STREAM EXCLUSIVE ORIGINALS

Laverne Cox Voices Support for Bruce Jenner After Interview

Reality star says moment is "like another gold medal."

During this time of transition, Bruce Jenner can count on support from one of the most prominent transgender activists in the country. Laverne Cox has offered praise to the former Olympian for his groundbreaking interview with Diane Sawyer on Friday night.
“I think a lot of people tuned in expecting to see a spectacle, and they tuned in and saw a profoundly nuanced, complicated, beautiful human being,” Cox told MSNBC’s Live Shift at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner on Saturday.

BEST LGBT MOMENTS OF 2014

“I thought ABC handled it really beautifully," adds Cox. "I had spoken to Bruce several months back. The same person who I spoke to on the phone, who really just loves their children so much and wants their family to be happy was the person I saw on television last night.”
The Orange Is the New Black star also says that Jenner, 65, was “really pleased” with the interview. She adds, “What Bruce said to me today, I was like, ‘This is like another gold medal." Bruce said to Laverne, "This is better than a gold medal."
While Cox, who was anointed the face of the transgender movement last year and landed the cover of Time magazine's "Transgender Tipping Point" issue, is happy that Jenner's story has advanced the transgender cause in America, she says its important that people show support to those in transition who aren't household names.
“Bruce’s story is very specific,” she said. “Most trans people don’t have that kind of privilege. At the end of the day, the visibility that I had last year and continue to have, didn’t save [North Carolina's first trans homecoming king] Blake Brockington from suicide, didn’t save [Ohio teen] Leelah Alcorn from suicide, didn’t save the seven trans women who were murdered the first eight weeks of this year."
Cox adds, "So visibility matters, but structural change and policy change is what needs to happen so the lives of all trans people will be better.” 

BET.com is your #1 source for Black celebrity news, photos, exclusive videos and all the latest in the world of hip hop and R&B music.
Click here to subscribe to our newsletter.

(Photos from Left: Michael Loccisano/Getty Images, Isaac Brekken/Getty Images for Michael Jordan Celebrity Invitational)

Latest News

Subscribe for BET Updates

Provide your email address to receive our newsletter.


By clicking Subscribe, you confirm that you have read and agree to our Terms of Use and acknowledge our Privacy Policy. You also agree to receive marketing communications, updates, special offers (including partner offers) and other information from BET and the Paramount family of companies. You understand that you can unsubscribe at any time.