Sex Education star Felix Mufti received death threats for being trans
Felix Mufti has been speaking to journalist Lauren Ostridge for the first ever Trans+ History Week.
Actor Felix Mufti says he received death threats from anti-trans trolls when he appeared in a documentary as a child.
The Liverpudlian Netflix star, who transitioned 10 years ago, says he was bombarded with hateful online comments, with some threatening to find his home and kill him.
"I've been in the public eye for a long time," he said. "I got so much negative attention from people who say they're 'protecting children'. I was a child.
"People were finding my Twitter and messaging me directly. I was getting a lot of negative attention. People say such horrible things, behind screens online, and it really impacts you.
"I think about all these other trans children who get attacked online who are constantly barraged by multitude of hate.
"People need to step back and see the bigger picture. You're not protecting them, or safeguarding them - you're putting them in danger."
Felix runs his own theatre company in Liverpool, which encourages and supports LGBTQ+ people who are interested in the industry.
"I see so many young people who have developed really destructive behaviour patterns because of what other people think of them," he said.
"A lot of trans children have attempted to take their own life because of other people who say they're trying to make the world a better place."
It comes as the first ever Trans+ History Week is marked in the UK, 91 years since Nazis raided the world's first trans+ clinic in Berlin, the Institute of Sexology.
Created by QueerAF, the week is dedicated to learning about and celebrating history of trans, non-binary, gender-diverse and intersex people.
Felix made history for being in the first trans relationship (T4T) on-screen alongside his co-star Anthony Lexa.
He believes the inaugural week is vital because most trans+ history has been vastly "eradicated" over the last century.
"Transness has always existed in every community all over the world but our history has been destroyed," he said.
"It hasn't been well archived - and now that there's more of a conversation around trans people, we're being fear mongered and becoming the political punching bag."
The actor says it is "not crazy" to think people do not want to live defined by gender roles or to live a certain way.
"Even 10 years ago when I first came out, people are not speaking about transness in the way they are now," he said.
Trans+ History Week runs from 6-12 May, a date deliberately chosen as it is the anniversary of the Nazi raid on the world’s first ever trans clinic in 1933.
The Institute of Sexology, which carried out research on sexuality and gender and advocating for LGBTQ+ rights, was broken into and library set alight and destroyed.
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