Laverne Cox, a producer, actress and advocate for the transgender community, will be the keynote speaker for Women’s History Month and Pride Awareness Month.
Cox is well-known for her role as Sophia, a transgender woman, on the show “Orange is the New Black,” said Taylor Novak, president of the Women’s Student Association.
“She redefines what it means to be an empowered woman,” said Jasmine Esmailbegui, the executive director for Women’s History Month in WSA.
The event will take place at 7 p.m. on March 24 in the University Auditorium. The event is free to attend, and tickets will be handed out at the door. Novak said she thinks the turnout will fill the auditorium.
Cox will present her talk, Ain’t I a Woman? My Journey to Womanhood, wrote Shawn Janetzke, Pride Awareness Month director and a 20-year-old UF psychology junior, in an email.
Women’s History Month, Pride Awareness Month and the Hispanic Student Association are coming together to bring Cox to speak at UF for about $16,000, Novak said.
Esmailbegui, a 21-year-old UF criminology and psychology senior, said the feminist movement has often left out many different types of women who aren’t upper class and white.
“This year,” she said, “we want to highlight women who might not have necessarily been recognized in the past.”
[A version of this story ran on page 1 on 3/13/2014 under the headline “Transgender ‘Orange is the New Black’ actress to speak at UF"]
