'Juno' actor Elliot Page becomes first trans man to star on Time magazine cover

Tuesday, 16 March 2021 13:39 GMT

'Juno' actor Elliot Page poses on cover of TIME magazine. Photograph by Wynne Neilly for TIME. Handout by TIME via Thomson Reuters

Image Caption and Rights Information
The Oscar-nominated actor, who plays a leading role in the Netflix hit ‘The Umbrella Academy’, announced he was trans in December

By Hugo Greenhalgh

LONDON, March 16 (Openly) - Oscar-nominated actor Elliot Page will become the first transgender man to star on the front cover of Time when the magazine's latest edition goes on sale on Friday.

Page, 34, who was nominated for various awards for Oscar-winning 2007 independent film "Juno" and plays a leading role in the current Netflix hit "The Umbrella Academy", announced he was trans in December.

The actor wrote on Instagram at the time that he could not "begin to express how remarkable it feels to finally love who I am enough to pursue my authentic self".

Page follows in the footsteps of actor Laverne Cox, who became the first trans woman to appear on the cover of Time, a mark of mainstream media approval, in 2014 under the headline "The Transgender Tipping Point".

Since then, trans rights have been the focus of a fierce debate in the United States and around the world.

In 2017, then President Donald Trump announced a ban on trans personnel joining the U.S. military, a ruling subsequently overturned this year by his successor, Joe Biden.

Over the past 12 months, dozens of U.S. states have proposed bills to ban trans women and girls from competing in women's sports, in a move at odds with Biden's push for greater LGBT+ inclusion.

Page told Time he had long felt a disconnect between how the world saw him and how he felt himself.

"I just never recognized myself. For a long time I could not even look at a photo of myself," he said.

Related stories:

Why do dozens of U.S. states want to ban transgender women from sport?

Biden to repeal Trump's ban on transgender people joining military -source

'Juno' actor Page comes out as transgender, changes name to Elliot

(Reporting by Hugo Greenhalgh @hugo_greenhalgh; Editing by Helen Popper. Please credit the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charitable arm of Thomson Reuters, that covers the lives of people around the world who struggle to live freely or fairly. Visit http://news.trust.org)

Openly is an initiative of the Thomson Reuters Foundation dedicated to impartial coverage of LGBT+ issues from around the world.

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Themes
Update cookies preferences