Thankfully, Laverne was not physically harmed and assured viewers on Instagram that her friend was “fine”. Sadly, though, this just serves as yet another example of the fact that, as Laverne herself says, “it’s not safe in the world… if you are a trans person.”

But, while it is easy to look on in horror from afar at these incidents when they are recounted by celebrities everyone knows and loves, it’s important to recognise that this sort of thing happens a lot. Very often, it happens to vulnerable people with little or no platform to speak of.

In the UK, the situation is particularly pronounced, as over the past few years the transgender community has been brought into the media spotlight like never before. The conversation surrounding this minority group’s existing rights and future progress has, however, been notably hostile, with national newspapers and trans-exclusionary groups pushing back. We explored in more detail about exactly what caused this spike in hostility on Stylist last month.

Laverne Cox was the victim of a transphobic attack. Here’s why we in Britain shouldn’t turn a blind eye