Trans trailblazer Laverne Cox says nation is ‘worried about the wrong 1%’

Laverne Cox is speaking out against the Trump administration‘s ongoing anti-trans agenda, most recently with the signing of an executive order banning transgender women and girls from participating in female high school and college sports.

The actress and producer has become a prominent figure for trans rights since her breakthrough role in the Netflix series “Orange Is the New Black,” for which she became the first transgender person nominated for an Emmy.

With her latest work, the Prime Video series “Clean Slate,” Cox remains on the frontline in stressing the importance of representation amid the current political landscape.

“We’re experiencing the most intense backlash against trans visibility that I’ve seen in my lifetime,” she told CNN. “You know, the Republican Party spent $215 million on anti-trans ads in this last election, and if you watched, you would think the last election was about trans people and immigrants.”

“Executive orders limiting our rights, 26 states banned gender-affirming care for young people, banning us from the military, from bathrooms… there’s this whole anti-trans thing, and we’re less than 1% of the population,” she said.

According to a June 2021 Williams Institute study, there are roughly 1.2 million Americans who identify as nonbinary — amounting to around 0.35% of the country’s 340 million people.

“They’re worried about the wrong 1%,” Cox said during the interview, referring to the richest percent of the population, many of whom have thrown their support behind Trump.

As the polarizing MAGA leader fought to return to the White House during the 2024 election, a battery of billionaire “broligarchs” — most notably X owner Elon Musk — rallied behind his anti-diversity push.

But despite the rolling back of civil liberties for historically marginalized groups, Cox continues to use her work as a means to “foster humanity.” In her latest series, produced by fellow trailblazer Norman Lear, she portrays a trans woman returning home for the first time since her gender transition.

“As federal bans come down attacking trans people, what I love about this show and what I love about being an artist is that artists can be arbiters of empathy,” Cox said. “Art, getting to know trans people as people, is a way to rehumanize.”