Hollywood actress Cynthia Erivo, star of the Oscar-nominated film Wicked, recently gave a speech at the GLAAD Media Awards where she demanded that everybody in the world use preferred pronouns because they date back to the Garden of Eden and have been in use “since the dawn of time.”
Receiving the Stephen F. Kolzak Award for “making a significant difference in raising visibility and promoting the acceptance of LGBTQ people and issues,” Erivo said that nobody should have problems using “they/them” pronouns.
“I have spoken about being your whole self and your true self, I speak about the prizes that come from being you against the odds, but rarely do I acknowledge how hard that can be. So I thought that I would make some room for those of us who are trying to find the courage to exist as we want. Because I think this is the space to do that,” she began.
“It isn’t easy. None of it is, waking up and choosing to be yourself, proclaiming a space belongs to you when you don’t feel welcomed,” she continued.
“Teaching people on a daily basis how to address you, and dealing with the frustration of re-teaching people a word that has been in the human vocabulary since the dawn of time: they/them.
“Words used to describe pedantically two or more people; poetically, a person who is simply more.”
Erivo then encouraged trans people who feel “forgotten” to be patient until the world embraces them and they find the path they seek.
