Carla Sofia Gascón, a transgender performer who is biologically male but identifies as female, won the best actress award at the Cannes Film Festival over the weekend.
It was the first time a transgender woman had won the Best Actress award at Cannes. The Telegraph reported.
“To all the trans people who suffer hate every day. With hate… they treat us with contempt… this is for you.”
Gascón, 52, starred in “Emily Pérez,” a critically acclaimed Mexican musical comedy about a man who undergoes a sex change to escape a vengeful criminal, the outlet reported.
The Spanish actress gave a lengthy acceptance speech on Saturday night on behalf of the film’s female cast as she accepted the award for best actress in an ensemble, according to The Telegraph.
“To all the transgender people who suffer hate every day, with hate they despise us, this is a message to you,” Gascón said. He also preempted potential backlash from “nasty” critics for choosing a transgender performer, telling them to “change, you motherfuckers,” the outlet reported.
Gascon added: “We all have the opportunity to change for the better, to become better people. If you’ve been causing us pain, it’s time for you to change too,” the Telegraph quoted him as saying.
More details from the outlet:
The speech was enthusiastically received by a star-studded audience in Cannes, which brought together the world’s cinema elite. 77th Festival.
The decision to award a collective prize for “Best Actress” broke with tradition, and the inclusion of a transgender actor in the category was also a first in Cannes’ illustrious history.
Gascón, who was born in Madrid, has a 13-year-old daughter. The actress, who began her acting career on Spanish television in the ’90s, moved to Mexico, where she appeared in films and later completed her transition into a transgender woman.
Speaking to reporters in Cannes, Gascon said that from the age of four, she had wanted to be a girl.
Gascón added: “We are normal people with the careers we want. Being transgender is not the point. A transgender person is someone who is transitioning. Once they transition, that’s it. They are who they are,” the Telegraph reported.
How do observers respond?
The Telegraph article, published on Sunday, has so far attracted fewer than 30 comments. Yahoo!NewsHowever, all of them criticized the winners harshly.
- “Sad about the way things are going these days…” one commenter wrote.
- “Harrison Butker talks about women and gets slammed for it. Here’s another man trying to be a woman and take away women’s accomplishments and gets praised for it,” another commenter pointed out. “Wow. So amazing.”
- “Just as all the awards for women in sports are currently being taken by men, soon all the ‘best woman’ awards will be won by men too,” another commenter said.
- “He can change his gender all he wants, but his DNA speaks the truth,” another commenter argued.
- “Fake news. Mr Gascón is a man and a father. He was born a man and will die a man,” argued another commenter.
- “I’m glad people are finally realizing that the best woman is always a man,” another commenter said. “There’s nothing about being a woman that makes them better than men.”
(H/T: Not a bee)
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