I THOUGHT I WAS A TRANSVESTITE FOR A LONG TIME, BECAUSE MY SISTERS DRESSED ME UP.

IT MIGHT HAVE ONLY BEEN ONCE, BUT I WAS ABOUT 5 OR 6.

AND I GO, A LIGHT BULB WENT OFF IN YOUR HEAD.

BUT IT IMMEDIATELY BECAME CLOSETED.

BECAUSE, SEE, I WAS SO PARANOID ABOUT IT WHERE I CAME FROM.

IT WAS A SMALL TOWN OF 19,000, AND I WOULD GO TO THE REGIONAL LIBRARY AND STEAL BOOKS ON THE SUBJECT, LIKE "SEX AND GENDER" AND LIKE STICK 'EM DOWN THE TROUSERS AND LIKE, YOU KNOW-- I WAS ASHAMED TO EVEN CHECK THEM OUT, YOU KNOW.

AND I NOTICED LITTLE THINGS.

LIKE I NOTICED LIKE I DIDN'T LIKE BEING CALLED SIR.

AND SO IT KIND OF WENT BEYOND JUST MERE TRANSVESTICISM, AND THE MORE I BROUGHT IT OUT, THE LESS IT BECAME ABOUT THE CLOTHING AND THE MORE IT BECAME ABOUT KIND OF HOW I PREFERRED TO BE ACCEPTED, YOU KNOW, IN THE WORLD.

MY HUSBAND FINALLY COMES HOME FROM IRAQ LAST NIGHT, 3:00 IN THE BLEEDIN' MORNING, STOMPING IN HIS COMBAT BOOTS EVERYWHERE, GETTING SAND AND GRIT ALL OVER ME NICE NEW CARPET.

JUST MOAN, MOAN, MOAN.

"OH, I HAD TO WALK UP AND DOWN THE HILL GETTING SHOT AT EVERY DAY.

NEVER KNOW FROM ONE DAY TO THE NEXT IF I WAS GONNA BE ALIVE."

WANTS ME TO ROLL OUT OF BED AT 3:00 IN THE MORNING AND GET HIM A STELLA.

I SAID, GET YOUR OWN STELLA.

I'VE GOT A NAIL APPOINTMENT AT HALF 10:00.

OH, THE LOOK HE GAVE ME.

WELL, I KNOW WHAT YOU MEAN, LOVE.

ABOUT TWO WEEKS AGO, MY HUSBAND COMES BACK FROM OUTER SPACE AFTER BEING GONE FOR 3 MILLENNIA, WAKES ME UP, WANTS ME TO GET HIM A [INDISTINCT] IN [INDISTINCT] JUICE.

AS IF I EVEN KNOW WHAT THAT MEANS.

I JUST GOT HIM A STELLA.

HE COULDN'T TELL THE DIFFERENCE.

MY DAD, YOU KNOW, HE'S VERY HYPER-MASCULINE, AND BECAUSE I WAS THE ONLY BOY, I THINK HE WANTED ME TO, UH, HE ALWAYS WANTED ME TO WORK IN THE GARAGE AND FIX THE CARS, AND I HAD NO INTEREST IN THAT STUFF.

SO, YOU KNOW, THERE WAS PART OF ME THAT ALWAYS FELT LIKE A DISAPPOINTMENT IN THAT REGARD.

AND I THINK MY EARLIEST SHOWS WERE JUST, YOU KNOW, DOING IMPERSONATIONS OF MY DAD FOR MY SISTERS AND MOM AND THEM ALL LAUGHING.

AND WHEN I LEARNED HOW TO MAKE FUN OF THAT, IT GAVE ME POWER OVER IT.

WELL, I WAS IN A RELATIONSHIP FOR ABOUT TWO YEARS OUT HERE, AND I WAS GOING OUT AS SARAH MAYBE LIKE TWO OR THREE TIMES A MONTH.

I'D KIND OF JUST MADE A DECISION LIKE I NEED TO GET OUT OF THIS SITUATION AND MOVE--MOVE OUT, AND I WAS LIVING WITH THE PERSON, SO I JUST TOOK ALL OF MY WOMEN'S THINGS, AND AS I GOT THIS ROOM IN BETHNAL GREEN, I JUST LAID THEM ALL OUT AND, UH, STARTED MAKING FRIENDS AS SARAH.

AND, YOU KNOW, WHEN I HAD A PROMOTER ASK ME FOR HI-RES PHOTOS OF SARAH, IT NEVER EVEN OCCURRED TO ME WHAT A MARKETING NIGHTMARE IT COULD BE AS WELL.

I STAND BEFORE YOU TODAY A PR LADY.

BEING A PR LADY IS ONE OF THE MOST NOBLE OCCUPATIONS A YOUNG LADY CAN UNDERTAKE.

WHEN SOMEONE NEEDS SOMEONE TO EMAIL SOMEONE THEY DON'T WANT TO EMAIL... [LAUGHTER] WHO DO THEY EMAIL?

THEIR PR LADIES.

THERE'S PART OF ME THAT'S A LITTLE BIT NERVOUS THAT PEOPLE ARE GONNA EXPECT, YOU KNOW, ME TO JUST BE A TRANS PERFORMER WITH TRANS MATERIAL.

AND, YOU KNOW, WHAT I'VE BEEN DOING LATELY IS JUST BEEN DOING MY REGULAR TYPE OF MATERIAL.

I JUST HAPPEN TO BE SARAH.

MY GRANDMOTHER CAME TO THIS COUNTRY MANY YEARS AGO FROM LATVIA TO BECOME A PR LADY.

SHE PERSISTED NIGHT AFTER NIGHT IN SOHO NIGHTCLUBS SNORTING COCAINE WITH PEOPLE SHE COULD BARELY TOLERATE JUST TO GET A ONE-WOMAN SHOW ABOUT FOOD ADDICTION LISTED IN "TIME-OUT."

I FIND, I MEAN AUDIENCES BY AND LARGE HAVE BEEN GREAT.

I MEAN, I'VE HAD REALLY COOL STORIES.

ONE NIGHT THERE WAS A POPPY WAR VETERAN, AND HE COMES UP TO THE BUS STOP, AND I'M WAITING AT THE BUS STOP, AND HE GOES, "DO YOU MIND IF I ASK YOU, ARE YOU A TRANSSEXUAL?"

AND I SAID YEAH.

AND HE SAID, "SO HOW SHOULD I-- SHOULD I REFER TO YOU AS SHE OR HER OR--" I SAID, "YEAH, THAT'D BE GREAT.

SHE OR HER WOULD BE GREAT."

AND HE TOLD ME A STORY ABOUT HOW HIS DAUGHTER CAME OUT OF THE CLOSET AS A LESBIAN AND HOW, "I ALWAYS STOOD BY HER.

ALWAYS."

I WENT HOME CRYING THAT NIGHT, IT WAS JUST SO TOUCHING.

AND IT MADE ME FEEL LIKE I WAS COMPLETELY RIGHT WITH MY WORLD, BECAUSE, YOU KNOW, THERE HAVE BEEN MANY TIMES I'VE BEEN DRESSED AS WILL THAT I WANTED TO BE DRESSED AS SARAH.

BUT I DON'T REMEMBER A TIME WHERE I'VE BEEN DRESSED AS SARAH THAT I WISHED I WAS DRESSED AS WILL.

ANIKKE: CULTURAL TRADITIONS CREATE GENDER STEREOTYPES THAT ARE DIFFICULT TO BREAK.

BUT THE SMALL STEPS PEOPLE TAKE TO EMPOWER THEMSELVES CAN RESULT IN MAJOR LEAPS FOR FUTURE GENERATIONS.

IF YOU'D LIKE TO SHARE YOUR THOUGHTS ON THIS EPISODE AND LEARN MORE ABOUT HOW YOU CAN PROMOTE EQUALITY, PLEASE VISIT LINKTV.ORG/TRUSTDOCS.