Laverne Cox

"For years, we've been hearing from anti trans pundits and politicians that this is about protecting the children. But I think what this Oklahoma law reveals is that it's never been about the children. It's always been about scapegoating trans people, stigmatizing us and criminalizing our existence, making us not exist."

"The preoccupation with transition and surgery objectifies trans people. And then we don't get to really deal with the real lived experiences. The reality of trans people's lives is that so often we are targets of violence. We experience discrimination disproportionately to the rest of the community. Our unemployment rate is twice the national average; if you are a trans person of color, that rate is four times the national average. The homicide rate is highest among trans women. If we focus on transition, we don't actually get to talk about those things."

"For me, it's always important to support other transgender people, to love and support each other. There's enough spotlight, there are enough resources to go around, so for me it's always about loving and supporting my trans siblings."

"Being uncomfortable does not mean that you are unsafe. Right? [...] For several years, it was all about bathrooms. Banning trans people from bathrooms, right? In the segregated South, white folks were not comfortable with black people in the bathroom with them. But did that mean that they were unsafe?"

"It's not just about, you know, sort of putting "diverse people" in the same sort of corrupt systems. We have to change the way that power works. And so much of that is about, I believe, changing the material conditions of poor and working people, the people who are the most marginalized, and to get them, you know, opportunities to work in the industry behind the scenes, and then be truly elevated to positions of power."