Laverne Cox is talking out in opposition to the Trump administration‘s ongoing anti-trans agenda, most recently with the signing of an executive order banning transgender women and girls from participating in female high school and college sports.
The actress and producer has become a prominent figure for trans rights since her breakthrough role in the Netflix series “Orange Is the New Black,” for which she became the first transgender person nominated for an Emmy.
With her latest work, the Prime Video series “Clean Slate,” Cox remains on the frontline in stressing the importance of representation amid the current political landscape.
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Laverne Cox attends a red carpet screening for ‘Clean Slate’ on January 29 in SoHo. (Getty)
“We’re experiencing the most intense backlash against trans visibility that I’ve seen in my lifetime,” she instructed CNN. “You know, the Republican Party spent $215 million on anti-trans ads in this last election, and if you watched, you would think the last election was about trans people and immigrants.”
“Executive orders limiting our rights, 26 states banned gender-affirming care for young people, banning us from the military, from bathrooms… there’s this whole anti-trans thing, and we’re less than 1% of the population,” she mentioned.
In keeping with a June 2021 Williams Institute research, there are roughly 1.2 million Individuals who determine as nonbinary — amounting to round 0.35% of the nation’s 340 million individuals.
“They’re worried about the wrong 1%,” Cox mentioned through the interview, referring to the richest p.c of the inhabitants, a lot of whom have thrown their assist behind Trump.
Because the polarizing MAGA chief fought to return to the White Home through the 2024 election, a battery of billionaire “broligarchs” — most notably X proprietor Elon Musk — rallied behind his anti-diversity push.
However regardless of the rolling again of civil liberties for traditionally marginalized teams, Cox continues to make use of her work as a method to “foster humanity.” In her newest collection, produced by fellow trailblazer Norman Lear, she portrays a trans lady returning house for the primary time since her gender transition.
“As federal bans come down attacking trans people, what I love about this show and what I love about being an artist is that artists can be arbiters of empathy,” Cox mentioned. “Art, getting to know trans people as people, is a way to rehumanize.”
