Anne Hathaway called out her white, straight privilege, and this is important

As awards season gets underway with the 70th Primetime Emmy Awards on Monday, September 17th, Ocean’s 8 actress Anne Hathaway received a different kind of accolade at the 22nd annual Human Rights Campaign National Dinner on September 16th. The Oscar winner was honored with the HRC National Ally for Equality Award in recognition of her LGBTQ activism.

“Through her incredible talent and bold activism, Anne Hathaway uses her global platform to stand up for the LGBTQ community,” HRC President Chad Griffin said at the event. “From speaking out against discriminatory legislation targeting the LGBTQ community to her leadership on workplace equality for women, Anne is making a real difference in the lives of countless people around the globe.”

In a tearful acceptance speech, Hathaway spoke about the importance of dismantling the myths of straight and white privilege—something she acknowledged she benefits from.

"It is 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," Anne Hathaway said. "That myth is that gayness orbits around straightness, transgender orbits around cisgender, and that all races orbit around whiteness."

Hathaway noted the importance of her relationship with her brother—who is a gay man—as well as her relationships with other members of the LGBTQ community.

"I appreciate this community because together we are not going to just question this myth, we are going to destroy it," Hathaway told the audience. "Let’s tear this world apart and build a better one."

This wasn’t the first time Anne Hathaway spoke out against white privilege.

Hathaway took to Instagram back in July after Nia Wilson, an 18-year-old black woman, was killed at a BART train station in Oakland, California. In her post, Hathaway encouraged her followers to honor Nia’s humanity instead of reducing her to a hashtag.

https://twitter.com/udfredirect/status/1041230047586050048

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Watch Anne Hathaway’s acceptance speech in full here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yozqpDzuk1Q?feature=oembed

Change can only happen through ongoing—and often difficult—conversations. We applaud Hathaway for using her voice to draw attention to issues close to her heart.

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