Elliot Page: Politicians think attacks on transgender people are ‘working’

Elliot Page says it’s “scary” that elected officials think their attacks on transgender people are being effective.

“Everything that’s being said about us is all the same shit that was said about LGB people: pedophiles, mentally ill, should they be allowed in the changing rooms. It’s the same,” the “Umbrella Academy” star said in an Esquire essay published Wednesday.

“But the politicians are saying, ‘Oh, shit! This is working.’ And that’s what’s scary,” said the 35-year-old actor, who came out as transgender in 2020.

“There are people in elected office saying that, essentially, transgender people are going to be responsible for the end of existence. That degree of rhetoric is really alarming and horrible,” Page said.

“It’s also endless misinformation — and people buy it,” he added.

The idea of gender “as a binary concept specifically based on genitalia,” Page said, “is a very new idea in relation to human history!”

“People don’t learn about that reality. They’re banning kids from learning it. It’s all tactical.”

The “Juno” performer said he didn’t expect the reaction to his transition more than a year ago to “be so big.”

“In terms of the actual quality of the response, it was what I expected: love and support from many people and hatred and cruelty and vitriol from so many others,” Page said.

“I came out as gay in 2014, and it’s different. Transphobia is just so, so, so extreme. The hatred and the cruelty is so much more incessant.”

Without naming any specific comedians, Page also weighed in on transphobic wisecracks. Last year, Dave Chappelle’s Netflix special was condemned by critics for jokes the comic told mocking transgender people. Last month, LGBTQ rights organization GLAAD called Ricky Gervais’s latest Netflix special “dangerous,” saying it included “anti-trans rants masquerading as jokes.”

“Jokes have an impact that hurts people. I understand that people might think it doesn’t,” Page said.

“I understand that they’re not meaning to. But: It’s not a joke. It’s not a joke. You believe what you’re saying,” Page continued.

“And all we’re saying is: Can you just please listen and understand the harm that it causes? That’s all we’re trying to say.”

“And then we get inundated with hatred for saying it,” Page said. “But I’m sorry: You are the ones who don’t want to have the conversation. You are the ones who are so sensitive, who can’t handle people saying, Hey, can you not do that?”