Bruce Jenner will 'save people's lives' by coming out as trans, says Laverne Cox

Jenner gave an exclusive interview to ABC's Diane Sawyer on Friday night

Bruce Jenner has a big fan in transgender actress Laverne Cox (Getty Images)

Laverne Cox has praised former Olympian and reality TV star Bruce Jenner for “saving people’s lives” with his decision to come out publicly as transgender.

Cox, who became the first openly trans person to earn an Emmy nomination for Orange is the New Black last year, believes that Jenner’s transition will help improve society’s understanding of the trans community.

“What Bruce really wants to come out of this is that people’s lives will be saved and that people will be helped by this,” she told MSNBC.

“I thought ABC handled it really beautifully. I had spoken to Bruce several months back and the same person I had spoken to on the phone, who really just loves their children so much and wants their family to be happy, was the person I saw on television last night.”

Jenner still wants to be referred to using male pronouns and ‘Bruce’ until he indicates otherwise. He told Sawyer on Friday that he has been dealing with gender dysphoria since childhood and experimenting with cross-dressing for years, but has never been attracted to men and identifies as asexual.

Jenner credits rapper Kanye West with helping his step-daughter Kim Kardashian come to terms with the situation. West reportedly told his wife that people are nothing “if they can’t be true to themselves” and encouraged her to talk to Jenner about his transition.

More about Jenner’s life is set to be revealed in an eight-part documentary scheduled to begin in July.

“What I’m doing is going to do some good and we are going to change the world, we are going to make a difference,” he said in the interview. “If the Kardashian show gave me that foot to go and do something then I’m happy with that.”

Katie Glover, editor of the popular transgender publication Frock, “totally agrees” with Laverne’s praise of Jenner.

“The more ‘celebrities’ who come out and bare their transgender souls, the more mainstream it will become and the less sensational and interesting it will be as a news story, and that’s good for all of us,” she told The Independent.

"Having gender reassignment should be treated like having a hernia operation or having a growth removed. It should be no big deal and just another medical procedure. So what? Who cares?

"I would hope that in years to come, the fact that some people are transgender will be as ordinary and everyday and as boring as some people being from Watford and some people wearing blue socks on a Wednesday.”