Elliot Page Reflects On ‘Lifesaving’ Top Surgery, Decries GOP for Signing Anti-Trans Bills: They Want to ‘Erase’ Us
Elliot Page sat down with Oprah Winfrey for his first on-camera interview since coming out as transgender.
Winfrey interviewed Page for her new show on Apple TV+, The Oprah Conversation, during which Page opened up about his own transition and the importance of trans visibility — also decrying those who “don’t want us to exist.”
Page recalled how distressing the pressure to be feminine was throughout his career– revealing that he frequently had panic attacks, and even collapsed at the Inception premiere.
“Ultimately, of course, it’s every experience you’ve had since you were a toddler, people saying, ‘The way you’re sitting is not ladylike, you’re walking like a boy. The music you’re listening to as a teenager,’ obviously, the way you dress. Every single aspect of who you are constantly being looked at and put in a box in a very binary system,” he added. “That’s what it leads to.”
Page urged people to listen, have compassion, and educate themselves — telling Winfrey just how crucial access to healthcare is to trans people.
“I want people to know that not only has it been life-changing for me, I do believe it is life-saving and it’s the case for so many people,” he said of his male chest reconstruction surgery, adding, “I wanted to share with people how much it has changed my life.”
Page came out as transgender in December 2020, revealing that his pronouns are he/they:
— Elliot Page (@TheElliotPage) December 1, 2020
The actor has since spoken to Vanity Fair and Time — becoming the magazine’s first trans male cover star and addressing both the “love and a massive amount of hatred and transphobia” he faced after coming out.
Page again addressed the scrutiny transgender people face while speaking to Winfrey, lamenting the “horrible backlash we’re seeing toward trans people, particularly trans youth,” which made it “imperative” for him to speak out.
“I believe people want to erase trans people, they don’t believe we exist and they don’t want us to exist,” he added. “Right now, the main tactic is to attack trans kids. It’s unfathomable to me to desire to do something like that. These kids are being used as political pawns to fight the Equality Act, which the Republicans don’t want passed.”
The Umbrella Academy actor then bluntly predicted what these laws will do to trans youth: “Children will die. And it really is that simple.”
“What you are hearing from certain lawmakers is lies, in terms of what they’re saying about the healthcare,” he said. “The reality of the healthcare is its supported by medical institutions and it saves lives.”
Page then addressed trans youth directly, validating their existence, their love, and the difficulties they face, while also promising to continue to fight for them.
“I want to tell them that I see them, that they exist, that they are real. I know for me, looking at the attacks against trans kids and the rhetoric, I can’t imagine what it feels like,” he said. “I just want kids to know that they’re loved and I’m going to continue to do what I can to try and help this society shift how it treats transgender people.”
Watch clips from the interview above, via ABC.
