Lily Tomlin calls wave of anti-trans legislation in U.S. 'insane,' takes aim at Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis
The comedy great plays a widowed lesbian who befriends a gender curious boy in new film "Moving On."
President Joe Biden called Florida’s recent wave of anti-trans legislation “just cruel” and “close to sinful” in an interview with Kal Penn when the actor-turned-Obama staffer guest hosted Monday’s The Daily Show.
In a new interview with Yahoo Entertainment, one of Hollywood’s most revered comedic performers, Lily Tomlin, made her feelings known about the measures Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and other Republican lawmakers are taking to curb rights for transgender people.
“I mean, limiting any group’s rights is a travesty. People cannot push backwards to that,” says Tomlin, who stars in the new film Moving On.
“It’s insane. I don’t know what DeSantis hopes to do in Florida, and I can’t believe he can marshal that many people to support him. Because most people know when injustice is being done. They sense it themselves, whether they even accept your point of view or not. At least they would be equivocating. They would just say, ‘Well, that's what that group of people wants. You know, they're not harming anyone.’”
Lily Tomlin talks wave of anti-trans legislation in Florida and beyond.
"It's insane. I don't know what DeSantis hopes to do in Florida, and I can't believe that many people support him... I don't understand this whole plowing backwards that so many people doing in the country." pic.twitter.com/sytDsSiAKz— Kevin Polowy (@djkevlar) March 16, 2023
Tomlin, 83, has been with her wife, Jane Wagner, for 52 years. Tomlin and Wagner married in 2013, the year same-sex couples were allowed the right to legally wed in California.
“I just don’t understand it,” Tomlin adds in regard to new laws restricting LGBTQ+ rights. “I don’t understand this whole plowing backwards that so many people doing in the country. Thank God it’s not a majority yet, and I’m sure it will not become one.”
Moving On reteams Tomlin with her longtime friend and 9 to 5 and Grace and Frankie scene partner Jane Fonda. They co-star as estranged friends who reunite at the funeral of an another old friend — and contemplate killing the recently deceased’s widower (Malcolm McDowell) in an act of revenge for a past assault.
Tomlin plays Evelyn, a retired orchestra cellist grieving the death of her own wife. In some of the film’s most memorable scenes, Evelyn comforts and encourages the gender-curious grandson of a man living in her retirement facility.
Moving On opens March 17.
Watch the trailer:
