Most cis allies who support trans rights usually have a close friend or family member who is trans and who helped them see that trans rights are human rights.
We’ve seen this kind of activism at work in the world of celebrities recently. Pedro Pascal has always been an outspoken advocate for trans rights and a caring brother to his transgender younger sister, Lux Pascal. Another recent example is Robert De Niro, whose daughter Airyn recently came out as trans and in response told Variety.
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“I love and support Airyn as my daughter. I don’t know what the big deal is,” he said. “I love all my children.”
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This should be a strong message to parents everywhere who for some reason believe having a child is the same as creating a Build-A-Bear.
Actor Dylan O’Brien had hopped on this bandwagon during the Sundance FIlm Festival last year while he was promoting his queer thriller film Ponyboi. In a Vulture interview, O’Brien opened up about how close he was with his trans sibling Julz.
“I have a trans, non-binary sibling and I know people in my personal life as well who are queer. I am so grateful for how much it deepens my experience in this world.”
However, it has recently come to light that the two aren’t as close as he made them seem. A year later, Julz would set the record straight in a since-deleted post, after seeing an Instagram post from The Gay Times on May 1st re-publicizing Dylan’s comments.
Julz clarified that he is not nonbinary and that he is transmasc and goes by he/they pronouns.
Julz also revealed that Dylan had actually not spoken to his brother in over a year, furthermore, he never checked up on Julz when he had his top surgery or wished him a happy birthday last week.
Julz criticized publications for never bothering to add his side of the story, and instead opting to have someone else tell it for him.
It is safe to say this makes Dylan look very bad, and seem like a fake ally who is only using solidarity towards the hardships that trans people face to boost his public image and have people praise him, a cisgender male, while not even doing the bare minimum when it comes to defending our rights.
However, this interview was from a year ago and many things can change in a year. As of writing, Dylan O’Brien has yet to comment.
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