Transgender model Carmen Carrera said
in a recent interview that the Trump administration is robbing
transgender people of their civil rights.
The 31-year-old Carrera, who appears in
the upcoming HBO docuseries Outpost, was asked by gay glossy
OUT to weigh in on Gavin Grimm, the 17-year-old student at the center
of the transgender bathroom access debate.
The Supreme Court was scheduled to hear
Grimm's case later this month. Actions taken by the Trump
administration resulted in the high court remanding the case back to
a lower court. Grimm, who graduates this year, will end his high
school career without a legal victory.
(Related: Supreme
Court won't hear case involving transgender teen Gavin Grimm.)
“[President Barrack] Obama was really
the only president to embrace transgender people. I really felt
secure with everything that was going on under his administration –
there was a sense of pride,” Carrera
said.
“Gavin Grimm’s case came about and
Trump had made a couple of comments about it being a state issue more
than a federal issue, and I disagree. It’s not about bathrooms,
it’s about being equal to everyone else. When it involves students
and your government is basically saying we aren’t equal, we
shouldn’t be able to function like everyone else, it sends a
powerfully negative message. These kids are relying on us to set the
tone for their future.”
When asked whether it feels like the
movement is losing momentum, Carrera answered “no.”
“So many more people are
understanding what is actually happening within the government. Even
with my group of friends, the more we follow this case, the more we
are actually learning, actually seeing what’s wrong and how we’re
being robbed of our civil rights,” she answered. “It’s bad
enough that being trans stigmatizes you, now you have the federal
government saying they won’t support us.”