Annette Bening delivers moving speech about her “remarkable” trans son during Supreme Court rally

Annette Bening, known for her role in ‘Nyad,’ and mother to four children with actor Warren Beatty, gave a stirring speech outside the Supreme Court during the hearing of the landmark US v Skrmetti case.

This case involves a challenge to a Tennessee law that bans transgender healthcare, enacted by lawmakers last year.

After the law’s passage, several trans youths and their families, backed by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), Lambda Legal, and lawyers from Akin Gump Strause Hauer & Feld, filed a lawsuit against the state.

The Supreme Court’s decision will establish whether trans youth in Tennessee have a constitutional right to gender-affirming healthcare, setting a legal precedent for similar laws in other states and marking a crucial point in the fight for transgender rights.

As ‘MSN’ reports, speaking to a crowd of trans individuals and allies outside the court in Washington, Bening, who has a trans son, described trans rights as the “civil rights issue of our era.”

She shared, “I have four beautiful children – and I'm allowed to brag about my children because they're mine – and my eldest is a remarkable trans man, an extraordinary human being.”

She reflected, “As a well-meaning parent, I didn’t always know how to support my teenager – my vulnerable teenager who was just trying to live his truth – but you know what? I learned. I learned that what these kids and families need is judicious counseling, sound medical advice, and an atmosphere of calm, love, and acceptance.”

Bening, who was nominated for an Academy Award for portraying lesbian long-distance swimmer Diana Nyad, addressed those unfamiliar with trans people, saying, “you have.”

“Trans folks are everywhere. They’re your doctors in your emergency rooms, your firefighters, your teachers, librarians, store clerks, and bookstore clerks. Trans folks exist in every part of the world, and it is our responsibility to support and love them,” she declared to an enthusiastic crowd.

“There’s nothing to be frightened of. Everyone just wants to live in freedom, safety, and dignity.”

Annette Bening and Warren Beatty’s four children include Stephen Ira Beatty, Benjamin Beatty, Ella Beatty, and Isabel Beatty. Stephen, aged 34, is trans, and his parents fully support him.

In a 2023 interview, Bening expressed, “I am incredibly proud of him, and he has carved his own way. He’s someone I do admire, and I’ve learned a lot from when he first came out. … I didn’t always know what to do, and I didn’t always make the right choices because of my own ignorance, but we got through it.”

Warren Beatty, in a 2016 Vanity Fair interview, described Stephen as “a revolutionary, genius, and hero, like all my children.”

Earlier this week, arguments against the ban on gender-affirming care were heard, with Chase Strangio, the first openly trans lawyer to present before the Supreme Court, stating that Tennessee was removing “the only treatment that relieved years of suffering” for trans youth.

Supporting Strangio, US Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar criticised the law’s inconsistency, noting that non-trans individuals are still allowed to use puberty blockers.

“The law restricts medical care only when provided to induce physical effects inconsistent with birth sex,” she explained.

She argued, “Someone assigned female at birth can’t receive medication to live as a male, but someone assigned male can. If you change the individual sex, it changes the result. That’s a facial sex classification, full stop, and a law like that can’t stand on bare rationality.”

Matthew Rice, defending the ban, aimed to distinguish between medical treatments used in gender-affirming care and those for other purposes.

“There has to be a medical purpose for these drugs,” he insisted. “All [the plaintiffs’] arguments rest on conflating different medical purposes.”

The case is ongoing.