Laverne Cox Shares Details of Her Traumatic Transphobic Attack in LA Park
“It’s not safe in the world. And I don’t like to think about that a lot, but it’s the truth.”
On November 28, Orange Is the New Black‘s Laverne Cox took to Instagram to share her and her friend’s unfortunate and traumatic experience that took place at Los Angeles‘ Griffith Park. The actress and LGBTQ+ advocate captioned her IGTV video: “We Were Just Attacked in Griffith Park. We are fine. Be careful out there. #TransIsBeautiful”
In the 11-minute clip, Cox explained that she and her friend were approached by a man who aggressively asked for the time during their socially-distanced walk. “The friend that I’m with looks at his watch and tells him the time, and then the guy who asked for the time says to my friend: ‘Guy or girl?’” Cox said. “My friend says, ‘F*ck off.’”
Shortly after, the man started to physically attack Cox’s friend. “I look back and I’m like ‘What is happening?’ The guy is like hitting my friend, and then my friend is going toward him and I’m like ‘Holy sh*t!’” Cox explained. “I pull out my phone and I call to dial 911, and all of a sudden it’s over and the guy is gone.”
Shaken by the incident, Cox and her friend realized the man was trying to get Cox to answer him instead. “The guy really wanted me to answer so that he could spook whether I’m trans or not,” Cox said. Cox continued: “It’s not safe in the world. And I don’t like to think about that a lot, but it’s the truth. It’s the truth and it’s not safe if you’re a trans person. Obviously, I know this well. It’s just really sad.”
She ended her video telling her followers to never blame themselves if they ever experience something similar in the future: “When these things happen, it’s not your fault. It’s not your fault that people are not cool with you existing in the world… We have a right to walk in the park.”
For more details on the incident, head over to Cox’s Instagram page for the full video. While you’re here, show your support and donate to these Black-led LGBTQ+ organizations.
