It’s no secret that Beyoncé‘s latest album, Renaissance, is a celebration of the Black queer culture that created house music as we know it today. A year after its release, transgender actress and activist Laverne Cox is ready to offer the megastar even more praise after a recent statement at one of her shows.
In a post to her Instagram, Cox shared a video from Candace Persuasion, a Boston-based trans drag performer, who filmed Bey toward the end of her final show at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J. In the clip, Beyoncé floats above the crowd as “Summer Renaissance” plays in the background, thanking fans for a great show. She looks down toward Persuasion, and reads out the sign she is holding up: “Trans is beautiful,” Bey declared.
Writing about the clip, Cox reflected on her own journey with the now-popular phrase of support for the trans community. “I started the Hashing #TransIsBeautiful in 2015 to empower trans and nonbinary people to see our beauty beyond cisnormative beauty standards,” Cox wrote. “This wasn’t about me. This was and is for the people. Seeing it empower trans folks globally to embrace our special, anointed beauty lights me up on the inside.”
Cox continued, writing that it meant something much different to see a star of Bey’s caliber spreading that message. “But hearing @Beyonce proclaim this trans affirming message, I don’t have words. I may have cried a little,” she wrote. “Thank you @candacepersuasian for evoking this beautiful moment with your sign. Trans is indeed so beautiful.”
It’s certainly not the first time the Beyoncé has been recognized for her allyship toward the LGBTQ community. Back in 2019, she and Jay-Z were both honored with GLAAD’s Vanguard Award for their outspoken support of the LGBTQ+ community, where Bey declared in her speech that “LGBTQI rights are human rights. To choose who you love is your human right. How you identify and see yourself is your human right.”
Check out Laverne Cox’s post below:
