Appearing on The Late Show with
Stephen Colbert, out actress Ellen Page called out Vice President
Mike Pence's opposition to LGBT rights, saying that his rhetoric is
partially to blame for the recent homophobic attack against out actor
Jussie Smollett.
Pence, the former governor of Indiana,
is opposed to marriage equality and has been accused of supporting
therapies that attempt to alter the sexual orientation or gender
identity of LGBT people.
(Related: Trump
once joked that Mike Pence “wants to hang” all gay people.)
“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,” Page said in front of
a live studio audience.
Smollett was attacked early Tuesday
morning as he was walking in downtown Chicago. Two men hurled racial
and homophobic slurs as they beat him.
(Related: Jussie
Smollett at home recovering after possible anti-gay hate crime.)
“He has hurt LGBTQ people so badly as
the governor of Indiana. And I think the thing we need to know, and
I hope my show Gaycation did this in terms of connecting the
dots, in terms of what happened the other day to Jussie – I don't
know him personally. I send all of my love.”
“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 gonna happen?” Page rhetorically asked. “Kids
are gonna be abused and they’re gonna kill themselves. And people
are gonna be beaten on the street.”
(Related: Ellen
Page: Gaycation
asks gay-rights foes, What's your problem?)
“I have traveled the world and I have
met the most marginalized people you could meet. I am lucky to have
the time and the privilege to say this: This needs to fucking stop!”
she added.
In 2015, Page confronted Texas Senator
Ted Cruz at the Iowa State Fair about his opposition to LGBT rights.
(Related: Ellen
Page confronts Ted Cruz over gay rights.)