Popular actress and LGBTQ advocate, Laverne Cox, came to speak at Bentley about what it means to be a woman, specifically a transgender woman. She spoke about her life story, and how about how her upbringing and about the woman she has become. She speaks about how her message is to the transgender community but also to everyone no matter what you identify as because everyone is considered beautiful.
Laverne also spoke about current policies on transgender rights and how they have set the progress of the community back a little bit. She was very empowering and brought a great message for the Bentley community to here. Laverne related to Bentley students going through college and she encourages everyone to be proud of who you are in your life at this moment.
Frank Elenio (‘19), who attended the event, said that Laverne coming to Bentley was, “a huge step in the right direction.” Frank believes Bentley has done a great job of bringing unique faces onto campus to talk about hard-hitting topics and diversity such as Michael Sam, Wade Davis, and Laverne Cox, and Shangela. “It brings to light the people who have done great things for diversity and inclusion.”
Laverne Cox is a phenomenal role model for the LGBTQ community, especially LGBTQ individuals of color. What Frank took away from, “Aint I A Woman?” was that, “In order to become successful, like Laverne, you must stay true to who you are and you’ll get to where you want to be.” This is a very ensuring message for Bentley students to live by. Now that Laverne has come and gone and shared her message, Frank adds that, “What we are encouraged to do now is to educate ourselves and expose ourselves to people that are different than us or to people that have different viewpoints, and learn from one another in return.”