Laverne Cox reveals her income dropped 90% since Trump administration due to transphobia

Actress Laverne Cox has revealed that transphobic legislation from the White House has affected her career, dropping her income by 90%.

It’s been over a decade since Laverne Cox came to our screens as Sophie Busset, an openly trans prisoner in Netflix’s groundbreaking Orange Is The New Black. Since then she’s become the first openly trans woman to win an Emmy. Recently, she’s been in the Prime Video comedy series Clean Slate and feature films Animal Far and Uglies.

But in an interview with The Guardian, the actress has revealed that Donald Trump’s “anti-DEI” push has directly affected her career.

“This regime has threatened to defund any colleges and universities that promote gender ideology, DEI (Diversity, Equity and Inclusion),” she said. “Even though I’d be teaching a graduate acting class, it could be perceived as promoting trans ideology”.

Laverne earned much of her salary through acting classes, but as she highlighted, the strict rules around “promoting trans ideology” restrict what classes she can teach.

“If we don’t wake up and don’t understand, trans people will be exterminated,” she said at the premiere of Animal Farm. “People’s rights are being taken away, people are losing their jobs, people are losing healthcare, people are being detransitioned in prison, gender-affirming care is being attacked, not just for children but also for adults. It’s never been about protecting women – it’s always been about creating a permission structure to scapegoat trans people, to dehumanise trans people, to take away our rights and to eliminate us from public life.”

While she recognises that she holds a certain level of privilege as an established and successful actress in the entertainment industry, Laverne acknowledges that the regime’s impact on her is indicative of how difficult it would be for those in less fortunate positions.

“If Laverne Cox’s income has gone down significantly, what about all the other trans people who are not as privileged and blessed as I am?” she added.

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Featured image via Paul Christian Gordon/ZUMA Press Wire/Shutterstock