‘9-1-1′: Lone Star”’s Brian Michael Smith Says Anti-Trans Political Wave’: ‘I’m Still Fighting!
The actor says that there is a community in the entertainment industry trying to tell the truth amid all the misinformation. He supports the trans community.
Brian Michael Smith I refuse to give up on the fight
The 34th Annual GLAAD Awards were held on Thursday. 9-1-1: Lone Star actor who is transgenderPEOPLE, a conversation with Judith over the significance of celebrating the LGBTQ community Trans rights remain valid, threatened across the country.
“Coming together as this, I mean it’s exciting and don’t know what the word is for it but it’s rewarding. It’s exactly what it is,” said the actor, 40. It’s an extremely rewarding experience, because I work alongside people who are authentic and put their money where there mouth is. They bring this to their characters. It’s evident in their work attitude.
He continued, “So when we have times like this, where it’s possible to celebrate together, it feels wonderful because we don’t always have that.”
Smith said that being with his LGBTQ colleagues and allies is a source for inspiration, and it encourages him to fight even when things seem hopeless.
“It makes it feel like there is something I can do because I often feel powerless,” he said. “It feels as if every day, at least two to three new bills are being introduced. There are two to three bills being passed. People are weeping. Because they are losing care, people will move their entire families out of state and uproot their entire family. They may be bullied or targeted because they are being targeted.
“So being in a position to stand out tonight and say, “Hey, we’re still here.” I’m fighting.’ It’s clear that there are people in the entertainment business who want to expose truth even in the face of misinformation,” he said. It gives me some confidence.”
Smith spoke at the event about how teachers played a part in his personal journey to self-acceptance.
Mrs. Kitzman was my second grade teacher. She took me in as a rambunctious child, and never sat me down. He remembered her saying, “We’re working with this.” “And so she was really one of the first people to accept me for who I am.”
“There are many things people will see as problems. She replied, “No, this is part of who your are.” He said, “We’re going out of our way to find a solution for you.” She also gave me a love of reading. She gave me my love for my own voice and my ability to be myself in the way I do things. That is what got me here.
He also sweetly gave us a shout out to his teacher wife Denisse PerezShe has been working in the New York City Department of Education since almost 20 years.
His wife, he stated, “The work she does in children’s lives, the way that her children are supported is something that I love to watch and something that I wish every student had.”
Smith spoke earlier this week. making the decision to transition As a young adult, and seeing himself in the mirror after starting hormone therapy during Dotdash’s From Invisibility To Trans Visibility Week panel. Scott Turner Schofield moderated the discussion. ACLU Deputy Director of Transgender Justice Chase Strangio was also present, as well as Olympian Chris Mosier (actor), and Vico Ortiz (actor).
He said that “I was able see myself on the outside in a way that I could really be inside of my body and be visible and taken into the world as me for the first-time.” I just wanted to be able to do that.
“I am me and the person I see in my mind’s eyes for so many years is looking back at myself in the mirror. It’s out on the streets,” he said before adding that he was able to “just be Brian” in New York.
Related:9-1-1: Lone Star‘s Brian Michael Smith Teases ‘a Lot of Heat’ for Strickland in Season 4
The Queen Sugar The alum also talked about his struggle to live his truth, after he came out publicly as transgender in 2017.
“We’re trans people. Trans people have been around for a long time. So I was never a woman who became man. He shared that he was always me.” “You just thought that I was there, but we are who they are. It doesn’t matter if you don’t get it, but that doesn’t make us not real.
He said, “I feel like that is something I have a really difficult time navigating.” “We have these sorts of arguments and these discussions where people try to tell me something, and I’m like, ‘I’m the one experiencing the experience. I’m here and I’m telling, you’re a transperson. You’re not, that’s okay. Trans doesn’t mean you have to be. I am. Let me live.'”
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9-1-1: Lone Star The program airs Tuesdays at 8:30 p.m. ET on Fox
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