The 2014 Emmy nominations have been announced. My friend Laverne Cox has become the first transgender person nominated for an Emmy award for her role in “Orange is the New Black”. This is another fabulous sign how far our LGBT community has advanced over the last few decades. I remember when I won my Emmy Award in 1982. At the time I was working at CBS New York & to actually admit that you were gay back then could result in being fired on the spot. I left CBS in 1984 because I was tried of pretending & never looked back. Things have changed since then but have they? Only 21 states have made it illegal to fire or harass someone based on sexual orientation or to deny a raise or refuse to hire on that same basis. This week our LGBT community had another set back because with the US Supreme Court’s Hobby Lobby decision the current version of the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) allows religious organizations to discriminate based on sexual orientation & gender identity. Our LGBT leaders have rightfully rejected this current bill. So let’s celebrate with Laverne Cox today & hope that in the future discrimination against our LGBT community will just become part of our country’s unfortunate history.
Laverne Cox was honored with GLAAD’s Stephen F. Kolzak Award in LA in April. I talked to her on the Red Carpet at the NYC GLAAD Media Awards about how she was dealing with her fabulous career in this exclusive audio byte:
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