- Congratulations on the Golden Globe.
You won for Best TV Series and Best Actor
- for Jeffrey Tambor. - Yeah.
- That's huge. [applause]
I mean, y'all were up against some pretty big shows...
- Yeah. - And to win a Golden Globe,
and it's this little, tiny thing on a random, you know,
network that's-- it's incredible.
- Yes. That place that sells paper towels.
- Yeah, right. Amazon.
- And it's just so well done. - Thank you.
- And it's a series that deals with the father,
Jeffrey Tambor, realizes late in life,
- or probably realized early... - Yeah.
is not in the right body, wants to be a woman,
and so transgender, explain it
'cause I think people don't understand how
- that's defined. - Right.
So a trans person is somebody who does not identify
with the gender they were assigned at birth.
- Okay. And this was basically-- and they prefer--
'cause I think it's confusing also...
- Yes. - Because at one point,
- he's a male... - Yeah.
and then now he's a female,
or sort--do you say he, she, they?
- What you you say? - Yeah.
It can be very confusing for people,
but it's best to identify the trans person
as the gender that they appear to be,
so we use the--we would use "she" for MaPa, "she" for Maura.
- She? - Yes.
- And MaPa because "mother, papa."
- Yes. MaPa is the nickname... - Right.
- that the kids give Maura. - And that is what you call
your parent now because this is based on your real life.
- Yes. My parent came out at, I think,
the tender age of around 74 years old as trans.
- Wow. - Yeah.
- So what was that like for--
'cause it was a complete shock to you.
- Yes. - And you have siblings?
- I have a sister. - Okay.
- Yeah, I have Faith. - All right.
- She's a writer on the show also.
- Okay. So your father at the time
- tells you that he... - Yes.
- I mean, what was that like for you?
- Big, uh, big surprise. - Yeah?
- Yeah. I wasn't expecting. - Right.
- Regular Sunday morning check-in phone call.
And, yeah, I pretty quickly--
my first response was, you know,
"I love you, and I'm proud of you."
- And I assume she watches the show...
- Yes. - And is proud of the show.
- Yes. Loves the show. - Yeah.
- Loves it. - I would imagine it's,
you know, being a gay person,
it's a very hard thing when society doesn't understand you,
and you get very clear images that you're not
- loved by everyone. - Yeah.
- But to be in the wrong body, if you live that way,
and then all of a sudden, want to be something different,
and I would imagine that would be the hardest thing
in the world for people to understand.
- Yeah, Yeah. I mean, when people come out,
they're literally coming out to save their lives.
They're coming out to make a break for freedom,
for authenticity, and it's-- it really is an example
for all of us about leading authentic lives.
- So, I can't help but talk about the situation
- with Bruce Jenner right now. - Of course.
No one knows if Bruce Jenner is actually doing this
because Bruce Jenner's not spoken about this,
but it appears that he is gonna go through
some kinda transition like this.
And there are jokes all the time,
and it--I'm hurt for him.
And I can't imagine why it's okay for people
to make jokes about such a difficult decision for someone.
Why do you think it's so acceptable that people are
laughing at something that must be so difficult for someone?
- Yeah, well a lot of people are learning
about what it means to be trans right now.
It's brand new.
People get gay, they get lesbian,
but transness is really something
that's just coming into the consciousness,
and it really is about, sort of, upending the binary,
the either/or, male/female, black/white,
and it kind of triggers people to understand
that there are people who could possibly
be transitioning from on gender to the other.
That's really one of the reasons I wanted to make the show.
Like, after my parent came out, I wanted to, like,
I really wanted to do something that was gonna, like,
make the world a safer place for my parent
to walk out of their apartment building,
and hail a taxi, or stand in the elevator with strangers.
- Yeah. - People who told me,
who are trans, that the show has made their world
a little bit different for them.
- Yeah. Well, it has.
And it's the only show on the air that I know about
- that is doing this, so... - Thank you.
- I'm happy for you, and I just--what I--
and the reason I wanted you on is
I want people to have more compassion.
I say at the end of every show, "Be kind to one another."
- Yeah. - And that is not conditional.
That is unconditional. Be kind to everyone.
- Yeah. - And even of you don't
understand it, just because you fear something,
or you don't understand it,
don't attack it, don't make fun of it.
- It's not fair. - Yeah.
- And someone is going through something that is
the hardest thing in the world,
and if they're brave enough to do that,
support them and don't laugh at them.
- Yes. Thank you. - That's what I wanted to say.