Laverne Cox’s new show may be called “Clean Slate” but she’s grown tired of the dirty laws and rhetoric spewed by President Donald Trump and republicans against the trans community. And now she’s speaking up about it.
For context and as previously reported by The Root, in the three short weeks he’s been in office, Trump has signed a myriad of executive orders aimed at further disenfranchising trans people and those within the LGBTQ+ community. One of them made it clear that the government would only recognize” two unchangeable sexes: female and male.” He also revoked former President Joe Biden’s executive order that supported trans people who openly served in the military. Additionally, Trump also ordered the transfer of trans women to male prisons and called for a stoppage on gender-affirming treatment for incarcerated individuals.
With all this going on, Cox didn’t mince words or spare her thoughts when speaking to The Hollywood Reporter about it recently.
“Trans people are less than 1 percent [of the population] and I believe that the Republican party is worried about the wrong 1 percent,” Cox said. “Obviously, trans people are being scapegoated and targeted relentlessly at every level — and not surprisingly, if you read Project 2025.”
She continued:
Even when they take away our access to gender-affirming care, trans people have always found a way to get our gender-affirming care. Similar to abortion, it hasn’t always been in the healthiest way, and we want to be able to have our blood work and have our doctors check us out.
But nothing the government will do will keep us from our gender-affirming care. That is the truth. Never has, never will. We are resilient people. We are resourceful people.
She also gave words of encouragement to those in the trans community and urged them to remember the hurdles of the past and how pioneers were able to power through and effect change in spite of.
“Trans folks, I want to remind us that we’ve been here before. Our identities have been criminalized before...There are people before her who survived and got through it and we’ll get through it again,” she said.