Nov. 17 (UPI) –Warren Beatty and Annette Bening have always been politically active, and now their transgender son, Stephen Ira, is speaking out against certain New York State Medicaid regulations that exclude transgender people.”I grew up outside of New York, but I’ve always known I’ve wanted to move here for the city’s vibrant artistic community,” Ira says in the video. “As a trans person, I would hope that I’d be welcomed but many trans people aren’t because we don’t have the basic healthcare coverage we need to survive.”
Stephen Ira
One of Beatty and Bening’s four children, Ira was born Kathlyn Elizabeth Beatty. He was 14 when he came out as transgender.
“My name is Stephen,” he said in a YouTube video last year. “I identify as a trans man, a f***y queen, a homosexual, a queer, a nerd fighter, a writer, an artist and a guy who needs a haircut.”
“It’s important to me to be frank about my development and be transparent about my changing ideas,” he said.
GLAAD and the Sylvia Rivera Law Project produced the spot to urge lawmakers to give transgender people equal access to health care.
[Radar Online]
