The Daily Show: Ears Edition - From the Archives: Laverne Cox - How "Orange Is the New Black" Approaches Trans Incarceration

Episode Date: August 21, 2018

Laverne Cox explains how her show "Orange Is the New Black" portrays transgender women in prison and discusses the push for more LGBT data collection in government surveys. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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I know, it's weird they put his name in the tittle tittle tittle the the the title the title title title the title title the title in the title the title in the the the title in the the the the the the the the the the the the co-host of the Daily Show of Trevor Noah. I know, it's weird they put his name in the title, not mine, but anyway. My new show, Ronnie Chang International Student is coming to the Comedy Central app, co-written by and starring yours truly. Ronnie Chang International Student is the mostly true story of my time as a law student in Australia. That's right, this accent is Australian. So download a Comedy Central app on like any device ever made except I don't know, a toma gogy and stream my show Ronnie Chan International Students. Then download the Comy Central app on your friend's device when they're not looking so they can stream Ronnie

Ciannit international students because don't be selfish. Please welcome La LaVern Cox. Thank you. Thank you. I like them. I like them. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you so much.

Thank you so much. Thank you. Oh, it's good to be here. I like them. Thank you so much. Thank you. And they like you as well. Thank you so much. Welcome to the show.

Oh, it's good to be here. Finally, this is my first time here. It is your first time here. And yet we met so long ago. It took a black name from South Africa to make you know. To make it all happen. Yes. everything that you have and are continuing to achieve. You're a trailed laser in every sense of the word. The scene that we watched there in Orange's the New Black is really,

I guess, the culmination of a powerful storyline. One that you really got into as a character. Your character gets put into solitary confinement because she is attacked. And this is something that is happening quite a lot, unfortunately, in American prisons. Could you speak to that and how that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that we that we that we're that we're that we the they that we're that we're that we're that we're that we're that we that we that we're that we that we the the the the the the their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their the the the the the the the the the the this is something that is happening quite a lot, unfortunately, in American prisons. Could you speak to that and how you, I guess, how you process the information to play that role? Well, what people should know is that trans folks are, usually trans women are housed in men's prisons. It's very rare that trans women are in women's prisons, like my character Sophia Presett. And often they're trans women are placed in men's prisons and then are placed in solitary confinement for our protection. They, prison officials reason that it's probably not safe

for a woman to be in a men's prison. And so instead of maybe putting them in a women's prison, they put them in solitary confinement. And human rights, folks all over the world, agree that solitary confinement is tandem out to cruel and unusual punishment, which is a violation of our Eighth Amendment and people who've been in solitary for just 24 hours or a week can have side effects from that for the rest of their lives, hallucinations, paranoia, suicidal tendencies. It's a really horrible dangerous practice solitary. And when we got to explore, when I got to explore this storyline on Orange's New Black with my character, I did a lot of research too.

And I think, I hope we do a good job on the show of bringing you into Sophia's mind state in the state of mind for people who are in solitary and what that does to someone. It really is a powerful story and the fact that you're playing it, I mean, Orange's the New Black is such a popular show, it gets people people people people people people, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, th.. And, th. And, their, th. th. their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, to, their, to to th. to to to th.i. But you are in multiple places having this conversation as well. You're also involved in legislature now. You know, you are going out there trying to affect the laws that are affecting trans people all over America, including the Data Act that you're trying to be a part of passing. Why is that important to you? A few weeks ago, I went to D.C. to do a press conference about the LGBT data inclusion act.

And for those of you who don't know, basically it's an act that will require governmental agencies to take gender identity and sexual orientation data in the governmental surveys. Right now we don't actually have an accurate count of how many transgender people, how many LGBT people exist in the United States because we don't actually ask the questions. And a couple of years ago, I was like, what needs to happen for trans folks? And I was thinking on a systemic level. And I was like, we need to dismantle the gender binary model. And I started thinking about the census and data collection as a way to begin to

institutionally do that. And I think another thing that people should know is that there's lots of dollars that go to organizations and are allocated every year based on census data. And if you are not counted, you're often discounted. So those dollars don't actually go to LGBT groups. And I think people should also know that when laws like HB2 are passed in North Carolina, that stigmatized, the bathroom bill. That stigmatized and criminalized transgender people. That kind of stigma is able to exist in part because people are able to spread misinformation about who transgender people are. What I do in the media is tell trans stories. Data collection is another

way to tell stories about who LGBT people are to talk about the disparities that we experience. And what LGBT people should know is that this would be providing some information would be voluntary and confidential. So that a lot of trans folks, a lot of LGBT people still don't feel safe, disclosing that they're LGBT in this country. And so part of the work is making it safer for people to proudly declare that they are LGBT. I say Trans It's Beautiful. I've been doing that hashtag for a long time. And people like, why are you keep saying trans is beautiful?

thi. than't tha tha tha that that that that that that, that, they they they they are they are they are they are they are they are they are they are they are they are they are thi. thi. thi, thi, thi, thi, they're they're thi, thi, they're they're they're they're they're they're they're they're they're they're they're they're they're they're they're they're they're they're they're, they're, they're they're, they're they're they're, they're, they're, they are they are they're, they're, they are. they're, they're they're they're they're they're they're their. their. their. their their thea. thae. thae. thae. thae. thea. thea. thea. the. they're they're they're they're they're this country, all over the world, who still do not feel beautiful, who still do not feel as if their lives matter, and they do. And I think counting us is a very basic way to affirm that these lives matter. You're definitely on the right track. You're definitely, definitely, on the right track. So you're not just in Orange and the New Black. You have some projects coming up, you're going to be in this Rocky Horror, right? Yes. Yes.

That, I read, I read that about you and I read that this was one of your lifetime dreams was to be a part of the production. You know, I discovered this movie in this character, Dr. Frankenfurter, it became a blueprint for me. The song, don't dream it be be, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I that, I that, I that, I that, I that, I that, I that, I that, I that, I read that, I read that, I read that, I read that, I read that, I read that, I read that, I read that, I read that, I read that, I read that, I read that, I read that, I read that, I that, I that, I that, I that, I that, I that, I that, I that, I that, I that, I that, I that, I that, I that, I that, I that, I that, I that, I that, I that, I that, I read that, I read that, I read that, I read that, I read that, I read, I read, I read, I read, I read, I read, I read, I read, I read, read, I read, read, I read, I read, read, I read that, I read that, I read that, this character so many years later, I was like, is this going to really happen? A black trans woman has actually never played this part before, after 40 years. And we screen tested and they liked me and we made the movie and it's going to be out around Halloween on Fox. It's so exciting. I cannot thank you not you know for your time. I can't thank you for your time, your time, your, your, your, your, your, your, your, your, your, your, your, your, your, your, your, your, your, your, your, your, your, and ti, and ti, and ti, and ti, and the, and the. And, and the. And, and the. And, and the. And, and the, and the, and their, and their, and their, and their, and their, and their, and their, and their, and their, and their, and their, and their, and the, and the, and the, and the, and the, and the, and the, and the, and the. And, and te, and te, and te, and te, and te, and te.. And, and te.. And te.... And te.................... te... te. And, te. And, te. And, te. And, that you do. Thank you so much. My beauty. Thank you, Trevor. Thank you, Trevor. The new season of Orange is the new black is streaming on Netflix. Lavearncox everybody.

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