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Eddie Izzard: “I consider being trans a superhero thing”

Rachel Badham March 23, 2021

In a recent interview for Sky News, 59-year-old comedian and trans advocate Eddie Izzard discussed her latest film project and reflected on how far LGBTQ+ equality has progressed. Izzard, who announced in December 2020 that she would like to be referred to by she/her pronouns from now on, is starring in period thriller Six Minutes To Midnight, set in 1939 before the onset of WWII.

Izzard in Six Minutes To Midnight

Izzard said she has been open about her gender identity since 1985, but added: “If we go back to the 1930s, if I’d been in Nazi Germany, I would have been murdered for saying that I was trans…Gay people were put in concentration camps. That’s what this extreme right-wing thinking will do.” She said that now she “considers being trans a superhero thing,” and said she wants to frame trans identities in a “very positive light” to help promote LGBTQ+ equality. 

As well as acting, Izzard also spoke recently about her plans to venture into politics, saying she wants to become the UK’s first out trans MP, adding: “I have been an activist since 2008, a member of the Labour Party since 1995…I would love to be elected and I would love to fight for Keir Starmer to be the next Prime Minister.” 

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