Annette Bening, on the GOP and the conservatives’ efforts to stoke
anti-transgender bigotry for political gain:
“They are trying to stir up all this fear in people about
trans kids and parents, and they are trying to legislate that. This should not
be scary to anybody else. This is a private, legitimate, complex, deep,
spiritual, physical, psychological experience that has to be respected and
honored. At the bottom line, life is about love. For me, the real transition
has happened as the right wing in the country has become more and more
mobilized on misinforming people about the LGBTQ community. They have been
vilifying our community and creating problems that do not exist and creating
and sowing hate and fear as a way of rallying their base. That’s obviously not
new, and it’s happened in the campaigns of the past, especially against gay
people. But now it’s transphobia, and it’s just rampant. They’re doing it at a
time when there are more and more trans people who are living openly and who
are our teachers, our writers, and our doctors … what I would wish is for every
person to have someone who is trans in their family because once somebody you
love is trans, then you get it. I am incredibly proud of [my son], and he has
carved his own way. He’s someone I do admire, and I’ve learned a lot from when
he first came out. I was very ignorant about what that meant to be a trans kid.
I, like every other parent, want to protect my kids and make sure they’re OK,
and I had a lot of learning to do. I didn’t always know what to do, and I
didn’t always make the right choices because of my own ignorance, but we got
through it [and] we all have a responsibility to protect and defend the rights
of trans folks in our world. They’re precious parts of our community.”
The attacks on trans people are personal for Bening, whose
son, writer Stephen Ira, is trans. The four-time Academy Award nominee and
recently appointed chair of the board of the Entertainment Community Fund
admitted to a certain hesitation in talking about her son publicly.
She also vowed to continue to use here platform to advocate
for trans people.
Knowledge is power; love is love; the conservative right is
wrong.
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