Pedro Pascal comes out swinging for the trans community yet again at Fantastic Four premiere
Pedro Pascal has once again stood for trans rights (Gerald Matzka/Getty Images)
Pedro Pascal has once again stood for trans rights (Gerald Matzka/Getty Images)
Our lord and saviour Pedro Pascal has showed his trans-ally credentials in public once again.
Speaking at the premiere of his latest film, The Fantastic Four: First Steps, Pascal said the trans community filled him with inspiration.
Pascal, whose sister Lux is trans, has long been an advocate for the LGBTQ+ community and in recent months has been vocal in his support of trans people, catching heat from certain people for calling gender-critical author JK Rowling’s actions those of a “heinous loser”.
On the red carpet in Berlin, he said: “It’s important to protect people, especially those simply asking for the right to exist in bodies that belong to them and in the world that they never asked to be brought into.
“It’s a very, very small, vulnerable, inspiring, courageous and brave community that fills me with a lot of inspiration. Therefore, it’s very important to protect that. They would do that for us.”
Earlier this year, Pascal wore a Protect The Dolls t-shirt, in support of trans rights, at the Thunderbolts* premiere in London.
The t-shirt, created by Conner Ives, helps fund Trans Lifeline. Sales have raised tens of thousands of pounds.
“Dolls” is term used mainly by the LGBTQ+ community to describe transgender women. Its roots lie in ballroom culture.
Pascal’s wardrobe choice came just days after the UK Supreme Court handed down an 88-page judgement deeming the legal definition of the words “sex” and “woman” in the 2010 Equality Act referred to “biological sex” and “biological women”, thus excluding transgender people.
The ruling was the culmination of legal action by gender-critical group For Women Scotland, who were backed in their case by Harry Potter author Rowling to the tune of £70,000 (more than $95,000).
After the verdict was announced, Rowling, well-known for her gender-critical views, posted a photo on social media of herself celebrating with a cigar and a cocktail. “I love it when a plan comes together,” she wrote, before revealing that her husband has dubbed the announcement date TERF VE Day.
In response to a viral video post by writer Tariq Ra’ouf, in which Rowling’s celebration was branded “serious Voldemort villain sh*t, Pascal wrote: “Awful, disgusting sh*t is exactly right. Heinous loser behaviour.”
Following his comment, which was widely praised by LGBTQ+ people, but criticised by the anti-trans brigade, Pascal told Vanity Fair that he was wondering if it had been the right thing to do in terms of helping the transgender community.
He felt like “that kid [who] got sent to the principal’s office a lot for behavioural issues in public schools in Texas, feeling scared and thinking: what’d I do?”
The star, who will be seen reprising his Fantastic Four Reed Richards role in next year’s Avengers: Doomsday, went on to say: “The one thing I agonised over a little bit was: am I helping? Am I f**king helping? It’s a situation that deserves the utmost elegance so that something can actually happen and people will actually be protected.
“I want to protect the people I love. But it goes beyond that, bullies make me f**king sick.”
Rowling responded to Pascal’s comment by saying: “Can’t say I feel very shut down but keep at it, Pedro. God loves a trier.”
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