Oscar Nominee Elliot Page Comes Out As Transgender

This is the last time anyone needs to know that Elliot Page ever had a first name other than Elliot.

The actor nominated for an Oscar for Juno and who currently appears in the Netflix series The Umbrella Academy came out as transgender Tuesday via social media.

“Hi friends,” their post began. “I want to share with you that I am trans, my pronouns are he/they and my name is Elliot. I feel lucky to be writing this. To be here. To have arrived at this place in my life.

“I feel overwhelming gratitude for the incredible people who have supported me along this journey. I can’t begin to express how remarkable it feels to finally love who I am enough to pursue my authentic self.”

Variety reports he will continue to star in the streaming science fiction series, and sharp-eyed viewers noted the service already updated all references to Page to their name and pronouns.

Applause and support for Page poured-in to his Twitter’s feed, from Hollywood’s famous and from transgender politicians and activists.

Actor Sir Patrick Stewart

Delaware State Sen. Sarah McBride

  • Congrats, Elliot! We are all lucky to bear witness to your authenticity, vulnerability, and compassion. You’ve blazed so many trails before and continue to do so. Thank you.

Activist and writer Raquel Willis

  • Your heart has always been big and you’ve used your platform to show up for the entire community for years. Thanks for the gift of your truth!

Author Magdalene Visaggio:

  • Congrats! I had a very public coming out myself (on a much smaller scale) and yeah, it’s scary in so many ways. Remember that we have your back. Sometimes, we are the *only* people who have each other’s back. Welcome to the team.

Some people on Twitter argued that the role Page plays on The Umbrella Academy — a cisgender female superhero named Vanya Hargreeves —should be recast. GLAAD’s director of transgender media pushed back.

“Trans actors can and do play both trans and cisgender characters. I’m sure Elliot will continue to be brilliant in Umbrella Academy and many different types of roles in the future,” Nick Adams, director of transgender media at the LGBTQ media advocacy group GLAAD, told Variety.

Despite support that GLAAD offered to journalists who covered news of Page’s transition, almost every report in the mainstream media deadnamed him, which means to include Page’s birth name in media coverage.

GLAAD itself did it as well, to show that one time is enough. Here’s how the organization worded one of its 10 pointers to avoid mistakes in reporting on Page as well as the transgender and non-binary population:

Don’t refer to them by their former name.

He has changed it, and should be accorded the same respect received by anyone who has changed their name.

Since Elliot Page was known to the public by their prior name, it may be necessary initially to say “Elliot Page, formerly known as Ellen Page, …”

However, once the public has learned Page’s new name, do not continually refer to it in future stories.

Page, 33, married the choreographer Emma Portner in 2018.

In Page’s post, he asked “for patience. My joy is real, but it is also fragile.”

“I am also scared,” they acknowledged. “The discrimination towards trans people is rife, insidious and cruel, resulting in horrific consequences.”

He has reason to be frightened. The Human Rights Campaign reports that at least 40 trans and gender-nonconforming people have been violently killed in 2020 in the U.S. — that is more than in any other year since the organization began monitoring data in 2013.

Page concluded with this message to his community:

“To all trans people who deal with harassment, self-loathing, abuse and the threat of violence every day: I see you, I love you and I will do everything I can to change this world for the better.”


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