Laverne Cox. Not France. Yet.

[sistawendy]

We come from France. I'm back from France! I didn't post from there as I did from Spain because I had crummy to nonexistent WiFi the whole time, and even if I'd wanted to pay through the nose for cell phone service it was unavailable. I did, however, write several pages of notes upon which to base my forthcoming epic writeup. Oh, and I took a few pictures that don't suck.

No, what I'm writing about tonight is seeing Laverne Cox speak at the UW. You may know that she's the star of Orange Is the New Black, and that she's the first trans actress to really make it in the (US?) entertainment industry.

Her talk was mainly about her life story. She's a polished speaker and struck nearly all the right notes. It wasn't quite like a black church service with people shouting encouragement & affirmation, but that was definitely the vibe in the room; I hope all the interruptions for applause didn't bother her. She's also a mistress of quotes.

Where she differs from me:

1. She's black. That's even huger than it usually is, because trans women of color experience violence at many times the rate that white trans women do, which is in turn a multiple of the rate that the rest of the queer community faces. Being a black trans woman in New York City is, apparently, sometimes way less fun than being a white one in Seattle. And by "less fun" I mean, without exaggeration, "PTSD-inducing".
2. She's into men. When you're trans & black, that's... suboptimal for the reason I mention above. She did mention during Q&A that she's unattached and would like to get attached. I think she'll manage.
3. She didn't try to run away from her transness for nearly as long as I did. People like her prompt me to argue with myself about whether I should have transitioned sooner. Such arguments are never productive.