Actress Anne Hathaway says it’s time to do away with a “damaging and widely accepted myth” that “all races orbit around whiteness.”
Speaking at the 22nd annual Human Rights Campaign national dinner Saturday, the Oscar winner said it’s “important to acknowledge with the exception of [not] being a cisgender male, everything about how I was born has put me at the current center of a damaging and widely accepted myth.”
“That myth is that gayness orbits around straightness, transgender orbits around cisgender, and that all races orbit around whiteness,” Hathaway added.
Hathaway, whose brother is gay, was recognized for her support of the LGBTQ community over the years. The event also included a speech by former vice president, Joe Biden. In 2012, Hathaway sold her wedding photos to benefit organizations fighting for marriage equality and has joined an HRC petition to protest an anti-LGBTQ discrimination bill in Georgia. She also appeared in the 2005 film “Brokeback Mountain,” considered one of the first gay-themed movies to achieve mainstream success.
“I really needed this,” Hathaway said as she accepted the award, presented by her “Oceans 8” co-star, Awkwafina.
“I think I’m probably walking around like most people right now. I’m pretty shell shocked by what I see every day, what I hear everyday,” Hathaway said. “And I really don’t like to admit this, but I get scared.”
“I appreciate this community because together we are not going to just question this myth, we are going to destroy it,” she went on to say.
“Let’s tear this world apart and build a better one.”
Watch Hathaway’s full speech above.