Second Wachowski sibling comes out as transgender

The second half of the sibling filmmaking duo known as the Wachowskis has come out as transgender.

Lilly Wachowski, who was previously known as Andy Wachowski, made the announcement in a statement to the Windy City Times, a weekly Chicago LGBT newspaper. In the statement, she said she’d been threatened with outing by several media outlets.

“Being transgender is not easy,” Wachowski said. “We live in a majority-enforced gender binary world. This means when you’re transgender you have to face the hard reality of living the rest of your life in a world that is openly hostile to you.”

But, she added, “I will continue to be an optimist adding my shoulder to the Sisyphean struggle of progress and in my very being, be an example of the potentiality of another world.”

Wachowski, 48, is the sibling of Lana Wachowski, 50, who came out as transgender several years ago. The pair are best known for writing and directing The Matrix trilogy, and their other credits include Bound, V for Vendetta, Jupiter Ascending, and Sense8.

GLAAD was among the first voices to comment on the announcement.

“GLAAD is thrilled that Lilly Wachowski is able to be her true and authentic self today, however, she should not have been forced to disclose her transgender identity before she was ready to do so,” said Nick Adams, the organization’s director of programs for transgender media, in a statement. “Journalists must learn that it is unacceptable to out a transgender person, in the same way it is unacceptable to out a person who is gay, lesbian, or bisexual.”

Read Lilly Wachowski’s full statement at the Windy City Times.