Jamie Lee Curtis celebrated her daughter Ruby’s birthday and advocated for the rights of transgrender children in a heartfelt Instagram post.
“Today is the birthday of my trans daughter,” Curtis wrote in the post, which included pictures of the actor from a Deadline photo shoot. “I am proud and grateful to be the parent of a trans child and am sending support to all of the trans families across the US who are being targeted in this moment by conservative legislatures.”
Ruby, 26, the younger child of Curtis and her husband, Christopher Guest, came out as transgender to her parents in 2020. Curtis spoke publicly about Ruby being transgender, with her daughter’s permission, the following year.
The “Halloween Kills” actor, 63, also took aim at anti-trans legislation around the U.S. in her post.
“This country was founded on freedom. A profoundly simple idea that everyone living here should be free to dream and achieve what they want freely,” she wrote.
“Now politicians are proposing that parents providing gender-affirming care for THEIR OWN children are felons and deserve prison time,” she added. “These laws are discriminatory, unjust, and anti-American. Freedom of expression includes gender expression!”
“As a proud parent of my trans daughter I VOW to use my freedom of speech and my right to vote to SUPPORT my child and ALL children trying to live FREELY as who they are,” she concluded her post, adding the hashtag #ProtectTransKids.
Several pieces of legislation targeting the rights of transgender children have been introduced in multiple states recently.
Earlier this month, Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds signed into law a bill that prohibits trans girls from participating in female school sports teams.
In Idaho, the House also recently passed a bill that, if signed into law, would make it illegal for parents or medical professionals to provide gender-affirming care to minors.
In Louisiana, meanwhile, a recently introduced bill would prohibit medical professionals from performing gender transition procedures on anyone under 18 and would require school officials to inform parents if a child comes out to them as transgender.
And in Texas, a directive recently issued by Gov. Greg Abbott called on members of the general public and professionals such as teachers and doctors to report parents who give their children gender-affirming medical care, defining this care as “child abuse.” After the governor’s directive sparked widespread outrage, a Texas judge temporarily blocked enforcement of the order last week.
Speaking to AARP The Magazine last year, Curtis said she and her husband watched in “wonder and pride as our son became our daughter Ruby.”
The actor also opened up to People last year about how she is still learning and growing as the parent of a transgender child.
“It’s speaking a new language,” she said. “It’s learning new terminology and words. I am new at it. I am not someone who is pretending to know much about it. And I’m going to blow it, I’m going to make mistakes. I would like to try to avoid making big mistakes.
“But if one person reads this, sees a picture of Ruby and me and says, ‘I feel free to say this is who I am,’ then it’s worth it,” she added.