Laverne Cox is first transgender woman on ‘TIME’ cover

Laverne Cox has made history by becoming the first transgender woman to appear on the cover of TIME magazine.

In recent years the actress has emerged as a figurehead for the trans community and LGBT rights generally – thanks in part to her role in the popular Netflix series Orange is the New Black.

Last month (April), the magazine was criticised for leaving Cox out of their iconic ‘100 Most Influential People of the Year’ list – even though the actress topped the online poll for a brief period, placing above the likes of Katy Perry and Justin Bieber.

In her cover interview, Cox told the magazine: “We are in a place now where more and more trans people want to come forward and say ‘This is who I am’.”

“Social media has been a huge part of it and the Internet has been a huge part of it, where we’re able to have a voice in a way that we haven’t been able to before,” she added.

“We’re being able to write our stories and we’re being able to talk back to the media… We are the reason. And we are setting the agenda in a different way.”

TIME‘s Katy Steinmetz, who interviewed Cox for the magazine, said in a press release: “Transgender people — those who identify with a gender other than the sex they were ‘assigned at birth,’ to use the preferred phrase among trans activists — are emerging from the margins to fight for an equal place in society.”

Cox will soon be seen in season two of Orange Is The New Black, which will debut in full on Netflix on June 6.

She will also serve as an executive producer on MTV and Logo TV’s upcoming joint project, Trans Teen: The Documentary. The one-hour show will focus on the lives of four transgender youths aged between 14 and 24, who hail from various locations in the US.

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