Ellen Page calls out transphobia in the media
SAO PAULO, BRAZIL – DECEMBER 08: Ellen Page attends the Netflix Original: The Umbrella Academy panel at Comic-Con S√£o Paulo on December 8, 2018 in Sao Paulo, Brazil. (Photo by Alexandre Schneider/Getty Images for Netflix)
Actor Ellen Page has said the representation of LGBT+ people in the media needs to go “so much further,” criticising the press for presenting trans rights as a “debate.”
In an interview on Monday (February 11), Page, who stars in the upcoming Netflix series The Umbrella Academy, also discussed the progress of LGBT+ rights.
The Juno star, who married dancer Emma Portner in January 2018, told BBC Radio 5 Live’s Must Watch podcast: “We have so far to go.
“There are so many states in America where you can just be fired for being who you are, denied housing for being who you are, trans women of colour in the United States of America have a life expectancy of 35, and really struggle.”
“There’s barely any LGBTQ representation,” says Ellen Page
She continued: “Of course there’s been so much progress, wonderful progress. I’m married, for example.
“But a lot of the most marginalised people in the community get left behind, and a big part of that reason is there’s barely any LGBTQ representation. Has it got better? For sure.
Emma Portner and her wife Ellen Page. (Earl Gibson III/Getty)
“But it needs to go so much further, particularly in media, who are pretending it’s a debate whether or not trans people should have rights.”
“A lot of the most marginalised people in the community get left behind, and a big part of that reason is there’s barely any LGBTQ representation.”
—Ellen Page
The 31-year-old actor continued: “It’s a debate whether it’s okay or not to have a religious liberty law that would give you the right to deny an LGBTQ person service – that’s not a debate.
“Marriage equality wasn’t a debate.”
Ellen Page: “people are really queer-phobic and transphobic”
Asked why she believes some LGBT issues are debated, Page responded: “People are really queer-phobic and transphobic.”
Page recently lashed out at fellow actor Chris Pratt for attending an “infamously anti-LGBTQ” church.
She criticised Pratt on Twitter after he spoke on Thursday’s (February 7) episode of The Late Show With Stephen Colbert about being “inspired” by his pastor to perform the 21-day Bible-derived Daniel fast.
Pratt attends Zoe Church, which, according to The New York Times, has links with Hillsong Church. Hillsong Church has previously been criticised for its treatment of the LGBT+ community.
