Actress Laverne Cox is speaking out on
laws that prohibit transgender people from using the bathroom of
their choice in government buildings.
In the new legislative session, several
states, including Texas, have introduced bills that follow in the
footsteps of North Carolina, which last year became the first state
to enact such a law.
(Related: Texas
Republicans introduce transgender “bathroom bill.”)
“I have to say transgender people
have been using bathrooms for a very long time,” Cox, the first
transgender person to be nominated for an acting Emmy, told a Texas
A&M University audience this week.
“These laws aren't really about
bathrooms. They're about erasing transgender people from public
life,” she
added.
Cox, who is best known for playing a
transgender inmate in Netflix's dramedy Orange is the New Black,
appears in the new CBS drama Doubt.