Nothing changes if nothing changes.

Lucie Bosquin

2014 has truly been the year of Laverne Cox. Adding to her many successes and recognitions, Glamour magazine has named the actress to its list of Women of the Year.

Katie Couric provided the one-sentence summary of why Glamour picked Cox for its all-star lineup:

"Her unparalleled candor, courage, and eloquence have helped us understand a community that is far too often misunderstood. She teaches us that gender identity lives, first and foremost, in our hearts and minds." 

Glamour’s profile of Cox gives us a glimpse into her life before and after Orange Is The New Black. She says before she was cast as the now iconic Sophia Burset, she “played hookers a lot” because that’s what was available to trans actors. But since bringing the role of Sophia to life, both her character and Laverne herself have done incredible things for trans visibility and representation.

Cox’s empathetic portrayal of Sophia has made her the first openly transgender person to be nominated for an Emmy—and landed her on the cover of Time magazine. She’s met Barack Obama (“I thanked him for everything his administration has done for the trans community, which is a lot—more than any other president”). She’s producing a documentary on CeCe McDonald, a transgender woman who, after defending herself from an attack, spent 19 months imprisoned for second-degree murder, and a documentary for MTV. And she’s giving speeches nationwide too. “I always knew when I got a public platform, it was part of my job to educate people,” Cox says. “Being famous to just wear lovely clothes—which I do love doing—that’s not for me.”

What is for Cox is a breed of advocacy that is rooted in human connection: “When we get to know people as people, then all the misconceptions that we might have about folks who are different from us get knocked away,” she says. “And I think that’s what’s happening with this character. So much of the year I’ve had is historic, but this is a moment that is bigger than me. I meet people who say that my role has given them the courage to say, ‘This is who I am,’ and, ‘I can transition and be successful and be out as a trans person,’” says Cox, who keeps a daily list of what she’s grateful for. “We have this internal compass of the truth inside of us. And that is our job, really, to quiet all this noise around us and listen to that.”

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