For actor Elliot Page, it was and still is an emotional journey to live authentically. In his first interview since come out as a transgender in December, Page spoke to Time Magazine about the ‘deep gratitude’ he felt ‘he had come to this point in my life’, and about his struggle to ensure that all transgender individuals have the support .
“I want to live and be who I am,” Page, who is known for his role in Netflix’s “The Umbrella Academy,” told Time. “… It’s a complicated journey and an ongoing process.”
According to Reuters, Page is the first transgender man to appear on the cover of Time Magazine.
Despite appearing just three months ago, Page (34) said in the interview that he has felt like a boy since childhood and wanted to identify. But he said he should look at a career in a certain way if he is a professional actor, a career he started at the age of 10.
When he decided to tell the world that he was Elliot, he said he expected a lot of support and love – but also an “enormous amount of hatred and transphobia.”
“That’s essentially what happened,” Page told the magazine. But despite the criticism he faced, he told the magazine that he believes he has the privilege and responsibility to be honest and live honestly.
“Extremely influential people are spreading these myths and damaging rhetoric – every day when you see our existence debating,” Page said. “Transgender people are so very real.”
Many of these debates were political. So far in 2021, more than 100 bills have been proposed that would negatively impact the LGBTQ community, according to the American Civil Liberties Union. More than 60 of these bills are specifically targeted at transgender youth, the ACLU said.
Since coming out, Page has been using its social media pages primarily to raise awareness about crimes and legislative actions that are harming the LGBTQ community. One of the issues he has focused on is access to non-discriminatory healthcare for transgender individuals.
One of the most comprehensive surveys of transgender individuals in the U.S., released in 2016, found that one in three transgender individuals who visited a physician within the year reported at least one negative experience related to transgender, including harassment and refusal of treatment. Those who are transgender were also more likely than the general population to be uninsured.
“My privilege has enabled me to have the resources to get through and be where I am today,” Page told Time, “and of course I want to use that privilege and platform to help in the ways I can. . ”
Even when he tweeted about his interview in Time, Elliot used his platform to raise awareness about the discrimination experienced by transgender individuals. “With deep respect for those who came before me, gratitude for those who supported me and the great concern for the generation of trans youths who must protect us all. Please join me and fight anti-trans legislation, hatred and discrimination in all its forms, ‘he tweeted.
“We know who we are,” Page told Time, referring to the debate over rights-transgender individuals. ‘People cling to these fixed ideas [about gender] because it makes people feel safe. But if we could just celebrate all the wonderful intricacies of people, the world would be such a better place. ‘