Laverne Cox Opens Up About Suicidal Thoughts, Her Suicide Plan and the Misgendering of Murdered Trans People

On Monday, actress and LGBT advocate Laverne Cox, opened up about her past suicidal thoughts, as she condemned injustice of misgendering.

“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,” Cox wrote.

“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,” she continued of the common experiences the transgender community goes through.

According to Oxford Dictionary, Misgendering is to “refer to (someone, especially a transgender person) using a word, especially a pronoun or form of address, that does not correctly reflect the gender with which they identify.” While dead naming has yet to be formally defined, a transgender person is deadnamed when they are called by their “birth name” or “given name,” even after it’s no longer being used.

As Cox continued, she opened up about the murders of trans people, and why she decided to steer clear of the topic on her social media accounts.

“I don’t [talk about it] 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 said, just before mentioning an article about the murders of three trans women in Florida.

“As I read this report from Pro Publica, I sobbed and wept for all the trans people who have been murdered and those experiencing direct, cultural and structural violence,” Cox continued. “I wept because I haven’t been allowing myself to. I wept for all the violence I have experienced 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 folk when they have been MURDERED. This misgendering and dead naming also impedes the investigations into these murders. Injustice on top of Injustice,” she said. “I have been saying for years that misgendering a trans person is an act of violence. When I say that I am referring to cultural and structural violence. The police misgendering and deadnaming trans murder victims as a matter of policy feels like a really good example of culture and structural violence.”