Zachary Quinto has spoken out to send a message to President Donald Trump after he made the decision to lift federal protections for transgender students, which were put in place by the Obama administration.
The 39-year-old actor urged the public to “fight for people who are striving to find their way in this world” while being honored at the US-Ireland Aliiance’s 2017 Oscar Wilde Awards held at Bad Robot on Thursday (February 23) in Santa Monica, Calif.
“I feel like as far as we’ve come in the last 120 years, there are protests going on tonight about the reversal of protections for transgender children in this country,” Zachary continued. “I believe it is all of our responsibilities to stand up and be authentic and be visible and fight for people who are striving to find their way in this world, even if it is not reflected back in the same way as everybody else. Oscar Wilde is someone who taught me that before I even knew it.”
Oscar-nominated actress Ruth Negga, Outlander star Caitriona Balfe, Martin Short, singer-songwriter Glen Hansard also received Oscar Wilde Awards, which recognize the contributions of Irish people in film, television and music.
Also in attendance at the ceremony was Zachary‘s boyfriend Miles McMillan, and Star Trek co-stars Chris Pine, Alice Eve and John Cho, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Sarah Paulson, J.J. Abrams, Lauren Cohan, Sarah Bolger, Shannon Woodward, Amy Shiels and Jason O’Mara.
