An Evening with Laverne Cox kicks off Ally Week at OSU!
Laverne Cox, a groundbreaking actor and award winning star of the hit series “Orange is the New Black” will be speaking at The Ohio State University next month. An Evening with Laverne Cox will be presented at the Fawcett Center on Tuesday, September 16, at 7 p.m. A public reception featuring photo opportunities and light refreshments will follow the program.
The presenting sponsors of the program are The Ohio State University Student Life Multicultural Center, Office of Student Life, and the Office of Diversity & Inclusion.
Laverne Cox is a critically acclaimed actress who currently appears in the Netflix original series Orange is the New Black. She plays the role of "Sophia Burset," an incarcerated African American transgender woman. Laverne is the first trans-woman of color to have a leading role on a mainstream scripted television show, and received an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series for the role. TIME named Sophia Burset the 4th most influential fictional character of 2013. She is also a recipient of the Dorian rising star award for her work in Orange is the New Black.
A renowned, in-demand speaker, Laverne has taken her empowering message of moving beyond gender expectations to live more authentically all over the country. Cox is the first African-American trans woman to produce and star in her own television show, VH1’s critically acclaimed TRANSForm Me, nominated for a GLAAD media award for Outstanding Reality Program in 2011.
Cox made television history when she became the first African-American trans woman to appear on a reality television program, VH1’s I Wanna Work for Diddy, in 2008, for which she accepted the GLAAD media award for Outstanding Reality Program. Cox was also the recipient of the Anti-Violence Project's 2013 Courage Award. As a transgender advocate, she is committed to telling diverse and three dimensional trans stories in the media.
This keynote presentation kicks off the Student Life Multicultural Center’s Ally Week. This is an intercultural initiative that seeks to reach out to the entire Ohio State and Central Ohio community in an effort to encourage students, staff, faculty and community members to stand up with, and advocate on behalf of, people who are of a different race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, religious or spiritual identity, gender identity/expression, socioeconomic class or other social identity different than their own. Each of the week's events and programs are heavily focused on the themes of awareness, education and action. More information on Ally Week is available at www.mcc.osu.edu.
Additional sponsorship for An Evening with Laverne Cox was provided by Stonewall Columbus, The Ohio State University GLBT Alumni Society, Women Gender & Sexuality Studies and TransOhio. BRAVO, Kaleidoscope Youth Center, Trans*Mission, Pride OSU, SHADES OSU, and the First Year Q*mmunity are supporting partners in the project as well.
