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Laverne Cox’s Madame Tussauds Wax Figure Will Be the First Transgender Figure in the Museum’s History

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Netflix's "Orange Is The New Black" For Your Consideration Screening And Q&A
Laverne Cox attends Netflix's Orange Is The New Black screening and Q&A at the Directors Guild Of America on May 20, 2015 in Los Angeles.Jason LaVeris—FilmMagic/Getty Images
By Olivia B. Waxman

Madame Tussauds San Francisco announced Monday that it will debut a wax figure of Laverne Cox, star of Orange Is the New Black and a transgender rights activist, on June 26 during Pride Weekend festivities in the Bay Area. It is the first-ever transgender figure in the museum’s history.

June 2015 is already shaping up to be a banner Pride Month for the transgender community since a Vanity Fair cover introduced Caitlyn Jenner (formerly known as Bruce Jenner) on June 1.

Read next: “The Transgender Tipping Point,” TIME‘s June 09, 2014, cover story featuring Laverne Cox

Gay Pride in the 1950s: The Photo Booth as a Safe Space

J. J. Belanger cheek-to-cheek with a man in a photo booth. "PGE exhibition, Hastings Park." Vancouver, Circa 1953.
J. J. Belanger cheek-to-cheek with a man in a photo booth. "PGE exhibition, Hastings Park." Vancouver, Circa 1953.J. J. Belanger—ONE National Gay & Lesbian Archives at the University of Southern California Libraries
Coll2011-035 J. J. Belanger papers
J. J. Belanger kissing a man in a photo booth. "PGE exhibition, Hastings Park." Vancouver, Circa 1953.J. J. Belanger—ONE National Gay & Lesbian Archives at the University of Southern California Libraries

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Write to Olivia B. Waxman at olivia.waxman@time.com