Lana Wachowski of The Matrix and V for Vendetta filmmaking team came out as transgender many years ago, but has largely been private about her transition. She made one of her first public appearances earlier this summer to help promote the Wachowskis’ exciting new film, Cloud Atlas, due out this fall. Now, she and her brother Andy have opened up about their past for The New Yorker, including details about Lana’s transition.

In the profile, Lana describes feeling like she belonged with the girls in Catholic school, and often experienced bullying because of her lack of gender conformity. But, she found “tremendous solace in books, vastly preferring imagined worlds to this world.” In the early 2000′s, Lana experienced great depression and decided with her therapist it was time to transition, and she came out to her parents. Her mother, Lynne Wachowski, was worried that she was going to lose her son to depression, but instead discovered, “there is more of you.” Lana describes getting over the hurdle of embracing the change:

WACHOWSKI: I chose to change my exteriority to bring it closer into alignment with my interiority. My biggest fears were all about losing my family. Once they accepted me, everything else has been a piece of cake. I know that many people are dying to know if I have a surgically constructed vagina or not, but I prefer to keep this information between my wife and me.

Lana Wachowski’s story will surely inspire many young people, and it also emphasizes the importance of family acceptance. Studies have shown that trans youth who are not supported by their families and who do not have the opportunity to receive affirming therapy face a higher risk for mental health problems. She does not owe anybody the details of her identity, but by talking openly about how she was able to right her life and find happiness, she makes it easier for others to envision the same outcome.

Seventh in a series examining how anti-LGBT Senate candidates have worked to hurt the cause of equality.

Former Rep. Heather Wilson (R-NM) (Credit: Eric Draper/AP)

After losing in the primary in her first Senate bid in the 2008 election, former Rep. Heather Wilson (R-NM) is now the Republican nominee against Rep. Martin Heinrich (D) for the open seat of retiring Sen. Jeff Bingaman (D). Unlike Heinrich, a consistent supporter of LGBT equality and a backer of marriage equality, Wilson has opposed the LGBT community on several major issues.

Over her ten-plus years in the House of Representatives and her two Senate campaigns:

1. Wilson said she “tolerates” but doesn’t “approve of” homosexuality. Throughout her career, Wilson has repeatedly noted that though she tolerates LGBT people, she doesn’t much like having to do so. “With respect to homosexuality,” she told ABC News in 2006, “there are things I’m willing to tolerate that I’m not willing to approve of.” That disapproval was evident in her voting record: according to the Human Rights Campaign, she voted for LGBT equality just 5 percent of the time in the 110th Congress and zero percent of the time in the 107th, 108th, and 109th Congresses.

2. Wilson voted against Hate Crimes protections for LGBT Americans. In both 2000 and 2007, she voted against adding sexual orientation to the federal hate crimes laws. In 1998, in the wake of the brutal murder of Matthew Shepard, Wilson argued that there was no need to add hate crimes protections for LGBT people because “it’s already law” — citing a 1994 provision that only covered crimes committed when the victim was engaged in already-protected federal activities like voting.

3. Wilson opposed anti-bullying laws, comparing anti-gay bullying to mere “teasing.” Earlier this year, she outlined her opposition to SB 555, the Student Non-Discrimination Act, explaining that “with respect to this particular agenda we have to recognize as parents that children tease each other.” Wilson mocked the bill — which would merely provide LGBT students with similar civil rights protections against bullying to those already granted to students bullied based on race and gender — dismissing it as “so broad it would actually punish children and say that it’s prohibited to express an opinion with respect to homosexuality in the schools.”

4. Wilson has consistently and vocally opposed marriage equality and civil unions. She frequently notes that “marriage is the union of a man and a woman as husband and wife” and repeatedly voted for a federal constitutional amendment to force that definition on states. In her 2012 campaign kickoff speech, she ironically claimed, “I trust people more than I trust government to make the best decisions for themselves and for their families,” while noting that marriage can only be between one man and one woman. Asked in 2006 whether she would support civil union-like rights for same sex-couples, she said she would not: “I think that’s marriage. And I think marriage is an institution that we should protect and nurture and it’s not, you know, it’s not between two women, two men, or between, between a group of people. It is a union between one man and one woman, and it’s something that we should honor in law, as well as in our communities.”

5. Wilson has not even practiced non-discrimination personally. In her first Congressional race, she said that she would not support “special rights” for LGBT people — code words for opposing equal treatment under the law. In addition to voting against the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, she refused to even adopt a non-discrimination policy against LGBT discrimination for employees in her own Congressional office.

Watch Wilson explain why anti-gay bullying need not be punished:

On her campaign website, Wilson calls herself “an advocate for families.” Clearly, some restrictions apply. Her election to the U.S. Senate would be a huge threat to LGBT people and families.

Every two years, the Gay, Lesbian, & Straight Education Network conducts a school climate survey to assess the experience of LGBT young people across the country. Today, the group released its report from 2011, and though there is definitely marked improvement since the 2009 study, LGBT students still face very high levels of bullying and victimization. Here are some of the key findings:

• 81.9 percent of LGBT students reported being verbally harassed, 38.3 percent reported being physically harassed, and 18.3 percent reported being physically assaulted at school in the past year because of their sexual orientation.
• 63.9 percent of LGBT students reported being verbally harassed, 27.1 percent reported being physically harassed, and 12.4 percent reported being physically assaulted at school in the past year because of their gender expression.
• 84.9 percent of LGBT students heard “gay” used in a negative way (e.g., “that’s so gay”) and 71.3 percent heard homophobic remarks (e.g., “dyke” or “faggot”) frequently or often at school.
• 6 in 10 LGBT students (63.5 percent) reported feeling unsafe at school because of their sexual orientation; and 4 in 10 (43.9 percent) felt unsafe because of their gender expression. 80 percent of transgender students reported feeling unsafe at school because of their gender expression.

In addition to these high rates of negative experiences, the study also found a correlation between how safe and included students felt and how well they performed academically:

• Nearly one third of LGBT students (29.8 percent) reported skipping a class at least once and 31.8 percent missed at least one entire day of school in the past month because of safety concerns.
• The reported grade point average of students who were more frequently harassed because of their sexual orientation or gender expression was lower than for students who were less often harassed (2.9 vs. 3.2).
• Having a Gay-Straight Alliance (GSA) in school was related to more positive experiences for LGBT students, including: hearing fewer homophobic remarks, experiencing less victimization because of sexual orientation and gender expression, being less likely to feel unsafe because of their sexual orientation (54.9 percent of students with a GSA vs. 70.6 percent of other students) and having a greater sense of belonging to their school community.
• Students in schools with an LGBT-inclusive curriculum, i.e. one that included positive representations of LGBT people, history and events, heard fewer homophobic remarks, were less likely to feel unsafe because of their sexual orientation (43.4% of students with an inclusive curriculum vs. 63.6% of other students), were more likely to report that their peers were accepting of LGBT people (67.0% vs. 33.0%) and felt more connected to their school.
• Compared to students at school with a generic policy that did not include protections based on sexual orientation and gender identity/expression, students attending schools with a comprehensive anti-bullying policy that included specific protections heard fewer homophobic remarks, experienced lower levels of victimization related to their sexual orientation, were more likely to report that staff intervened when hearing homophobic remarks and were more likely to report incidents of harassment and assault to school staff.

School climate is getting better, but only slightly. The programs and policies that are supposed to make a difference are making a difference, but are still not prevalent enough: only 45.7 percent had a GSA, 16.8 percent had an LGBT-inclusive curriculum, and 7.4 percent had a comprehensive anti-bullying policy. These are exactly the kinds of effective interventions anti-gay conservatives are trying to block. More must be done to open up discussions and schools and help these young people feel authentic about who they are.

The contrast between the Democratic and Republican conventions has already been stark, but perhaps no distinction stood out more than the attentive inclusion of LGBT people. Almost every speaker last night made at least some passing reference to LGBT equality, including celebrations of the repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell and endorsements of marriage equality. Several of the speakers, including Rep. Jared Polis (D-CO), DNC Treasurer Andrew Tobias, and DNC CEO Stephen Kerrigan, were openly gay.

Tobias juxtaposed Democratic economic policy with his own experience growing up gay.

TOBIAS: The Democratic Party under the leadership of Barack Obama has dramatically improved the lives of millions of lesbian, gay, transgender and bisexual Americans and at no cost to anyone else.

In college, I thought I was the only guy in the world who liked other guys. Later I found there was someone else like me, our 26-year-old resident tutor. He and I never talked about it at the time. No one talked about being gay back then. People killed themselves over being gay. Tragically, some kids still do. But, the progress we have made. Eight weeks ago, I attended that young tutor’s wedding! To a guy! He and I never talked about it at the time. Love that had been unspeakable 46 years ago was celebrated by hundreds of people—straight and gay, surfers and senators.

In a way, it was a wedding that married my two topics — money and equality — because that young tutor had grown up to become the chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, Barney Frank.

Watch it:

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