‘Matrix’ Filmmaker Lilly Wachowski Comes Out As Transgender
Lilly Wachowski of the famed filmmaking sibling duo has come out as transgender.
In an exclusive published Tuesday by the Windy City Times, Wachowski wrote her coming out was the culmination of a year-long saga of media outlets threatening to publish stories on her transition, including a recent incident when a Daily Mail reporter appeared on her doorstep. Throughout the powerful statement, she writes she made the choice to come out on her own terms in an effort to counter “demonized and vilified” portrayals of trans people in the media.
“Being transgender is not easy,” she wrote. “We live in a majority-enforced gender binary world. This means when you’re transgender you have to face the hard reality of living the rest of your life in a world that is openly hostile to you.”
Wachowski notes she is “one of the lucky ones,” and has the support of her friends and family. The news follows the transition of Wachowski’s sister, Lana, in the early 2000s.
The Wachowskis are known for their science fiction blockbusters, including “The Matrix” trilogy, the dystopian “Cloud Atlas” and the ongoing Netflix series “Sense8.”
GLAAD released a statement on Tuesday celebrating Wachowski, while noting that journalists “must learn that it is unacceptable to out a transgender person.” The group has long condemned the outing of trans people, pointing to very real threats of firing, eviction, loss of family and death.
“She should not have been forced to disclose her transgender identity before she was ready to do so,” Nick Adams, director of programs for transgender media, said.
Wachowski notes that despite progress over the past few years, society needs “to elevate the dialogue beyond the simplicity” of a before-and-after when it comes to transgender people.
“My reality is that I’ve been transitioning and will continue to transition all of my life,” she wrote. “I will continue to be an optimist adding my shoulder to the Sisyphean struggle of progress and in my very being, be an example of the potentiality of another world.”
You can read Wachowski’s full statement over at the Windy City Times.