Ellen Page condemns 'anti-LGBT rhetoric' after Orlando shootings: 'People are struggling - they deserve to live freely'

The actress condemned the 'poisonous environment' created by homophobic messages

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Ellen Page has condemned the “anti-LGBT rhetoric” that causes people to inflict violence upon one and other after the Orlando nightclub shootings.

The actress appeared alongside Chelsea Handler on her Netflix show, where panellists, visibly appalled by the massacre, called for a ban on the sale of assault weapons to the public.

“The reality is that violence towards LGBT people is a common thing,” Page said. “Hate crimes towards LGBT people. Extremely anti-gay, anti-bi, anti-trans rhetoric that is constantly creating a poisonous environment which leads to people hating themselves, people being violent towards one and other, to bullying, to abuse, and it really needs to stop.

Her voice wavering, she continued: “People are struggling, and they deserve to live freely and love freely and not be afraid.”

Page has campaigned across a number of LGBT issues after coming out in 2014 and memorably confronted Ted Cruz at a state fair in Iowa during his Republican campaign rally.

A number of gay artists have also responded to the Orlando tragedy, with Elton John telling a concert in Liverpool, at the Echo Arena that “we feel shocked, angry and we're devastating sad for the people who died and the loved ones who are mourning.”

In an essay for The Daily Beast, the former Star Trek actor George Takei called on the LGBT community to lead the fight for gun reform in the US and warned the National Rifle Association: “You don’t want to mess with us.”