Actress Laverne Cox is speaking out on laws that prohibit transgender people from using the bathroom of their choice in government buildings.

In the new legislative session, several states, including Texas, have introduced bills that follow in the footsteps of North Carolina, which last year became the first state to enact such a law.

(Related: Texas Republicans introduce transgender “bathroom bill.”)

“I have to say transgender people have been using bathrooms for a very long time,” Cox, the first transgender person to be nominated for an acting Emmy, told a Texas A&M University audience this week.

“These laws aren't really about bathrooms. They're about erasing transgender people from public life,” she added.

Cox, who is best known for playing a transgender inmate in Netflix's dramedy Orange is the New Black, appears in the new CBS drama Doubt.