Mrs. Doubtfire is such a beloved movie by so many and little did we know what it did to expand on gay rights in the early ’90s. It was released in 1993, a time where LGBT rights were little to none and it was front and center of our government. But with this movie, Robin Williams helped in the slightest way change the way we thought about LGBT rights.

Through Mrs. Doubtfire, Robin shared his appreciation of the cultural contributions that the LGBT community created. Robin’s character, Daniel Hillard, is a struggling dad fresh out of divorce court. It was his gay, bother played by openly gay actor, Harvey Fierstein and known by the kids in the movie as “Aunt Jack”, and his partner, Uncle Frank who played a pivotal role in assisting Daniel with the birth of Mrs. Doubtfire. In doing so, Robin elevated conversations about sexuality and gender. In 1996, Robin portrayed Armand Goldman a gay cabernet owner in “The Birdcage”. During an interview, he was asked about his role and he said the following: “If I can use my celebrity status to draw people into a movie theater to see me perform as an admirable gay man and thereby make them a little most positive about gay people, why wouldn’t I do it? I get to be an activist for gay rights without even having to get up on Sunday morning and march in a parade. It’s a win/win for me and gay rights — I’m here! I’m queer! I’m making points to get into heaven!”

Now, this movie plays on the trope of a cross-dressing man as humorous, however, there is a moment that resonates with many trans women that aren’t funny. In the movie, Daniel is walking down an avenue in broad daylight dressed as Mrs. Doubtfire when suddenly, he is attacked by a mugger. Daniel fights back to the mugger’s surprise and at that point, the mugger realizes that he isn’t dealing an ordinary granny and takes off. The mugger’s realization that Mrs. Doubtfire is a trans woman could portray transphobia which isn’t funny to real-life trans women. Many times, we hear how trans women are targets for street harassment and physical violence but at the time of this film’s release, there was barely a conversation going on about such a topic.

We probably didn’t realize it then, but Mrs. Doubtfire was a small step towards a further discussion about LGBT rights, and for that, I love this movie even more.