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Filmmakers, writers, producers, and actors such as Jane Fonda, Viola Davis, and more speak out against anti-LGBT legislation.
Talk turned political at this year's Tribeca Film Festival, where The Advocate asked the stars, writers, producers, and filmmakers about their response to the anti-LGBT legislation recently passed in North Carolina.
Universally, these folks expressed their disdain for the law, which in addition to repealing local LGBT protections also forbids transgender people from using public restrooms that match their gender identity.
See what the luminaries at Tribeca had to say.
1. Grace and Frankie's Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin
At a red carpet for their Netflix show Grace and Frankie, Lily Tomlin said she was "totally furious" with North Carolina for passing anti-LGBT legislation. "We would never go there," Jane Fonda added. In the show, whose second season premieres Friday, Tomlin and Fonda play women whose husbands come out as gay and leave them for one another. See the clip from the red carpet below.
2. Grace and Frankie Producers Marcy Ross, Dana Goldberg, and Paula Weinstein
"It's utterly ridiculous," said Dana Goldberg of North Carolina. "I'm a lesbian, and I was born and raised in Alabama, and times have to change. ... We have no interest in doing business with places that pass those laws."
3. Madly Director Sebastian Silva
Sebastian Silva wants to raise awareness of LGBT homelessness through "Dance Dance Dance," his segment of the film Madly that screened at the Tribeca Film Festival. His love story depicts a gay teen in the Bronx. Here, he responds to what he hopes his audience takes away from his film.
"I hope that they will learn about this epidemic of LGBT kids that are homeless in New York and a lot of states, because they come out to their parents, and their parents are religious people, and then they get kicked out," he said. "There is this misconception in teenagers about whether it's cool to be gay or not. And they think it is, and then they found out it isn't. So the short film is a little about that, so hopefully it creates a little bit of consciousness and empathy for gay kids."
To North Carolina's governor, he added this message: "I would hope that he finds out about somebody that he loves that happens to be gay, so that he can empathize through personal [experiences]."
4. Tangerine's Mya Taylor
Mya Taylor, star of the indie hit Tangerine, had a pointed message to lawmakers who pass anti-LGBT legislation: "Do I have a message for them? You really want to know? Tell them to fuck off. That's what you tell them."
The trans actress, who won an Indepedent Spirit Award for her role as a sex worker, was one of the panelists of Tribeca's Daring Women Summit, where she discussed opportunities for LGBT actors in the entertainment industry.
#Tangerine's Mya Taylor and La La Anthony. #Tribeca2016 #DaringWomenSummit
A photo posted by The Advocate Magazine (@theadvocatemag) on
5. Rosie Perez
Rosie Perez wanted North Carolina to "Do the Right Thing" after the state takes a financial hit for passing anti-LGBT legislation.
"I hope that they bleed from their pockets," the actress told The Advocate at the Daring Women Summit, a daylong event organized by the Tribeca Film Festival. "I hope that businesses just make them suffer such a great deal." See the clip below.
6. Viola Davis
Viola Davis had a message of support for LGBT families. "I'm fighting for you," she said at the Tribeca Film Festival premiere of Custody, a movie about a mother's struggle to keep legal guardianship of her child.
On the red carpet, The Advocate asked Davis, who plays a judge weighing the custody decision, if she had a message for LGBT people who are also fighting legal obstacles. "I believe in you," she continued. "I think that I'm just as outraged as you are. I think you're worthy of every right that ever human being in this country, in this world, has been afforded." See the clip below.
7. The Good Wife's Matt Czuchry
Actor Matt Czuchry expressed his love for his LGBT fans, including naked ones, at a panel for his show The Good Wife. But he also had a message for states like North Carolina that pass anti-LGBT legislation.
"I think that any place that discriminates against people, any bill that discriminates against any people is on the wrong side of history," he said. "The country is constantly moving forward in a progressive way, things are getting better in terms of that. But we have work to do."
Watch the clip below.
8. The Good Wife Creators Robert and Michelle King
After discussing the LGBT legacy of their diverse show, The Good Wife, creators Robert and Michelle King spoke about the power of actors and entertainers to shape political change through a boycott.
"You want Alan Cumming to come sing in your state, and you won't get him," Robert King stated. "You won't get [The Good Wife star] Julianna [Marguiles]. ... The only... thing entertainment has is the ability to kind of embargo on this to try to change [hearts and minds]. And it's not just political brinksmanship. It's about people having only one way to use their talent, which is.. I'm gonna choose where this talent is directed."
9. The Good Wife's Cush Jumbo
"I just think it's time for people to get on the train," The Good Wife actress told The Advocate on the Tribeca Film Festival red carpet. "It's, on the one hand, still a very frustrating, scary time, for people, and I understand that speaking as a British person , this is a different perspective. I come as an outsider... an alien to the way things happen here. But I do think globally, it's time for us all to get on the train and just stop being ridiculous."
"Crazy people could get more power," she added. "At a time when I felt we were making so much progress, and then we still have these people who just don't want to join in the party. ... It's one of the best... times to speak loudly about what we care about, what's important to us, and what kind of world we would like to live in."
Watch the clip below.
