Marlee Matlin — Defying the Limits

On Civil Rights, Her Gay Brother and Hanging Out with Jennifer Beals
 
At 21, Marlee Matlin took home the Oscar for her role in Children of a Lesser God — making her the youngest Best Actress winner in the history of the Academy Awards.

Some 20 years later, Matlin is still going strong — playing a wide array of roles on the big and small screens alike, lobbying Congress for closed-captioning requirements and writing children’s books. The actor, who lives in the Los Angeles area with her husband and their four children, recently joined the cast of Showtime’s “The L Word” as artist Jodi Lerner.

Matlin, who delivered the keynote address at the Human Rights Campaign’s Chicago gala, took time out to chat with the Human Rights Campaign’s Equality magazine about equal rights, her gay brother Mark and having “fun, fun, fun” on the set with her longtime friend Jennifer Beals.

Equality: What was it like when your brother came out?
Matlin: It was sometime in high school when I found out he had told my parents he was gay. When he told me, I acted as a typical teenager of the 1970s would — lots of questions and not a clear understanding of what it meant. Eventually, I came to understand that I loved Mark for all the things he was, and being gay was part of that. As for my parents, they couldn’t have been more supportive. They were always, and have been there for him just as they were for me when they found out I was deaf.

Equality: How have your experiences as a deaf woman influenced your view of your brother?
Matlin: I think we share an understanding of what it’s like to be in the minority. A lot of people I know have had a difficult time dealing with that kind of situation, but fortunately for us, our parents taught us to not let our differences define who we are. In our case, it was about our parents not treating us any differently and affording us the love and respect that any child deserves. That helped me in my life and I know it did the same for my brother.

Equality: When you joined the cast of “The L Word,” what did your brother say?
Matlin: He laughed when I told him, “OK, I guess it’s time to tell Mom that I’m coming out. I’m a lesbian.” I was excited and thrilled to be asked to join the cast of the show — one which portrays lesbians as people who have full and productive lives just like anyone else.

Equality: So what’s it like to play Jennifer Beals’ love interest?
Matlin: Fun, fun, fun! We laugh all the time because we finally got our wish to work together. We’ve known each other for 20 years and Jennifer was there when I first moved to New York, before Children of a Lesser God came out. I was 20 years old and so naïve, and she was there as my friend and partner in shopping sprees. Playing lovers was a piece of cake because we already had a great deal of admiration for each other, something which Bette and Jodi have.

Equality: Any favorite episode, in particular?
Matlin: I loved the one where Jodi and her deaf ex have it out right in front of Bette [Beals] in Jodi’s art class. It was the first time on TV where two deaf characters had it out, and it was all subtitled just as you would see in any film with two speakers of a foreign language. I also liked the last episode where Bette drove up in the tractor with her attempt to win Jodi back. It was so romantic, and I loved the way it was shot.

Equality: You’ve spoken out about the need for mandatory closed captioning, and have even testified on Capitol Hill.
Matlin: Think about how technology is rapidly changing, while at the same time thinking about accessibility for 27 million Americans who are deaf and hard-of-hearing. Today, closed captioning is everywhere. Now the same has to happen with the boom in computer and digital technology — streaming videos, video iPods, digital TV. Deaf people also rely on video relay services, a means whereby a television and computer and sign language operator are used to make video phone calls between hearing and deaf people. It was mandated by the Americans with Disabilities Act but the FCC is cutting back funding and outreach. Hopefully, with the help of people like your readers and many, many more hearing people, the FCC will have no choice but to listen and not cut access for people who are deaf and hard-of-hearing.

Equality: GLBT equality, the rights of deaf people and other civil rights issues — how do they all intersect?
Matlin: It all comes down to one thing: Are people afforded the rights that everyone has despite how society chooses to define them? People who are hard-of-hearing or deaf, people of different races, people in the GLBT community have suffered too long merely because of their minority status and outright ignorance on the part of the majority. But numbers and ignorance should not define how any of us are treated. At the end of the day, we all live and love and breathe under the same skies and on the same ground. No one should ever be afforded any less.