?Orange is the New Black? actress & LGBTQIA+ activist Laverne Cox to speak/CWU

The Center for Diversity and Social Justice (CDSJ) has invited Laverne Cox, actress in the critically acclaimed Netflix original series ?Orange is the New Black? (OITNB) and LGBTQIA+ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, questioning, intersex, asexual and others) activist, to speak at CWU. Cox is a transgender woman, and she will talk about her road to womanhood starting from a Christian home in Mobile, Alabama to reaching her current life as an actress and activist. Join Cox for her speech Tuesday, Nov. 18 at 7 p.m. in the CWU Student Union and Recreation Center (SURC) Ballroom. Admission is free for CWU students w/ID and $5 for general admission. Tickets are required and are available at www.cwu.edu/tickets. Cox will give her speech just two days before National Transgender Day of Remembrance, which is dedicated to honoring those transgender men and women who have lost their lives due to violence related to their sexual identities. Since her success on OITNB, Cox has been touring across the country sharing her story. This past May, she was the first trans person featured on the cover of Time magazine and most recently she was the first trans gender woman of color ever to be nominated for an Emmy. More accolades include that Time named Cox?s OITNB character Sophia Burset as the 4th most influential fictional character of 2013 and she has been featured on CNN, MSNBC, ABC, NPR, HLN, VH1, FOX News Latino and other national TV and radio networks.