* Any views expressed in this opinion piece are those of the author and not of Thomson Reuters Foundation.
We'll look back on Elliot Page and his Time cover as a turning point in the pursuit of acceptance and full equality for transgender peopleAlex Schmider is associate director of transgender representation at GLAAD
Cultural change can be hard to measure, but pivotal moments of visibility can transform conversation and awareness. Much has happened since Laverne Cox graced the cover of Time magazine with the headline "The Transgender Tipping Point” in 2014. Trans women such as Cox have been nominated for Emmys and celebrated for groundbreaking series like “Pose” and "Orange Is the New Black."
Now in 2021, another critical moment has arrived with Elliot Page's appearing on the cover of Time as a proud trans guy.
Last December, when Page disclosed to the world that he’s transgender, the culture noticeably shifted and, for many people, including myself as a trans man, it made a profound impact.
Page, an Oscar-nominated actor who has starred in globally successful films such as "Juno," "Inception," and the X-Men franchise, is the first out transmasculine person many people will know and recognize. His decision to share that part of himself with the public has created a wide-ranging ripple effect, and his presence is expanding representation for young trans boys, men, and non-binary people assigned female at birth who have been largely deprived of possibility models.
I'm three years younger than Elliot Page, and when I was growing up, I didn’t know other trans men like me existed. There weren’t any public figures I was aware of, no TV or film characters that I could relate to; no social media platforms on which I could find community.
My experience was not unique. Those people who believe they've never met a trans person in real life also include trans people, including myself, who often grow up not knowing a single person who shares the experience of recognizing that their gender identity is different than what other people believe it to be.
Most people typically envision trans women if they think about transgender people at all. Trans boys and men largely don’t exist in people’s imaginations. In the documentary “Disclosure” on Netflix, which surveys the history of trans representation in TV and film, director Sam Feder documents the many ways in which trans women have been hyper-visible in the media, but in distorted depictions that were almost always sensationalistic and exploitative. The trans women who speak in the film describe the high cost of that flawed visibility in a deeply transphobic world.
For trans men to have been largely absent in media is a relative privilege, but is also a price to be paid for invisibility.
Looking to the media to find a sign of what your future may hold and seeing nothing, many young trans men and boys are isolated, without a sense of community and struggle to find their place. In “Disclosure”, filmmaker Yance Ford invokes Marian Wright Edelman's observation about representation: "Children cannot be what they cannot see." Ford goes further to say that’s true for all of us and I agree. That's why, as part of my work at GLAAD, I help content creators tell more authentic and accurate stories to reflect the infinitely diverse and multi-faceted experiences of trans people.
As I scrolled through the overwhelmingly positive reactions and responses to Page’s interview on social media and in the comments section of the Time article, it’s clear how respected and beloved he is. I also know that trans people of all ages are seeing that support and internalizing it for themselves; feeling a renewed sense that there may be a place for them in the world. Elliot Page’s personal visibility is incredibly important in and of itself.
But his decision to use his visibility and platform to educate and engage in political and social action is equally important. His efforts to push back against the onslaught of harmful and unnecessary bills targeting trans youth and trans athletes is welcome reinforcement for grassroots advocates who are fighting on the frontlines against a powerful lobby of politicians targeting us in states like Idaho, Mississippi, and Alabama –especially as our full equality is debated on the national stage in the current Equality Act hearings.
In this time of urgency, when politicians are taking aim to prevent trans people from living our lives in peace, Page’s visibility and voice in this moment is not only a reminder that we belong in the world, but a powerful message because so many are seeing that we do.
I believe we'll look back on Elliot Page and his Time cover as another moment that will be a great inflection – a turning point in the pursuit of acceptance and full equality for transgender people.
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