Last night, Ellen Page made an appearance on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert and gave an incredibly personal, emotional interview, in which she called out the Trump Administration and particularly, Vice President Mike Pence, for their anti-LGBTQ policies and rhetoric. While it’s “impossible to not be fired up” in our country’s political climate, it’s imperative we “connect the dots” between the actions of people in power and the homophobic and racist attack on Empire actor Jussie Smollett, an openly gay black man and LGBTQ+ activist.
“It feels impossible not to feel this way right now with the president and the Vice President Mike Pence, who wishes I could not be married, let’s just be clear,” Ellen said. “The Vice President of America wishes I didn’t have the love with my wife. He wanted to ban that in Indiana, he believes in conversion therapy, he has hurt LGBTQ people so badly as the governor of Indiana.”
The actress is no stranger to speaking out on behalf of LGBTQ+ rights, and has done so on multiple occasions, but she could barely hold back her tears as she spoke: “If you are in a position of power and you hate people and you want to cause suffering to them, you go through the trouble, you spend your career trying to cause suffering, what do you think is going to happen? Kids are going to be abused, and they’re going to kill themselves and people are going to be beaten on the street.”
Ellen is the star of Viceland’s Gaycation, a documentary series where she and friend Ian Daniel travel around the world exploring how different cultures treat the LGBTQ+ community in their country. “I have traveled the world and I have met the most marginalized people you could meet,” she said. “I am lucky to have this time and the privilege to say this. This needs to fucking stop.”