During an appearance Friday on Ellen
DeGeneres' daytime talk show, out actress Ellen Page said that LGBT
rights are not up for debate.
Page, who is promoting her latest
project, Netflix's The Umbrella Academy, spoke with DeGeneres
about her activism.
During a recent appearance on The
Late Show with Stephen Colbert, Page said that the Trump
administration was partially responsible for the alleged homophobic
attack on out actor Jussie Smollett. She specifically called out
Vice President Mike Pence's anti-LGBT rhetoric.
(Related: Ellen
Page holds Mike Pence partially responsible for attack on Jussie
Smollett.)
“I texted you right after I saw that
and I also texted Stephen. I just thought it was amazing,”
DeGeneres said of the interview.
“What people need to know is it's
life or death,” Page
replied. “People need to know that when you're growing up in a
society that makes you feel like there's something wrong with you,
that something needs to be fixed. It's extremely dangerous and
harmful.”
After noting that Page, as host of
Viceland's Gaycation, sees extreme examples of anti-LGBT
discrimination and violence, DeGeneres, who was recently criticized
for supporting Kevin Hart as host of this year's Oscars as he
attempted to dismiss accusations of homophobia, admitted that she's
sometimes overwhelmed by the news cycle.
“I think most of us, we're so
bombarded. You watch the news … we're bombarded with horrible
things going on all the time in every area. Not just anti-gay. It's
everything. I think sometimes we just keep our heads down and we
just keep trying to do what we can,” DeGeneres said.
Page, who came out in 2014 and married
Emma Portner last year, responded: “We have so little
representation in the media and we don't learn about LGBTQ history in
schools. These are the things that we need. You know what it's
like, Ellen. You know what it's like to grow up and internalize
homophobia and live with that shame that poisons you.”
“Oh, I do,” DeGeneres replied.
“And we need to have these
conversations because kids kill themselves, are kicked out of their
homes, run away from home. … It's not a debate. Marriage equality
should never have been a debate. It's not a debate,” Page said to
applause from the audience.