Speaking Tuesday in Boston, actress
Laverne Cox said that transgender people “have a right to exist and
flourish in the world, too.”
Cox, who is best known for her role as
Sophia Burset on the Netflix drama Orange is the New Black,
made her comments at the Simmons Leadership Conference.
(Related: Stumping
for trans rights in Massachusetts, Laverne Cox talks about plan to
kill herself.)
“We are in a very contested space now
with, as trans people become more visible, there's a backlash
happening,” Cox said, referring to lawmakers' attempts to roll back
some protections, including President Donald Trump's policy
prohibiting transgender people from serving in the military.
(Related: House
approves resolution calling Trump's ban on transgender troops
“discriminatory.”)
“Trans people have existed throughout
time,” she said. “We have a right to exist and flourish in the
world, too.”
Cox, who began her transition in 1998,
added that transgender people are here for something “beautiful and
divine.”
“A lot of trans people have
experienced being turned out of their homes, being discriminated
against in the workplace, disowned by family. A lot of us have
experienced that, and in the face of all that, we find a way to
survive,” Cox
is quoted as saying by MassLive.