2021 has been the deadliest year for trans people.
Actress Laverne Cox talks about why violence against trans people is like an epidemic in the U.S...
Actress Laverne Cox talks about why violence against trans people is like an epidemic in the U.S...
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00:00The violence that exists against trans people globally is an epidemic that is killing way too many of us.
00:15Over 50% of trans people make less than $10,000 a year.
00:19So poverty in my community is a huge, huge issue.
00:22Doing the work to end poverty is interconnected with issues of HIV, interconnected with issues of transphobia and sexism.
00:30They are all interconnected and they're all related.
00:32We have to change our hearts and minds.
00:35Policies are important, but each individual in their hearts has to say that no one should deserve to lose their life simply for being who they are.
00:44And so we just have to love each other more and better.
00:52Trans people are being murdered in the United States and globally.
01:01Actually, the past five years, we've seen record numbers of trans people murdered in the United States and globally.
01:06More than we've ever, since we've been taking, collecting data on that.
01:10I also think that that's partly a backlash to the unprecedented visibility that trans people are having in the United States and globally.
01:17That we're more visible than we've ever been and so there's inevitably backlash to that.
01:21So I think that's part of it.
01:23And I think there's just a lot of fear.
01:26You don't need to be afraid of trans people.
01:28We just want the same rights as everybody else.
01:31So yeah, you have nothing to be afraid of.
01:33We just want to live our lives and live our dreams like everybody else does.
01:45I think globally for trans folk, so much of it is still about stigma.
01:49It's about education.
01:50And then it's about access.
01:52We cannot continue to stigmatize the existence and the identities of trans people because that leads to our deaths.
01:57That leads to us living in poverty, not being able to get jobs.
02:01Policies like here in my country that they've created to limit the possibilities of us being able to have protections under the law.
02:09So we have to end the stigma.
02:11Trans people are human beings who deserve to live.
02:19Transcription by CastingWords