While most people on Valentine’s Day might have been courting a significant other or moping around depressed with their lack of one, famous “Juno” actress Ellen Page came out to the world as gay during a highly emotional speech at the Human Rights Campaign. While most UCF students may brush this statement off and move on with their lives as if nothing has changed, Page has made quite an impact on Hollywood and society as a whole.
Luckily we live in a city where LGBT rights are constantly being fought for and prejudice and homophobia is actually quite rare (from my experience). However, when it comes to the rest of the United States, there are several states and locations that are still struggling with these views of acceptance. Kansas is considering passing a bill that would essentially allow discrimination based on someone’s sexual orientation. However, when people who are fans of actresses such as Ellen Page watch their favorite “X-Men” movie or play the video game “Beyond: Two Souls” in which she stars in, perhaps these people can think twice about their stance on the LGBT community.
Page even took the time to congratulate the recently outed NCAA football player Michael Sam, who is likely to be the first openly gay football player drafted into the NFL. Her powerful words spoke of being “tired of hiding” and “lying by omission”. She continues with stating “We deserve to experience love fully, equally, without shame and without compromise.”
When someone as highly respected as Ellen Page comes out, it really makes a difference in society’s stance. What I believe Page and many others are striving for is just plain acceptance from the world without any judgement or consequences for simply being who they are. The world is slowly being shaped that way, but we’ve got a long way to go unfortunately. I hope in my lifetime that statements such as Page’s don’t even reach the news anymore, simply because it’s so accepted as regular life.