Cox Laverne - Laverne Cox

Published in 2017 by The Rosen Publishing Group, Inc.

29 East 21st Street, New York, NY 10010

Copyright 2017 by The Rosen Publishing Group, Inc.

First Edition

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without permission in writing from the publisher, except by a reviewer.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Staley, Erin, author.

Title: Laverne Cox / Erin Staley.

Description: New York : Rosen Publishing, 2017. | Series: Transgender pioneers | Includes bibliographical references and index.

Identifiers: LCCN 2015047625 | ISBN 9781508171591 (library bound) Subjects: LCSH: Cox, Laverne. | TranssexualsUnited States-Biogra-

phy.|

Transgender peopleUnited StatesBiography.

Classification: LCC HQ77.8.C69 S73 2017 | DDC 306.76/8092dc23 LC record available at http://lccn.loc.gov/2015047625

Manufactured in China

CONTENTS

CHAPTER 1

CHAPTER 2

CHAPTER 3

CHAPTER 4

CHAPTER 5

CHAPTER 6

U ntil recent years, society had largely overlooked transgender rights, leaving the trans community without visibility, equal access to resources, or a platform to promote positive role models. Many have also misunderstood what it means to be transgender, and some have even discriminated against members of the transgender community. Reports of harassment and violence were upsettingly common, and suicide and unemployment rates, disproportionately high.

However, rising above such obstacles, some activists have worked for justice and to end transphobic discrimination. Celebrities in particular have often lent their voices to the trans rights movement in order to bring greater awareness to issues that affect the transgender community at large. These activists share their own experience of identifying as transgender and discuss hurdles they've overcome. In doing so, they give hope to other transgender and gender non-conforming individuals, and they help cisgender individuals gain an understanding of what it means to be transgender. Laverne Cox is one such celebrity activist.

Award-winning actor, advocate, public speaker, dancer, writer, and producer, Laverne Cox is a force both on stage and off. She is intelligent, beautiful, well spoken, and sophisticated, and her presence electrifies the stage in theater productions, television programs, and films. While she has had a number of acting roles, she is best known for playing the role of Sophia Burset on the critically acclaimed Net-flix original series Orange Is the New Black.

As a transgender pioneer, Cox has enjoyed many firsts. She was the first openly transgender actor to be nominated for a Primetime Emmy and the first openly transgender person to be featured on the cover of Time magazine. Cox was the first African American trans woman to participate on a reality competition show (I Want to Work for Diddy, 2008), and she was the first transgender woman of color to produce and star in her own television show (TRANSform Me, 2010). Cox is even the first transgender person to have a figure modeled after her at Madame Tussauds Wax Museum.

Laverne Cox came from humble beginnings in Mobile, Alabama. She overcame bullying and gender policing as a child, always earning academic achievements and having the courage to be herself. Her tenacity helped her reach her dream of becoming an actor in New York City. Today, her life stands as an example of perseverance, inspiring the transgender community to overcome and to reach for their own dreams.

Cox's success as an entertainer has given her a platform on which to promote awareness of issues that affect the transgender community. She understands that many of the problems faced by her community today are rooted in a lack of public understanding of what it means to be transgender and the legal and social challenges that transgender individuals face. Cox publicly embraces her trans identity, sharing her own personal story in interviews, on talk shows, and at speaking engagements. In doing so, she draws attention to the staggering statistics of discrimination and violence against the transgender community, and promotes open conversations that encourage love and empathy. Laverne Cox is a role modelor in her own words, a "possibility model"for transgender, gender non-conforming, and cisgender individuals around the world.

L averne Cox, the Emmy-nominated actor of Orange Is the New Black and one of Time magazine's "100 Most Influential People" of 2015, has long been an advocate for the transgender community. She has helped countless trans individuals feel connected through her acting roles, university speaking tours, and television guest appearances. However, Cox's life hasn't always been glitz and glamour. She has overcome bullying, gender policing, and even a failed suicide attempt. She's battled discrimination, uncertainty, shame, and conflict all in a quest to show the world who she is on the inside.

MEET LAVERNE

Laverne Cox and her identical twin brother, Reginald, were born on May 29 in Mobile, Alabama. The twins' birth year is not publicized, although some sources claim that it is 1984. Both twins were assigned male at birth and given names typically associated with men. However, Cox does not publicize the name that she was given at birth. (This decision reflects a common tendency among many members of the transgender community who no longer use the name they were given at birth.) Cox's close friends or family respect her privacy and do not publicize her birth name. However, the actor has acknowledged that Laverne and Cox were her middle and last name, respectively, at the time of her birth.

Laverne and Reginald were raised by their hard-working, church-going single mother, Gloria Cox. Their father was not involved with the family. In a June 2014 article for the Alabama-based news website AL.com, Gloria shared, "I always worked and most of the time had a second job. There was never anything the Lord didn't provide. I did the best I could, and things worked out."

Education and religion were important in the Cox home. Laverne and her brother attended Council Traditional School and Woodcock Elementary School, and the family was active in the Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church. Laverne and Reginald were expected by their mother and community to become upstanding, responsible citizens. In a July 2014 interview, Cox told Matthew Breen of Advocate magazine, "In black communities, all the black men are going to jail or they're gaythis is what I heard growing up." She and her brother were encouraged to be "new black patriarchs...shin-ing examples of what black men should be." But Laverne didn't feel male; even as a young child, she identified with a traditionally female gender expression. Her mannerisms reflected this, and she was often bullied by her classmates.

A DEFINITION OF TERMS: GLAAD