Elliot Page, who is known for his role in 2007 film Juno which he starred in as Ellen Page, has come out as transgender. The Canadian actor announced the news on Tuesday, 1 December in a statement he posted on Twitter and Instagram. "Hi friends, 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," he wrote.
He went on to share that while he was "profoundly happy" and privileged, he was also scared about how the news would be received. "I'm scared of the invasiveness, the hate, the "jokes" (sic) and of violence," he wrote, highlighting the discrimination faced by the trans community, especially Black and Latinx women. He added,
"The discrimination towards trans people is rife, insidious and cruel, resulting in horrific consequences. In 2020 alone it has been reported that at least 40 transgender people have been murdered, the majority of which were Black and Latinx trans women. to the political leaders who work to criminalize trans health care and deny our right to exist and to all of those with a massive platform who continue to spew hostility towards the trans community: you have blood on your hands."Elliot Page, Actor
"Enough is enough. You aren't being "cancelled", you are hurting people. I am one of those people and we won't be silent in the face of your attacks," he declared.
Page has been a vocal supporter of LGBTQ rights over the past decade and came out as gay in 2014. He received an Oscar nomination for his role in Juno and has starred in films such as Christopher Nolan's Inception and the X-Men series. Most recently he starred as Vanya Hargreeves in Netflix series The Umbrella Academy. According to a report by Variety, Netflix has said it does not plan to change the gender of his character who is a cis-gendered woman. The streaming platform has said that they are in the process of updating the credits on the back catalogue of Elliot Page's films that appear on its service.
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