Daniel Radcliffe explains issue with the word 'ally' in conversation with trans youth
Daniel Radcliffe has praised a group of trans and nonbinary young people for sharing their ‘fascinating’ stories. The Harry Potter star, 33, has long been a supporter of the LGBTQ+ community, and in a new series has sat down with a group of young people to get insight into their lives and identities.
Sharing Space, a new YouTube series by The Trevor Project, aired its first episode on Trans Day of Visibility, and saw the Guns Akimbo actor join in a conversation between six young people on growing up trans or nonbinary and what their identities mean to them.
In it, the six youths discuss their early lives, recalling how they were expected to fit into certain boxes, being bullied for being ‘feminine’ or being warned by their parents they would ‘turn out gay. ’Daniel – who is often referred to as an ally of the LGBTQ+ community – added that he has ‘weird little problems with the word ally,’ and finds it ‘suspicious’ when a person self-refers to themselves as one.
However, he said there is ‘an original meaning to that word and there are some people who embody that very powerfully. ’Mateo-Luis agreed it takes a lot ‘for someone to step into what we would consider allyship, for someone to understand what it’s like to live in your shoes. ’Deity said that, even with allies, ‘we still have to communicate what makes us feel food and what our boundaries are,’ and often times someone who calls themself an ally believes they ‘can’t do anything else wrong. ’The group also discussed gender euphoria, a term Daniel admitted he was ’embarrassed’ to not have heard before. ‘There’s so much on dysphoria and the pain and trauma you have to feel … and not about what is the best version of ourselves, what makes us feel the best,’ Sameer, who is.
