Elliot Page, formally known as Ellen Page, has recently come out as transgender and non-binary. Elliot, who uses the pronouns he/him and they/them, issued a statement on twitter saying that he is trans. Since then he took a step back from social media and it is only now that he has reappeared by posting a thank you to his fans as their ‘love and support has been the greatest gift’.
‘I feel overwhelming gratitude for the incredible people who have supported me along this journey.”
The 33-year-old Canadian actor posed in a plain black hoodie, black beanie and glasses for the post as he received various supportive comments from fellow stars such as Shawn Ashmore, Indya Moore and Jillian Mercado.
He feels confident enough to ‘finally love who [he is] enough to pursue [his] authentic self.’ This has followed him coming out as gay in 2014. He came out during his speech at the Human Rights Campaign’s ‘Time to Thrive’ and for the past two years he has been married to Emma Portner, a Canadian Dancer.
He says ‘if you support @transanta and @translifeline. See you in 2021”. This post got more than 1.5 million likes and thousands of comments such as Jennifer Garner saying: “Major, huge love to you, Elliot.”
Page is known for his roles in “Juno” and “The Umbrella Academy,” showed his care for other transgender people as he says “to all trans people who deal with harassment, self-loathing, abuse, and the threat of violence everyday: I see you, I love you, and I will do everything I can to change this world for the better.” He went on to say “stay safe, Be there for each other” which many people commented on as he may be referring to both the topic of transgender and the current global situations.
The Oscar-nominated star can be recognised by her roles in media such as The Umbrella Academy, Trailer Park Boys and Tales of the City. After he released his statement on Instagram, his Wikipedia page was changed to cohere to his new pronouns. This was done alongside many others giving him the full support he deserved, whether this be via Instagram or twitter.
Her twitter post reached over 234K retweets, with 105K quote tweets and over 1.8 million likes.
Mark Ruffalo, known for being in the Avenger movies as well as 13 going on 30, showed his support by commenting; “congratulation, Elliot, in committing to the full expression of yourself and being so open and candid about it. You have made this world a more tolerant and loving place with your commitment, courage, and vulnerability. We are lucky to have public figures like you.”
Another fellow celebrity, Sir Ian McKellen, expressed his feeling towards Pages news as he is ‘so happy’ for coming-out with this announcement. He chose to express his concern in himself as he felt ‘disappointed’ he couldn’t help him sooner as he didn’t notice she was struggling. As this topic is becoming more widely spoken about it has highlighted the struggles that people face when overcoming these situations. McKellen explains that after seeing Page grow, overcome and evolve in self-confidence be thought he would have noticed such a big change like this and will attempt to be more supportive in the future. He relays a conversation he once had with Page by saying “so I said, ‘look, if you can’t speak up, would you mind when you’re finished speaking, just dropping your hand so I know when you’ve finished speaking? And then they come out [as gay] years later and suddenly you couldn’t stop them talking. You heard everything.’ This must be so reassuring and supportive for Page as McKellen is one of Britain’s most high-profile gay public figures.
In an interview with a 21-year-old lesbian, who wants to remain anonymous, explained that as part of her LGBT group at University she finds stories like this ‘inspiring’. As it took her ‘many years to be comfortable to express my feelings’ about coming out as liking other women, she looks up to people like Page as she had ‘gained the courage to come out as gay in the first place, let along coming out as trans’. She further expressed her admiration for coming out as trans after facing ‘brutal and hateful comments about being part of the LGBT community.’ She further explained that as part of the LGBT football team, she felt free to ‘open up and talk to others who may have similar feelings to her right now’ as her group is made up of various different types and associations people like to be referred to.
He was not along in expressing his support as it is clear by scrolling through the comments the numerous variation ticks signify the support from high-profile people. Some comments from ‘ordinary’ people brought up the topic of biology, which when referring to transgender, is such a pressing topic. Many ‘haters’ believe that biology is biology and ‘she was born a girl’, as some of the comments said. However, many people snapped back at this claiming that biology is over simplified in order to be accurate when this is no longer the case. Additionally, one of the most liked comments with 180 likes expresses the confusion go the writer; “I am so confused, don’t take me wrong I love the actress/actor somebody help me. So… was Ellen Page born trans? I mean I always thought Ellen Page was a GIRL. Now Ellen Page is Elliot Page what changed? Somebody explains please.” Unfortunately, not everyone can be supportive.
The social media frenzy! 