I don’t think Ellen Page gets enough credit for being a really beautiful young woman. These Out Magazine photos just reminded me of that – Page is usually described as a petite tomboy, a woman who is “cute” and who doesn’t like wearing dresses. But she is STUNNING. She’s got an incredible face. Anyway, Ellen and Julianne Moore cover the new issue of Out Magazine to promote their film, Freeheld. It’s the true story of a couple (Julianne and Ellen) fighting for LGBTQ equality in New Jersey. You can read the full Out Mag piece here.

Julianne on Pres. Obama’s post-SCOTUS statement about marriage equality: “He essentially said, ‘When we are all more equal, we are all more free,’ and it was a really beautiful thing to say. Because we were all holding our breath, thinking, Come on, this has got to work. If it doesn’t work, what does it say about us as a nation? You don’t want to carry that kind of shame anymore — it’s absurd. Someone, maybe on my Twitter feed, was talking about all the people who were railing in the Southern states, like, ‘I will not allow this to happen.’ And that someone just said, ‘Give it up. It’s over. It’s done.’ I think there was a sense of relief, finally, that we did the right thing, as a nation and as a culture.”

Ellen’s process of coming out: “I remember thinking, Ellen, how in God’s name could you make this film and not be out? What’s interesting to me is how long it took to make the movie — for it to finally come together — and how my internal progression toward coming out was naturally in line with it. Stacie and Laurel’s story is incredibly inspiring and did take a lot of courage, particularly in a time of such unimaginable difficulty. It really did make me go, Dude, just tell people you’re gay. Just get over yourself, honestly, and support those who are not as privileged. It’s like, You have f–king privilege, so do something with it.”

Julianne didn’t really know the pain of being closeted: “It was interesting for me, because Ellen had just so recently come out … And this is going to sound silly, and hopefully not hurtful on my part, but I don’t think I was aware of how painful it is to be closeted. I have the advantage of being a person who’s never had to hide my sexuality, so I asked her a lot of questions — frank questions — about what that feels like. She said she felt discomfort simply wearing all these dresses, and it was all very eye-opening for me. She was so unprotective [of herself] — I was very touched by that. It definitely made me more sensitive to the nuances of our movie.”

[From Out Magazine]

The article is a nice read and it features quotes from some of the real people involved with the real-life situation, and how the larger marriage-equality cause became intensely personal for these two women. I loved what Ellen said here about her privilege and why she felt like the time was right to come out. Bless her.

Photos courtesy of Out Magazine.