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Laverne Cox is attacking Republicans for weaponizing transphobia in the election campaign
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Laverne Cox is attacking Republicans for weaponizing transphobia in the election campaign

Laverne Cox has shamed the Republican party for going “all in on their transphobia” this election season.

The 52-year-old actor, who rose to fame playing trans inmate Sophia in Netflix’s prison drama Orange is the new blackhas long used her platform to advocate for transgender causes and inclusivity.

Appears on The Daily Show on Thursday (October 17), Cox took the opportunity to raise awareness about the misinformation surrounding anti-trans legislation and campaigns.

Wearing purple in honor of Spirit Day – an annual day to combat anti-LGBT bullying on the third Thursday in October – Cox pointed to the increase in anti-LGBT legislation in the US, listing statistics such as the 25 states that have banned transgender nationals. Unable to access gender-affirming care at the age of 18.

“Thank you for stopping schools from teaching about sexual orientation or gender identity, because pretending trans kids don’t exist means they disappear, just like pretending climate change doesn’t exist… it disappears too!” joke: “So I guess we’ll never know why my tits sweat in December.”

Cox highlighted that Donald Trump and the Republican Party have spent $65 million (£49 million) on campaign ads promoting anti-trans rhetoric. One targets presidential candidate Kamala Harris for her support for gender-affirming care.

A Trump ad highlights comments the vice president made in 2019 when she said she supported “surgical care” for trans prisoners. In the ad, Harris poses next to Pattie Gonia, a drag queen. The campaign ends with the voice-over: “Kamala is for they/them. President Trump is for you.”

Transgender rights activists have said the ads “attack transgender people” and only reinforce right-wing anti-LGBT rhetoric.

Laverne Cox on 'The Daily Show'

Laverne Cox on ‘The Daily Show’ (NBC)

Reflecting on the ads, Cox said, “Do you know how disappointing it is when someone finally spends $65 million on me and it’s for this crap? I didn’t want hate speech ads. I wanted a house in the Hills with six walk-in closets!”

Cox then draws the line from the campaign, noting that, unlike the Republican Party, she did not get her facts from “StraightOutOfTheirAss.com.”

“This is straight out of the bigotry handbook: using dehumanizing language about marginalized groups provides a permission structure to attack them because, when people are no longer humanized, you can take away their rights and commit violence against them with impunity. .”

Cox then made light of the ongoing legal dispute between North Carolina Lieutenant Governor Mark Robinson and CNN, which reported in September that the Republican had filed a litany of disturbing comments on a porn website before he entered politics. Robinson has denied claims that he calls himself a “black NAZI!” mentioned. and said he enjoys watching trans pornography and is taking legal action against the outlet.

North Carolina Lieutenant Governor Mark Robinson

North Carolina Lieutenant Governor Mark Robinson (REUTERS)

Cox said: “If you had told me that anti-trans politicians were secretly watching and loving trans porn, I would have said, ‘Duh.’”

“I’m 52 years old and if I had a dime for every conservative man who wanted to help me, I could buy that house in the Hills.”

“Turning us into sex objects is just another way to dehumanize us,” she explained. “And I think it’s time to stop dehumanizing and start rehumanizing each other.”

Cox then showed a map suggesting that the top searches for trans porn are all in red.

“We’ll see you,” she concludes. ‘We’ll see you all. All we ask is that you see us too. And you pull up your damn pants.

Cox’s comments come after Republicans in several states cracked down on trans adults’ access to medical treatments such as hormone replacement therapy (HRT).

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and the state’s Republican-dominated legislature banned gender transition procedures for youth under the age of 18, as well as non-physicians such as nurses who issued HRT prescriptions.

Brandon Wolf, spokesperson for the LGBTQ+ advocacy group Human Rights Campaign (HRC), said The Guardian: “The Maga (Make America Great Again) agenda is one of division, chaos and hatred.”

“They are pitting neighbors against each other and trying to divide our communities because they have no vision to uplift people or bring the nation together.”