Marcia Gay Harden Opens Up About Her 3 Children Identifying as Queer
Marcia Gay Harden is opening up about her family. During an appearance on the Drag Isn't Dangerous telethon, the 63-year-old actress revealed that all three of her children are queer. Harden shares Hudson, 19, Julitta, 19, and Eulala, 24, with her ex-husband, Thaddaeus Scheel.
"What drives me is because it's right and what's happening right now is wrong," Harden said of the recent anti-LGBTQ legislation. "What drives me is my children are all queer. My eldest child is non-binary. My son is gay. My youngest is fluid. And you know, they are my kids and they teach me every day."
Harden called the legislation, such as Tennessee's ban on public drag performances, which has been temporarily blocked by a judge, "so fear-based."
"It's spreading that kind of fear and hatred among other people," she said. "I believe this country will fight that."
Harden also spoke out on Instagram after the event, writing, "The only thing dangerous about drag is how hot these Queens are!"
"Join the @dragisntdangerous fundraiser in support of LGTBQ+, which basically means in support of all of us! Our nation, our neighbors, our children, artists, our singers, our dancers, our better leaders, ceo's [sic], writers, spiritual leaders, basically our humanity," she wrote. "Gay is here to stay. Drag is here to stay. Donate what you can, and join us in spreading the love."
The fundraiser has raised more than $580,000 as of Tuesday afternoon.
Harden isn't the first celebrity to speak out in the wake of the anti-LGBTQ legislation. In addition to stars such as Adam Lambert, Elizabeth Banks, Charlize Theron, Hayley Kiyoko and Jesse Tyler Ferguson joining the telethon, performers including Lizzo and Kelsea Ballerini have spoken out onstage.
Lizzo invited drag queens onstage during a concert in Knoxville, Tennessee, and told the crowd, "In light of recent and tragic events and current events, I was told by people on the internet, 'Cancel your shows in Tennessee. Don't go to Tennessee'... Why would I not come to the people who need to hear this message the most? The people who need to feel this release the most?! Why would I not create a safe space in Tennessee where we can celebrate drag entertainers?"
As for Ballerini, at the CMT Music Awards, she performed "If You Go Down (I'm Goin' Down Too)" with drag queens by her side.
"I love performance and I love self-expression and I love inclusivity," Ballerini told ET after the performance, before drag queen Jan Sport praised the country star for allowing her and others to join her onstage.
"It means so much," Sport said. "Because any opportunity for us to share our gifts with the world is a blessing. So, it's more of us having a message to bless other people. It's not bad. It's all good. It's all love. It's all total liberation — that's what the arts are all about."
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