Love, Laverne, Politics OLAY!

Laverne Cox shook the internet when she revealed her past 3 year relationship with a white republican MAGA cop! Olay & Friends held an accountability panel of sorts with Laverne Cox and other Black trans and non-binary folks and WHEW!!!! The girls did not hold back.

In this episode we dive into:

• Radical accountability rooted in love – It’s not about calling Laverne out, but calling her in. I hold up mirror with clarity and compassion: “How can I be a real friend if I don’t at least hold up the mirror…”
• Desire vs. politics – I don’t let Laverne off the hook for the contradiction between personal and political choices, but I also left space for why those contradictions emerge (e.g., trauma, survival).
• Community disappointment – We acknowledged the letdown of seeing someone you once believed was carrying a shared vision step away from it under pressure.
• Transparency around privilege – Laverne admitted to unconscious habits of making white people comfortable, but also expressed pain, trauma, and a need to feel safe in a threatening industry.
• Powerful parallel truths – Both Laverne and I told the truth about ourselves: my expectation that friendship means critique, my desire to be seen as a peer and not discarded, as well as her struggles with trust, shame, and survival. This wasn’t one-sided. It was deep soul work.

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