Laverne Cox thinks she knows why Donald Trump hasn’t acknowledged LGBT Pride Month
Orange is the New Black star Laverne Cox thinks she knows why President Trump hasn’t acknowledged pride month.
The transgender actress was appearing on The View – ahead of season five of the Netflix show – to chat LGBT rights and politics.
President Trump has made no public declaration that June is LGBT Pride Month, despite Barack Obama keeping up the tradition for eight years.
Obama’s Proclamations recognised “the fight for dignity and equality for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people”, as well as marking the government’s role in “working to broaden opportunity, advance equality, and level the playing field for LGBT people and communities”.
However, the tradition of Pride celebrations in the White House appears to have ended under Trump.
Co-host of The View Joy Behar brought up the issue to Cox.
“It’s not surprising, but we are Americans too,” Cox responded in the live chat.
“Trans and LGBTQ folks are still experiencing a lot of discrimination in this country and our lives should be acknowledged.”
Pressed on why she thought Trump had failed to acknowledge the celebration, the actress had a very shadey explanation.
“Well, he’s really busy… he’s now under investigation so…” she says.
“He’s got a lot to deal with,” she adds before trailing off with “Oy vey.”
.@LaverneCox on why she thinks Pres. Trump hasn’t acknowledged #Pride2017: “He’s really busy … he’s now under investigation so…” pic.twitter.com/kRFs8IkXxu
— The View (@TheView) June 16, 2017
Cox spoke about the issue last week after controversial clips from the film “Anything” were released.
The film follows the story of a transgender sex worker but Matt Bomer, who is not trans, has been cast in the role.
Speaking about casting trans roles, Laverne explained: “My experience as a trans woman playing a trans character is that I have found that audiences not only have empathy for the character that I play but they find themselves having empathy for the actor who plays that character,” she said.
Cox, who hopes to soon produce her own show, added that she hopes the industry will soon just hire actors for the right part with little regard to gender identity.
