Elliot Page, formerly Ellen Page, came out to the world as transgender on Dec. 1. They shared a beautifully written post on Instagram detailing their thoughts and feelings on their transition and how they are overwhelmed with emotion for this entire experience.
Elliot Page boldly pronounced that he is transgender and uses he/they pronouns. Page then shared feelings of self love, gratitude and joy for their life. He goes on to give thanks to the transgender community, who he says has inspired and helped him in this journey. But, in sharing his thoughts, he also shared that he is scared for this new experience.
Elliot used his voice to make multiple important announcements in this post. He shared his disgust for today’s climate, because he knows to expect hatred and backlash over this personal choice. He detailed that the discrimination and harm done to those in the transgender community has become far too frequent.
In this post, Elliot Page says, “I see you, I love you and I will do everything I can to change this world for the better,” while speaking out to those in the transgender community. He goes on to say how proud he is of himself, and thank those who stood by him to help him become who he is today.
While Page’s post has been groundbreaking for so many people, it has also left a lot of people confused and in need of further explanation. Unless otherwise specifically stated, genuine confusion on identification when it comes to pronouns and dead names is usually just that- genuine ignorance. Among many other topics, a lot of people don’t know what the “right” terms are to use when discussing the past versus the present identification. This is due in part to a general lack of well-rounded and unbiased education.
Unfortunately, mainstream education in America hasn’t progressed as far as society has in terms of sex and gender identification. It seems that millennials and Gen-Zers can comprehend gender identity outside of the “norms,” but Gen-Xers and boomers still struggle to even want to understand new terms for gender identity. According to the International Society for Sexual Medicine, sex education curriculum doesn’t always address the needs of transgender and non-binary teachings. This is an injustice to the LGBTQ+ community that starts way too early in life.
Ellen Page is considered a dead name now that Elliot Page has come out. While it may take some time for many platforms to make name and identification adjustments, some platforms have led the way in respectfully changing identifications and pronouns. Not even 24 hours after Page’s viral Instagram post, Google, IMDB and Netflix, among others, were some of the most prominent platforms to delete the dead name (Ellen) from their platforms as a whole and change all pronouns from she’s to he’s and they’s.
While platforms can change names and pronouns, original films cannot be edited. So, for example, if you look up the movie “Juno,” 2008, the caption will list Elliot Page as the star, even though, back then, Elliot was Ellen. The language used on the platform, like the captions and suggestions for movies, can always be changed. However, film typically cannot be edited after it is released.
Because of this, when you play the movie and the credits roll at the end, Juno will be listed as Ellen Page and not Elliot Page. Although this can be confusing for some, it’s important to educate everyone on the topic. Dead names are dead for a reason- they do not exist anymore.
One of Page’s most prominent roles is that of Vanya in “The Umbrella Academy.” In this show, Vanya is a female character. While Elliot will continue to play this female character, he will be listed in the cast list as Elliot Page and not Ellen Page from this point on. Although a new season isn’t coming out for some time, Netflix has already changed all of the captions and descriptions to address Elliot properly.
