- Actress
Laverne Cox spoke out about the "landmark" Supreme Court decision on Monday to add LGBTQ people to Title VII of the Civil Rights Act. - Cox, who is the first openly
transgender woman to win an Emmy, told Entertainment Tonight: "It's a landmark win, I am still, honestly, overwhelmed. I really can't believe it." - Because the makeup of the Supreme Court is primarily conservative, Cox said she and fellow activists "didn't have high expectations of this."
- While the decision was a huge step for
LGBTQ rights, Cox also said "we have to look inside ourselves and ask 'how do I internalize the value systems that devalue the lives of trans people and Black people?'"
Laverne Cox has applauded the US Supreme Court's "landmark" 6-3 decision to protect LGBTQ people from workplace discrimination, but urged her fans that there's much more work to be done.
"It's a landmark win," Cox told Entertainment Tonight of the vote on Title VII of the Civil Rights act. "I am still, honestly, overwhelmed. I really can't believe it."
Cox said the decision came as a surprise to her and fellow activists, as a majority of the Supreme Court's justices lean conservative.
"I think because the makeup of the court is very conservative, we didn't have high expectations of this," Cox told Entertainment Tonight. "There are so many moments in our country where justice is not served, but in this moment, in the United States of America, the Supreme Court affirmed that firing someone from their job [for being queer or transgender is illegal]."
Aimee Stevens, the trans woman at the center of the landmark decision, died before it could be decided. Cox said "some people did not live to see this day but they were part of it. She is dead now. But she is affirmed."
The decision comes only a day after tens of thousands of people marched in cities across the country in support of Black trans lives.
"It was such a beautiful sight," Cox said. "That is the result of years of activism. The moment we saw in Brooklyn, L.A. and around the country was the result of years of activism. Result of countless lives of black trans women, LGBT people of color, being taken away from us by the state and fellow citizens. This is just the beginning."
The decision is a huge step for LGBTQ rights but does not erase the epidemic of violence against trans Black femmes
Cox said that, while the decision is a win, it is important to remember it does not eliminate the threat of violence against trans Black femmes in particular.
In 2019, the American Medical Association adopted new policies intended to put an end to an "epidemic" of violence against trans women, particularly trans women of color. In the same year, 26 transgender and non-binary people were killed, according to the Human Rights Campaign. Of those 26, 91% were Black women.
The decision and marches come less than a week after the deaths of two Black trans women, Riah Milton and Dominique "Rem'mie" Fells. They come less than two weeks after a video circulated of Iyanna Dior, a Black trans woman in Minneapolis, was beaten by a group of over 20 men.
"This Supreme Court victory is huge but it doesn't bring these people back. It doesn't change the hearts and minds of our fellow citizens who are murdering us and discriminating us around race, gender and sexual orientation," Cox said.
"We have to look inside ourselves and ask how do I internalize the value systems that devalue the lives of trans people and black people. Then, when we change policies, it can stick and it will mean something because the hearts and minds have also changed."
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A group of over 20 men were filmed attacking Iyanna Dior, a Black trans woman in Minneapolis