Bella Ramsey shares beautiful message to their younger self for Trans Day of Visibility
The Last of Us star Bella Ramsey has shared a heart-warming message to themselves as a child on social media, and trans, enby and “gender funky” fans everywhere are loving it.
In honour of Trans Day of Visibility on Friday (31 March), Ramsey – who identifies as non-binary and uses any pronouns – tweeted an adorable childhood photo, and the words: “Happy TDOV to this little dude!
“I didn’t know the word non-binary in this picture. But I knew what it meant. Inherently. Because I always was, and always will be. Lotsa love to all of my trans, enby and gender funky friends.”
The statement was followed with the hashtag #TransDayOfVisibility and a white heart emoji.
Ramsey also shared the photo and caption on their Instagram stories.
Ramsey’s The Last of Us co-star Melanie Lynskey replied with a supportive “you are so awesome”, accompanied by three hearts, while fans showered the actor with messages of thanks and love.
Social media users were here for Ramsey’s use of the term “gender funky”, with one tweeting: “Ohhhhh, ‘gender funky’. I think those are the words I have been looking for all this time. High five to little you from little me.”
Another wrote: “Absolutely adding gender funk friend to my vocabulary haha. As an enby, it’s so cool seeing folks like me in media.”
A third tweeted: “Happy trans visibility day to my favourite little dude! u inspire me everyday to live my truth. gender funky people RISE!!!”
Ramsey’s Trans Day of Visibility tweet perfectly encapsulated a truth that trans, non-binary, gender fluid and gender non-conforming people know so well. Even when they don’t yet have language for a particular way of describing their true gender, it is felt inherently within.
Bella Ramsey shot to prominence with their role as Ellie in post-apocalyptic HBO fungal thriller The Last of Us, based on the critically-acclaimed video game of the same name, after repeatedly stealing scenes as the diminutive Lady Lyanna Mormont in Game of Thrones.
Ramsey, who is non-binary and wore a binder for “90 per cent” of the time while filming The Last of Us, has previously addressed the homophobic backlash that the show received, after episodes that featured heartbreaking queer storylines.
They clapped back at anti-LGBTQ+ criticism in February, saying viewers who don’t want to see queer stories on screen should “get used to it”.
“If you don’t want to watch the show because it has gay storylines, because it has a trans character, that’s on you, and you’re missing out. It isn’t gonna make me afraid,” they told GQ.