Acclaimed filmmaker Paul Feig has announced he will be donating $300,000 to multiple organizations that serve LGBTQ+ youth.
The Bridesmaids director announced on Thursday that he and his wife, Laurie, have pledged $300,000 to The Trevor Project, Trans Lifeline, and It Gets Better — nonprofits that advocate and provide support services for young queer people..
“In recent weeks we have witnessed the dismantling of crucial protections for the health and safety of the LGBTQ+ community and, particularly, the transgender community,” Feig told Variety. “I can’t sit idly by and watch as my friends, colleagues and the LGBTQ+ community as a whole — our fellow citizens — are stripped of their rights."
"We should all do whatever is within our power and our means to ensure that every member of the LGBTQ+ gets the support and protections to which they are entitled," he continued. "I hope that these contributions will help the teams at The Trevor Project, Translifeline.org and It Gets Better to keep doing the life-saving work they do every day.”
In just his first two weeks back in office, Donald Trump signed executive orders denying the existence of transgender people, attempting to ban banning gender-affirming care for those under 19, banning trans athletes from teams and facilities that align with their identity, and revoking 1960s civil rights protections.
Trump's gender-affirming care ban has already been blocked by the courts, as have his orders abolishing anti-DEI (diversity, equity, and inclusion) programs and mandating trans inmates be moved to facilities that align with their sex at birth, each being deemed by federal judges to be unconstitutional. There are also ongoing lawsuits against his ban on trans people in the military and his order only recognizing two sexes, which have been forcefully rebuked by federal judges during initial hearings.
“In a year where anti-trans sentiment and federal marginalization is at an all time high, support and generosity for our community from powerful storytellers like Paul couldn’t be more timely or valuable," Trans Lifeline director of development Myles Markham told the outlet. "Contributions like this not only mean critical services will reach more folks in need, they also send a message of hope and possibility to the tens of thousands of trans youth and adults feeling the doom and despair that comes with our current administration’s rhetoric and policy.”
