‘Basic Trans Etiquette’ Goes Viral After Elliot Page Comes Out As Transgender

The star Elliot Page made an announcement that’s rocking the internet. They shared on their social media pages that they’re transgender, talked about their new pronouns (he/they), and explained that, from now on, their name is Elliot. With other celebrities coming out in support of Elliot, others on the internet are raising the question of ‘basic trans etiquette.’

One of the people who created a handy guide on Twitter is Martin, a trans and queer creator from Canada. Their thread went viral with over a whopping 179k likes and more than 65k retweets in less than a day. Check out what Martin had to say below and, when you’re done, let us know what you think of Elliot coming out, dear Pandas. And scroll down for Bored Panda's interview with Martin about their guidelines.

Elliot's breakthrough role was playing the title character in 2007's Juno. For this role, Elliot received nominations for the Academy Award, BAFTA, Golden Globe, and the Screen Actors Guild Award for Best Actress while publicly identifying as female at the time.

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Martin makes all kinds of videos on YouTube, does cosplay on TikTok, and is “working on living in the now.”

Elliot, an Academy Award nominee and “Juno” and “The Umbrella Academy” star, spoke about trans issues and thanked their fans and followers for their support. Elliot also pointed out how great it is to be their real self despite the discrimination that trans people face in everyday life.

“I feel overwhelming gratitude for the incredible people who have supported me along this journey,” Elliot said. “I can’t begin to express how remarkable it feels to finally love who I am enough to pursue my authentic self. I’ve been endlessly inspired by so many in the trans community. Thank you for your courage.”

They weren’t shy about pointing to the biggest issues surrounding trans people: “The statistics are staggering. The discrimination towards trans people is rife, insidious and cruel, resulting in horrific consequences. In 2020 alone, it has been reported that at least 40 transgender people have been murdered, the majority of which were Black and Latinx trans women.”

Elliot continued: “I love that I am trans. And I love that I am queer. And the more I hold myself close and fully embrace who I am, the more I dream, the more my heart grows and the more I thrive. To all trans people who deal with harassment, self-loathing, abuse, and the threat of violence every day: I see you, I love you, and I will do everything I can to change this world for the better."

Martin told Bored Panda that it was jarring to learn that their thread went viral. "I saw that Elliot came out and I was super happy for him. And then I realized there would probably be a whole lot of people who just didn’t know the kind of stuff that I put in that thread. I wish it were common knowledge, and I hope there’s a day when things on that thread don’t need to be spelled out, but it unfortunately does," they said.

"So I just figured making the thread would be an easy way to compile some basic stuff for allies who are trying to learn. I really didn’t expect it to blow up in the way it did, it got as far as Emma Portner’s Instagram story, which is wild. If I had known it was going to get that big, I maybe would have added just a quick guide on “he/they” pronouns. I use them myself, and there were a lot of people in the replies asking how to use them."

Martin said that most of the replies they've seen about Elliot coming out online were positive. But not all of them. "There are some horribly transphobic replies just to my thread, people saying he was 'playing make-belief' and such. I went to look up Emma Portner’s Twitter to see if she had one, and all of the related tweets were asking intrusive questions on her sexuality. But I believe I’ve seen more positive than negative, which is a really good sign," they explained.

Martin also shared a bit more about themselves. They're studying in their first year of film school and they plan to put more effort into their YouTube channel when they get the time.