Laverne Cox says she was targeted in transphobic attack

(Journalist)
– “It has happened to me before,” actress Laverne Cox said. “I’ve been trans my whole life. I’ve been harassed and bullied my whole life.” The most recent attack took place on Saturday, Cox said, as she and a friend walked through Griffith Park in Los Angeles, on Los Angeles Times reports. A man walked up to them, asked for the time and said, “Guy or girl?” He then started hitting Cox’s friend, the actress said in a video she posted on Instagram. “Suddenly it’s over and the guy is gone,” she said. The actress, who appeared in Orange is the new black, said she and her friend, who did not want to be identified, “are doing well”.

Cox said she wasn’t sure at first to tell her story. She thought about what she “could have done differently,” then accepted that she wasn’t to blame. “It’s not your fault that there are people out there who are not cool with you,” Cox said in the video. “We have the right to walk in the park.” The human rights campaign says 39 transgender and gender non-conforming people have been killed this year, by Billboard. “It’s not safe in the world. I don’t really like to think about it, but it’s the truth, and it’s not sure if you’re a trans person,” Cox said. In a caption on her post she wrote, “Be careful out there.” (Read more stories from Laverne Cox.)