Viola Davis has a message for LGBT families: 'I'm fighting for you'

Viola Davis has a message for LGBT people who are fighting to keep their children in the face of legal obstacles.

“I’m fighting for you,” the How to Get Away with Murder star told The Advocate during the Tribeca Film Festival premiere of her new film Custody, which follows a mother’s struggle to keep legal guardianship of her child.

“I believe in you. I think that I’m just as outraged as you are” she continued. “I think you’re worthy of every right that every human being in this country, in this world, has been afforded.”

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Speaking about Custody’s writer and director James Lapine, Davis – who plays Judge Martha Schulnman in the film – explains how many writers and filmmakers use minorities as plot devices or a stereotypes.

“I’m a woman of color. I’m a woman,” she said. “There’s so many people who are disenfranchised, who are put in a classical narrative and then just as a device, a stereotype, and it becomes a reflection of our mindset of how we don’t want to explore them as human beings.

“James didn’t do that,” she continued. “Every life is explored. So by the time you finish this story, you see the full scope of this issue of this woman literally losing her child, and it’s impossible for you to make a judgement.”

But Davis isn’t the only one backing LGBT families. Sandino Morena, who is also in the film, told LGBT people to “keep fighting.”

“Family is one thing they will never turn their back on you. It’s completely worth it.”

Custody is set for release later this year and stars Viola Davis, Sandino Morena alongside Hayden Panettiere and Ellen Burstyn.

You can watch the full interview with Viola Davis on The Advocate’s website.

Viola Davis has a message for LGBT families: ‘I’m fighting for you’

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