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<\/p>\nStar of NBC\u2019s \u2018Champions\u2019 Sitcom Comes Out as Transgender: \u2018My Name Is Josie Totah \u2014 And I\u2019m Ready to Be Free\u2019<\/b>
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![\"Josie](\"https:\/\/i2.wp.com\/www.towleroad.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/totah.jpg?resize=740%2C506\")
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The actress formerly known as JJ Totah, 17, who starred on NBC\u2019s Mindy Kaling sitcom Champions<\/em> (which was canceled in June) came out as transgender in an essay in TIME magazine and says she\u2019ll now be known as Josie Totah.<\/p>\n Wrote Totah in the essay, called My Name Is Josie Totah \u2014 And I\u2019m Ready to Be Free<\/em><\/a>: \u201cWhen I was really young, growing up in a small town in Northern California, people would just assume I was gay<\/a>. On the playground, I was the type of kid who wanted to sing with the girls<\/a>, not play soccer with the boys<\/a>. Then I found myself playing that role once I got into the entertainment industry, and people kept assuming my identity. Numerous reporters have asked me in interviews how it feels to be a young gay<\/a> man<\/a>. I was even introduced that way before receiving an award from an LGBTQ+ rights organization. I understand that they didn\u2019t really know better. I almost felt like I owed it to everybody to be that gay<\/a> boy<\/a>. But that has never been the way I think of myself.\u201d<\/p>\n Totah added, \u201cMy pronouns are she, her and hers. I identify as female<\/a>, specifically as a transgender female<\/a>. And my name is Josie Totah.\u201d<\/p>\n Totah said she has known for as long as she can remember, on some level, that she is female<\/a>, but that it crystallized at 14 when she saw the Jazz Jennings documentary I Am Jazz<\/em> and realized she was the same.<\/p>\n Totah concludes that she is headed to college and excited: \u201cI can only imagine how much more fun it\u2019s going to be to play someone who shares my identity, rather than having to contort myself to play a boy<\/a>. I\u2019m going to gun for those roles, be it a transgender female<\/a> or a cisgender female<\/a>. Because it\u2019s a clean slate \u2014 and a new world.\u201d<\/p>\n A promo clip for Champions<\/em>:<\/p>\n<\/p>\n The post Star of NBC\u2019s \u2018Champions\u2019 Sitcom Comes Out as Transgender: \u2018My Name Is Josie Totah \u2014 And I\u2019m Ready to Be Free\u2019<\/a> appeared first on Towleroad Gay News<\/a>.<\/p>\n