THE MURDERS of black transgender women is currently on the rise in the United States. This growing epidemic has seen significant coverage since the mobile phone footage of Muhlaysia Booker showed her being attacked by a group of people in Dallas, Texas. Merely one month later, Booker was found dead.

Her death was followed by another black trans woman – Chynal Lindsey – who had been missing since May.

And while Pride celebrations rage on, actress Laverene Cox is keen to also highlight the danger that black trans women are facing, and she is using her platform to bring awareness to this issue.

The Emmy-award winning actress appeared on Buzzfeed’s AM to DM show where she discussed the 11 black trans women that have been killed in the USA.

Your attraction to me as a trans woman is not a reason to kill me,” 47-year-old Cox said. “There’s this whole sort of myth that trans women are out there tricking people, that they deserve to be murdered, and that’s not the case.”

During her appearance, Cox doubled down on the false narrative that black trans women are “deceiving people”, which in turn results in their murders.

“There’s been a market for trans women in the realms of dating and sex work for a very long time,” said Cox. “We don’t have to trick anyone.”“There’s been a market for trans women in the realms of dating and sex work for a very long time,” said Cox. “We don’t have to trick anyone.”

“We have to lift the stigma around attraction to trans people, and we have to lift the stigma around trans people existing,”

Cox is currently in New York to celebrate Pride and the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall Uprising – a movement led by the black female trans community.