Laverne Cox may be about to make history at the 2019 Emmys as she could potentially be the first-ever transgender actress to win an award – she’s already the first openly transgender person to earn an Emmy nomination in any acting category.
While she’s facing some tough competition in the Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series category, Cox is focused on enjoying the night, but also raising awareness for a cause that’s very important.
Speaking with E! News, the actress said, “It’s an incredible blessing when I got my Emmy nomination this year, my third, I was like this is weird. I thought there has to be a bigger reason. I thought maybe it’s about this case.”
The case she’s referring to is a very important one to the LGBTQ+ community and she explained how she hoped to shed more light on it tonight.
Cox’s date to the event, American Civil Liberties Union attorney Chase Strangio, explained that on October 8, the US Supreme Court will hear arguments on whether Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 applies to cases of anti-LGBT discrimination.
In case you’re unsure about what this means, it’s the Act which prohibits employment discrimination on the basis of “race, colour, religion, sex or national origin”. The issue that’s being faced at the moment is centred on the meaning of the word sex.
Strangio explained it all very well to Now This, saying, “The Trump administration is asking the Supreme Court to make it legal to fire LGBTQ workers… This is not only a reversal from the Obama administration, but it flouts decades of precedent that have been used to eradicate insidious sex stereotypes in the workplace. Like those based on ideas about women being primary caretakers of children, being subordinate to men, not being aggressive or assertive.”
“The Trump administration pushes for a notion of the workplace where men and women are understood to be inherently different and should be treated differently because of it. This will harm all workers and shows that the real goal is to undermine the entire canon of civil rights law.”
“In the process, the administration and the employer, who is defending the firing of a worker based solely because the worker is transgender, are making legal arguments about why it should be lawful to fire transgender people that not only threaten trans existence, but also threaten civil rights for everyone.”
He explains that “this line of reasoning contributes to various forms of violence against transgender individuals”.
Watch the full explanation here:
According to Pacific Standard, plaintiffs have been asking courts for around 30 years to consider whether sex-based discrimination includes anti-LGBTQ+ discrimination.
The Supreme Court has the chance to settle the question with three lawsuits where employees allege they were fired due to their sexual orientation.
Strangio told E! it’s important that everyone pays attention to the case, “Anyone who departs from sex stereotypes, like all the fabulous people here, for example… We really need to show up October 8th and pay attention. Their lives are on the line.”
Cox added, “Maybe it’s about raising awareness so everyone knows that our lives are in danger.”
“A lot of people aren’t talking about this case and it has implications for the LGBT community. But it has implication for women and anyone who doesn’t conform to someone else’s idea of how you should be… A man or woman or neither!”