As many of you have likely heard, Elliot Page, of "Juno" and "The Umbrella Academy" fame, publicly came out as transgender earlier this month, stating that they use he/they pronouns, in a heartfelt letter posted to his social media. Their coming out is huge for the transgender community, which faces constant discrimination in addition to having very little positive mainstream media representation.
Many celebrities and fans alike articulated their support for the actor. However, unfortunately, there was also a notable amount of backlash from conservative pundits, such as Ben Shapiro, and many TERFs, which stands for trans exclusionary radical feminists. TERFs, or gender critical feminists as they prefer to be called, are known for co-opting feminist arguments in order to demonize transfeminine people, alongside claiming transmasculine individuals such as Elliot Page are suffering from internalized misogyny. The irony in their positions, however, is that many TERFS openly support conservative hate groups and anti-abortion organizations - making it obvious that their goals lie closer to the continued oppression of trans people than the true political, economic, and social equality of women.
Outside of the vitriol he has received from transphobic individuals, however, Elliot Page has been showered with support from fellow celebrities such as Miley Cyrus, the transgender community, and fans of his work. Netflix has also confirmed that they will not be recasting Page's role as Vanya Hargreeves in their show "The Umbrella Academy", although they have changed the credits to reflect the actor's name change.
Overall, this is an exciting new time- for transgender individuals, cisgender allies, and, of course, Elliot Page himself. We at The Sentinel Sun are all looking forward to seeing Page give us more outstanding performances and characters, in addition to continuing to be his authentic self!
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