The Big Bang Theory star Jim Parsons is speaking out about Donald Trump‘s decision to shut down a critical lifeline for young LGBTQ+ community members in crisis.
The decision, first announced in June, has now resulted in the removal of a call option from the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline for LGBTQ+ callers to speak to a counselor who is specialized in related needs, and Parsons appeared on MSNBC to criticize the move.
The actor appeared on the network’s The Weekend on Sunday (July 20) to promote his new documentary short Reclaim the Flag — a feature examining the LGBTQ+ community’s relationship with the American flag — and said, “I think it’s quite literally criminal. It’s one of the kinds of decisions that you’re like, this is, there’s no good reason for it. It doesn’t matter what reason you ever put towards it … it’s never going to be justified.”
Parsons went on to add, “It is only hurtful, and it feels like it’s only being done in order to make a point … ‘We’re getting rid of this because we want to make sure certain people understand that they’re not welcome here.’”
He also reacted to the Supreme Court’s allowance of bans to LGBTQ+ books, saying, “I think anytime the stuff about not teaching … about homosexuality or anything on this spectrum that we’re talking about in class, it’s one of the most harmful things I think you could do because it embeds a message that we’ve been trying so hard to counter for many, many decades now, which is that you are inherently bad. You are inherently something we aren’t even allowed to teach about.”
Parsons is one of several high-profile celebrities to appear in Reclaim the Flag. The 30-minute special also features Lena Waithe, Gus Kenworthy, Jonathan Capehart, Marc Jacobs, Bill T. Jones, George Takei, Gottmik, Gigi Goode, Cheyenne Jackson, Brandon Flynn, Harper Steele, Isaac Mizrahi, John Cameron Mitchell, Paul Tazewell, Raquel Willis, Josh Wood, Jenna Lyons, Justin Tranter, and Marc Jacobs. The film debuted on YouTube on July 17.