Elliot Page Urged People To Educate Themselves On Anti-LGBTQ+ And Anti-Trans Politics, And It's A Healthy Dose Of Vital Information
Elliot Page encouraged people to educate themselves on LGBTQ+ politics, especially in this current climate, and everybody should be taking notes.
The Oscar-nominated actor, who came out as trans in 2020, appeared on The View to discuss his role in the fourth and final season of The Umbrella Academy and the upcoming film Close to You.
The Umbrella Academy is a hit Netflix series based on a comic book series by Gerard Way. The TV adaptation introduced groundbreaking LGBTQ+ storylines, including the transition of one of the main characters portrayed by Elliot.
As for Close to You, it's Elliot's first big screen role since 2017. It's a drama following Sam, a trans man who returns home for a family reunion for the first time in five years and rekindles a connection with an old flame.
In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Elliot said that experience was a "liberating" moment. "The way I get to feel working now is far more embodied coming from that foundation, versus entering and not feeling that way. It's a huge shift. Doing something like this, complete improv, before, would've been close to impossible."
Remarkably, Elliot has taken on these roles that give visibility and voice to trans characters, but as The View hosts have noted, these freedoms are being challenged more and more in the real world.
Cohost Ana Navarro asked Elliot about the current presidential election cycle and the anti-trans sentiment, and his thoughtful answer needs to be heard by everyone.
"Republicans are obsessed with what they call the LGBTQ agenda, and, across the country, they've introduced hundreds of anti-LGBTQ+ bills, including those banning gender-affirming healthcare for trans youth," Ana started. "What do you feel about that, and what advice do you have for anybody who wants to be an ally to the community?"
Elliot responded that he was "incredibly sad about it, angry, and frightened" by the recent rhetoric from political figures and the Republican National Convention.
"I think of, for example, the trans community and how the vast majority of people don't know or think they don't know a trans person," Elliot said. "The amount of misinformation and true, flat-out lies about our lives, who we are, our healthcare, spread."
"I really want to encourage people to educate yourselves, to listen to trans people, to listen to trans youth, to listen to the parents of trans youth, many of whom were in denial about a certain situation, and if they have the means, having to flee certain states, are terrified that their children are going to be taken away from them when they've been doing everything they can to make sure that their child can feel loved and thrive in their lives."
"In terms of the ACLU's website, you can look and track...they have an actual tracker to see how these bills are spreading."
According to their website, the ACLU is currently tracking 527 anti-LGBTQ bills in the United States.
Elliot continued, "You can watch great documentaries like Disclosure or Changing the Game, Framing Agnes by Chase Joynt..."
Disclosure, according to their website, "is an unprecedented, eye-opening look at transgender depictions in film and television, revealing how Hollywood simultaneously reflects and manufactures our deepest anxieties about gender. Leading trans thinkers and creatives, including Laverne Cox, Lilly Wachowski, Yance Ford, MJ Rodriguez, Jamie Clayton, and Chaz Bono, share their reactions and resistance to some of Hollywood's most beloved moments."
Changing the Game, according to Hulu, "takes us into the lives of three high school athletes — all at different stages of their athletic seasons, personal lives, and unique paths as transgender teens."
Framing Agnes tells the story of how "After discovering case files from a 1950s gender clinic, a cast of trans actors turn a talk show inside out to confront the legacy of a young trans woman forced to choose between honesty and access."
The View cohosts suggested even reading Elliot's book Pageboy, which prompted the Juno actor to shout out several more books people should read to educate themselves.
The books mentioned included Susan Stryker's Transgender History, Raquel Willis's The Risk It Takes to Bloom: On Life and Liberation, Travis Alabanza's None of the Above: Reflections on Life Beyond the Binary, and Miss Major Speaks: Conversations with a Black Trans Revolutionary by Miss Major Griffin-Gracy.
The information is out there for those willing to seek it. It's essential to educate ourselves on the many ways people exist in this world before ignorance, fear, and anti-LGBTQ legislation threatens to steal livelihood and rights away from folks of all ages. What you do know and don't understand is always available to learn.
Watch the entire segment here.
