In case you haven’t heard, Laverne Cox is a goddess. This actress, television producer, and LGBTQ+ advocate is dominating television, taking over headlines and, most importantly, battling for equality all over the nation. Luckily for us here at Pitt, she spoke yesterday as a part of Pitt Rainbow Alliance’s Pride Week!
Born in Mobile, Alabama, Cox is best known for her role in the Netflix original series Orange is the New Black as Sophia Burset, the prison hairdresser and sole transgender inmate. According to her website, “Laverne is the first trans woman of color to have a leading role on a mainstream scripted television show,” and this is only one of many trails Cox has blazed. As the star and producer of VH1’s TRANSform Me, Cox is the first black trans person to produce and star in her own show, and holds the title of the first trans woman to be nominated for an Emmy in an acting category.
Besides her work on television, Cox is an advocate for transgender rights and equality. She has used her position in mainstream media to promote equality for all and has been working to educate people about the disproportionate rates of violence committed against trans people.
And in case this wasn’t enough to convince you of how incredible Laverne Cox is – and why she was chosen to speak on Monday – here are twelve times (out of an infinite number of moments) where she has shown everyone that she is, in fact, a goddess.
1. When she showed everyone at the Screen Actors Guild Awards how to properly make an entrance.
2. When she did what any one of us would do during a Beyoncé performance.
3. When she educated the women of Litchfield Prison (as well as all viewers at home) about female anatomy.
4. When she posted a #nomakeup #nofilter selfie on her Instagram and still looked #flawless.
5. When she reminded everyone what the real issues are.
In this interview with Katie Couric, Cox added, “And then we don’t get to really deal with the real lived experiences. The reality of trans people’s lives is that so often we are targets of violence. We experience discrimination disproportionately to the rest of the community. Our unemployment rate is twice the national average; if you are a trans person of color, that rate is four times the national average. The homicide rate is highest among trans women. If we focus on transition, we don’t actually get to talk about those things.”
6. When, even as a small child, she knew what’s up.
In a recent speech, Cox said, “I’m sitting in third grade, in the therapist’s office, and I remember the therapist asked me if I knew the difference between a boy and a girl. And in my infinite wisdom as a third-grader, because third graders are so wise, I said ‘there is no difference.’”
7. When she reminded everyone of the importance of intersectionality.
8. When she made history as the first transgender person to be on the cover of Time magazine…
9. …And then again when she became the first transgender person to be nominated for an Emmy in an acting category.
10. When she expressed why that matters.
In an interview with Time, Cox discussed the importance of the representation of trans people in the media, “For me personally, I am an individual who consumes mainstream culture. I watch a lot of television. I go to mainstream films. And I want to see myself. I want to turn on the television and see people who look like me who have similar experiences that I have. And I think that trans people want and deserve that; everybody wants and deserves that. We should have representations that humanize our experiences and tell the diversity and the complexity of our experiences.”
11. When she gave the best advice.
12. When she was a complete and total badass.