#Annette Bening Warns “You Do Not Want to Make This Momma Mad” At GLSEN Benefit Supporting LGBTQ Students

Annette Bening had a defiant message for foes of LGBTQ rights and equality in the United States, specifically political leaders who are targeting the trans community. “You do not want to make this momma mad,” said the four-time Oscar nominee as she received Advocate Award on Oct. 28 from GLSEN’s Rise Up LA benefit, which raised funds for the group’s programs supporting queer grade-school students across the country.

Bening — who is the mother of a trans son, writer Stephen Ira, as well as three other children — spoke at the event about why she has become increasingly vocal in advocating for the trans community in recent years.

“Most of my career, I’ve been a pretty private person … but over the last several years, I’ve changed my mind,” said Bening, explaining, “I have felt the responsibility to speak out and to speak up as transphobia has invaded our government at the local, state and federal levels. It is hurtful. It is shameful. And it is being used as a tool by the far right to rally their base and turn out the vote.”

Bening also told a story about a friend who has a trans child and until recently lived in Texas, but who has moved her family to California due to Republican Governor Greg Abbott’s directive that gender-affirming care is child abuse. (The governor’s legal opinion is currently under temporary injunction.)

“Imagine being brought up on criminal charges or reported to child protective services because you are just trying to do what is best for your child,” said Bening. The actress said that her friend became so scared amid the fearmongering that “it got to the point where my friend gave her young trans child a burner phone and an explicit set of instructions to follow in case child protective services came to her school to question her, which they have been allowed to do without the parents present.” Her friend’s move to California, said Bening, makes her a “political refugee within our own country. Think about that for a moment. The government should not be getting in between parents and children when it comes to private matters like this.”

The benefit event — held at Neuehouse Hollywood — also included performances by singers Iniko and Noah Cyrus, who introduced her good friend, gay country singer Orville Peck, ahead of him receiving GLSEN’s Champion Award.

“This year, we’ve seen an unprecedented amount of propaganda, bills, legislation and outright attacks on our community even at some of the highest forms of government,” said Peck in accepting his award. “Heartbreakingly, the most affected have been our youngest and most vulnerable members — transgender youth.”

Actor Wilson Cruz, recently named board chair of GLSEN, performed with entertainer Wayne Brady, who recently came out as pansexual. The two sang “I’ll Cover You” from Rent. “A song I haven’t sung in a very long time that I loved singing … here in Los Angeles about 26 years ago at the Ahmanson Theatre,” said Cruz.

The program, emceed by drag star Mo Heart, also included appearances by Joy Ride’s Sherry Cola and comedian Fortune Feimster as well as speeches by members of LGBTQ students who work with GLSEN.

“We work to organize, champion and amplify the voices of a new generation of leaders,” said GLSEN executive director Melanie Willingham-Jaggers in a speech. The organization works with supportive educators across the country to help create LGBTQ-inclusive classroom environments and supports student-led clubs and the development of affirming curricula.

The benefit event mixed serious calls to action and warnings about the threats that LGBTQ youth face amid a rising tide of hate in America with a commitment to celebrating community and joy, the latter underlined by Bening in her remarks.

“There is one thing I have always known,” said Bening. “Love and compassion have to lead the way. Let it lead the way towards radical understanding and acceptance, let it lead the way toward queer joy and celebration, and let it lead us all the way to the ballot box.”