Laverne Cox Opens Up About Suicidal Thoughts, Why She No Longer Tweets About Trans Murders

Laverne Cox opened up about her past suicidal thoughts and her choice to no longer tweet about trans murders in a tweet on Monday.

“Many years ago when I was contemplating suicide, I was planning to have a note in my pocket at the time of my death and several other notes in my home which would state my name, preferred gender pronouns and that I should be referred to as a woman in my death,” the actress wrote.

The post continued: “Being misgendered and deadnamed in my death felt like it would be the ultimate insult to the psychological and emotional injuries I was experiencing daily as a black trans woman in New York City, the injuries that made me want to take my own life.” Deadnaming is when people are referred to as their birth name as opposed to their name of choice.

Cox then noted that she hasn’t addressed the murders of trans individuals on her social media accounts as much as she used to. “I don’t as much now because its retraumatizing for me to constantly live in this space of death, murder and the injustices that lead to these deaths,” she explained.

The actress referenced a report from ProPublica that recounted the murders of three transgender women in Jacksonville, Florida. “As I read this report from ProPublica I sobbed and wept for all the trans people who have been murdered and those experiencing direct, cultural and structural violence,” Cox wrote. “I wept because I haven’t been allowing myself to. I wept for all the violence I have experience in my own life.

“I am angered, saddened and enraged that the police in Jacksonville, Florida and other jurisdictions don’t have policies in place to respect the gender identities of trans folks when they have been MURDERED,” she continued. “The misgendering and deadnaming also impedes the investigations into these murders. Injustice on top of injustice!”

Cox concluded the post by explaining that the misgendering of transgender individuals is an act of cultural and structural violence: “The police misgendering and deadnaming trans murder victims as a matter of policy feels like a really good example of that cultural and structural violence.”

https://t.co/Jqj7UHtKNK pic.twitter.com/BytWWlLhgk

— Laverne Cox (@Lavernecox) August 13, 2018

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