Moderator Annette Bening shares what she hopes people take away from the Trans Visibility panel at THR's Raising Our Voices event. Plus, she shares a message with her fellow trans rights allies about why it's important for them to raise their voices.
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00:00You've been a strong advocate for trans rights. Can you talk more about why it was important for you to be here and be a part of this event today?
00:06Oh, just happy to be part of the conversation and trying to get people to understand that there's nothing to be frightened of around the issues of trans rights.
00:18There's a lot of fear and ignorance being stoked right now in the political world and in social discourse that have dire consequences for trans folks.
00:29So I love to try to come out when I can. We have a wonderful panel. We're going to talk about anti-trans legislation.
00:37We're going to talk about performers who work openly as trans folks.
00:41And we're going to just talk in general about dispelling fear and trying to foster connections between people.
00:50Because as long as we do that, we're going to be able to beat back a lot of the hate and the hate speech that's coming out against trans people and causing a lot of harm and violence, quite frankly.
01:02What do you hope people might learn or take away from this trans visibility panel here today?
01:07It's pretty simple. I mean, trans folks just want to have the same rights as everybody else and to live freely and to live in dignity and peace.
01:15And we have it written into our constitution of this country that everybody gets the right to do that.
01:21And we're all here to fight for that. But as you can feel and see, there's a lot of joy. There's a lot of joy in this room.
01:29We can do this with a sense of humor and with a sense of purpose and that we don't have to try to divide people.
01:41We can actually foster connections and that's what it's all about.
01:45What's your message to your fellow allies in Hollywood? Why is now the time to raise their voices and stand up for trans rights?
01:51Well, I think it's particularly important right now because unfortunately there's a lot of political discourse that is anti-trans, stoking up fear.
02:01There's a lot of legislation around the country around the issue of transgender people in sports, transgender health care, health care for kids.
02:12I have a transgender son. I'm really lucky. And because of that, I've learned so much.
02:19The thing that kids and parents and everybody needs to remember is there's just nothing to be frightened of.
02:26What we need is education and support and quite frankly, love.
02:31This event is all about equity, inclusion, diversity and accessibility in Hollywood.
02:36How do you try to embrace those principles in the projects you pick and the work you do in Hollywood?
02:42Well, I just try to live in the way that I live and as authentically as I can.
02:50I'm not an expert. My primary work is as an actress. I'm a mom. I've got four children.
02:57It's one of my jobs as a mom is to brag about my kids, which I do do, all four of my kids.
03:03So I just hope that people feel that if this enters their life, that they're lucky.
03:12And we all know that trans folks have always existed. They always will exist.
03:18You can't legislate people not to be trans. It doesn't work that way.
03:23So I just try to be a message of hope and love and do what I can.
03:30Thank you so much and thank you for being here today. It was so great talking to you.