“My job as a parent is to make sure they have everything they need in order to be what they want to be”
BY ELEANOR NOYCE
Actor Charlize Theron has revealed that her seven-year-old daughter Jackson is trans, and that she fully supports her. “My job as a parent”, she said, “is to celebrate them and to love them and to make sure that they have everything they need in order to be what they want to be.”
What’s more, Charlize has a strong record of support for LGBTQI rights: in 2012, she refused to get married until same-sex marriage was legalised, and in 2017, she spoke out against the lack of bisexual representation in Hollywood. Amazing. Why can’t all parents be a little bit more like Charlize?
Mermaids, a charity working with young trans people, has spoken out in support of Charlize, with CEO Susie Green stating, “We applaud Charlize Theron for listening to her daughter. Too often children are dismissed, their feelings regarded as irrelevant.”
Messages of support from LGBTQI and non-LGBTQI allies alike have flooded social media. Juno Dawson, LGBTI writer and influencer, has praised Charlize for her approach to parenting:
India Willoughby laid down the law for those anti-trans pests:
And fellow mother of trans children, Amanda Jette Knox, did the same:
The topic of trans children, in particular, stirs up many sentient feelings amongst the hellfire that is the right-wing section of the British media. Older members of the LGBTQI community will remember the hatred directed towards gay men, lesbians, and bisexuals in the 1980s, with headlines such as “Perverts Support The Pits!” (thanks The Sun, thanks) making front page news during the Miners’ Strike. That same media hatred for minorities still exists, and it’s now being directed towards the trans community.
With anti-trans rhetoric running rife, stories like Charlize’s are needed now more than ever.
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