Thank you, Ellen Page

I wasn't going to blog today, but actress, personal style icon and actual adorable human being Ellen Page just came out.

I'll say it again: Actual adorable human being

In a calm, yet strong and powerful, speech delivered at the Human Rights Commission's Time to THRIVE Conference in Las Vegas, Page declares:

Then again, it’s not easy at all. It can be the hardest thing, because loving other people starts with loving ourselves and accepting ourselves. I know many of you have struggled with this. I draw upon your strength and your support, and have, in ways you will never know. 

I’m here today because I am gay. And because… maybe I can make a difference. To help others have an easier and more hopeful time. Regardless, for me, I feel a personal obligation and a social responsibility.

But that's not even why her speech was so remarkable. She starts off tackling heteronormativity and gender roles, and the consequences of not submitting to what society believes is the "normal" way to act as a man or a woman, as a straight person and as a queer person, etc.

And she's on point: for a world that is naturally diverse, society is kind of hell bent into making sure everyone subscribes to dichotomies with many aspects, including gender and sexuality.

Style fucking icon, okay?

The one disappointment I find with celebrities coming out - whether as queer or in support of LGBTQ rights - is that the focus is usually on marriage. Just marriage.

Often these public declarations have the underlying message of, "We're just like you [straight people]. We want to get married and live in a white picket fence house and have 2.5 children." While that may be the reality for some (very lucky) queer people, many have other battles to fight.

At the tail end of her speech, Page says:

There are too many kids out there suffering from bullying, rejection, or simply being mistreated because of who they are. Too many dropouts. Too much abuse. Too many homeless. Too many suicides.

Ellen Page started in Hollywood young, barely even an adult, during a time when she and her contemporaries were constantly hounded by the media for their clothes, their weight, their dating life. She knows what it's like to be young and closeted. She knows what it's like to live with the pain of carrying a secret that you can't even think about something so far away as marriage.

Accomplished, stylish, adorable and well-spoken. What more can you ask for?

She's not the first to point out these things, and I hope that out of her celebrity contemporaries, she won't be the last to talk about LGBTQ rights and welfare from this big picture perspective. Nevertheless, I feel grateful and inspired - not to mention incredibly happy for her.

Thank you, Ellen Page.