• 3 days ago
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...

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TV
Transcript
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

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