By BTL Staff
Laverne Cox, the transgender actress that's made an impact on the Netflix Original Series "Orange Is the New Black," has been nominated for an Emmy award for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series. The nomination is for her portrayal of Sophia Burset on the Netflix show. This makes her the first openly transgender woman to be nominated. According to Cox, she specifies "openly trans" as another transgender woman's has won an Emmy, though the actress was not out.
Cox told the LA Times that she hopes the media exposure will help viewers understand and connect with trans people. The actress notes that the nation still has a long way to go: "I've been thinking a lot about this. I was on the cover of Time magazine in June and, that same month, four trans women of color were murdered in the United States. So just because I got an Emmy nomination doesn't mean the lives of trans people aren't in peril every day."
Cox is up against Joan Cusack, Tina Fey, Melissa McCarthy, Uzo Aduba and Natasha Lyonne. Aduba and Lyonne are also on "Orange Is the New Black."
Other LGBT nominees in this year's Emmy race include openly gay actors Jim Parsons, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Nathan Lane, Sarah Paulson and Kate McKinnon.
The 66th Primetime Emmy Awards will take place on August 25. It will be broadcast on NBC at 8 p.m. EST.
