BHM Day 16: Laverne Cox

I was watching the show Star today and much of this week’s episode focused on the trans character Cotton. We see Cotton be fun and fabulous, but we also learn about her insecurities. We see the struggle with her family and how she has to even resort to sex work to pay for gender reassignment surgery. The show does a decent job of humanizing a trans woman. Even though I’m gay I don’t really have any friends who are trans, so I think depictions like that are important.

Today isn’t about Amiyah Scott, the actress who plays Cotton, it’s about Laverne Cox. I’m not 100% sure, but I think Laverne Cox was the first trans person I ever saw on TV. She was on a show on MTV about wanting to work for Diddy. I honestly don’t remember much about it, but I do remember her. You don’t see many openly gay or trans people in the hip hop world, so I was rooting for her to win. When I saw her on Orange is the New Black, I kind of braced myself waiting for some sad exploitation to occur. Thankfully, I was wrong and they wrote compelling storylines for her and helped expose many Americans to their first trans person. It was on this show, that I got to see her acting chops. I wasn’t alone, as Laverne earned an emmy nod and became the first trans person to do so.

I shine today’s BHM spotlight on Laverne Cox because I feel like BHM often forgets the LGBTQ community. Black trans women are being assaulted and killed at alarming rates, but we aren’t talking about it. Laverne is getting the word out about her community and has been a valuable asset. I so fondly remember her checking Katie Couric when she was on her show and Couric kept on referring to “transgendereds” and asking about what people had between their legs. Laverne helped get Katie all the way together.

You know I love a good read:


Laverne is a noted card carrying member of the Beyhive, and I feel like we need to stick together. Beyond that, she actually seems like a fun and interesting person. Today I celebrate this actor and activist for being such a loud and important voice to the community. May she continue breaking down walls and just being a bad bitch in general.