The 2019 Emmy Awards were full of queer triumphs. Billy Porter made history by winning Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series, Jodie Comer won her first Emmy for “Killing Eve,” and Laverne Cox made a grand statement about LGBTQ+ rights with her red carpet look.
Cox received a 2019 Emmy nomination for her work in the final season of “Orange is the New Black.” She made history as the first trans actress to receive an Emmy nomination in 2014.
This year, Cox said she was there for a “bigger reason.” Cox carried a custom rainbow Edie Parker clutch, printed with the words “Oct. 8, Title VII, Supreme Court.”
The clutch is a reference to an upcoming Supreme Court case that will decide whether federal law allows for employment discrimination against LGBTQ+ people. Title VII refers to the part of the Civil Rights Act that prohibits discrimination based on sex, which has been interpreted to protect LGBTQ+ people. The Supreme Court will decide whether this is still the case on October 8th.
To drive her point home, Cox brought ACLU lawyer Chase Strangio as her date. Strangio is arguing an anti-discrimination case on behalf of a woman who was fired for being trans in 2013.
October 8th will be “one of the biggest days in LGBTQ legal history,” according to Strangio. Cox’s goal was to raise awareness about the case, and she definitely achieved that with her eye-catching clutch and choice of date.
“It’s about raising awareness so everyone knows that our lives are in danger,” she told E! News. “A lot of people aren’t talking about this case, and it has implications for the LGBT community. But it has implication for women and anyone who doesn’t conform to someone else’s idea of how you should be … a man or woman or neither!”
You can learn more about the pivotal Supreme Court case on Laverne Cox’s Instagram page.
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