Laverne Cox is no stranger to being marginalized, but has found an interesting way to frame it.
CNN: While promoting her new series “Clean Slate” costarring comedian George Wallace, Cox discussed the importance of remaining visible as a trans performer, and telling trans stories. In the show, she plays the estranged child of an older man who returns home as his daughter for the first time.
“In terms of the trans aspect of it, we’re experiencing the most intense backlash against trans visibility that I’ve seen in my lifetime,” Cox said, in reference to new legislation against trans rights, following several similar laws in the past few years.
“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,” she added.
“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,” Cox said. “Someone in my comment section said, ‘They’re worried about the wrong 1%.’”
According to CNN reporting, a 2021 study found that 1.2 million Americans – out of a total population of around 337 million people in the country – identified as non-binary. The other “1%” Cox was referring to is often referred to as the “top 1%,” namely the richest sliver of the population.
Regardless of the situation, Cox continued to focus on the positives and what she hopes her show can accomplish.
“In 2025, 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,” she observed, adding that empathy “can foster humanity.”
“Trans people have been so deeply dehumanized over the past several years. Art,” she said, in reference to her new show, “getting to know trans people as people, is a way to rehumanize.”
She also touched on the comedy in her new show, which was developed with the late Norman Lear and counts him as an executive producer, and how comedy can often serve as the best weapon in the face of adversity.
“Laughter, because it’s so catastrophic, it’s ridiculous, and sometimes you have to laugh and we must laugh. And that is what Norman Lear always put first, is the laughter,” the “Orange is the New Black” star said. “I hope that – not just for trans people, but for everybody – (‘Clean Slate’) fosters more empathy, more love, more humanizing.”
“Clean Slate” premieres Thursday on Prime Video.
If activists hadn't pushed the transwomen in women's sports I suggest that there would be much less of this problem. those bigots that actually run this hate campaign nicely ignore transmen as they do not fit the narrative. the big disappointment is those in the medical field who are totally silent rather than defend their work.finally,gays are no longer hated as they are too numerous and have lots of money so let's beat up on us.
ReplyDeleteMy allies that really didn’t care about all this until the girl sports thing and the locker room thing. That woke them up and are pissed off. I mean that one swimmer was on the men’s team one year and the women’s the next year..come on...These parents don’t want people with a penis in their daughters sports or the Locke rooms. What in the hell is the trans community thinking. Nobody to blame but ourselves.
ReplyDeleteThere was no "WE" in the f..k up. agree - One person's selfish act did much damage. However, "We" were not the ones to blow it us and use it as a wedge/hate issue.
DeleteTo single one person out of an entire community as representing the whole, is inherent prejudice and needs to be called out for what it is. Like - "All those black people"; "All those Asians"; "All those immigrant".