Sonequa plays Michael Burnham in the Netflix and CBS All Access series.
"My character is named after her biological father, who in the story was killed when she was very young. That is simply but profoundly a political statement of the gender fluidity of the future, where a daughter can be named after her father."
▪if she would be happy if her son were gender fluid:
"I think that is something we have to deal with now. I think that... well, I couldn't say that I didn't like it, because if that's what he truly believed. Do you know what I'm saying? I have to support that, because I love him unconditionally. So I have to receive that, and I have to accept that, and then I have to decide how we move forward together."
▪if gender fluidity should be an option :
"I don't think anyone can speak on it in... those sort of personal terms because it is such an individual, sensitive, highly personal thing. And everyone has a right to their individual, highly personal things. That's part of being a human being. At least that's the way it should be. In this case [with Michael], when I'm speaking of gender fluidity, I'm talking about the gender roles being in a more equal place, being on a more even sort of playing field, if you will, and so we're not paying so much attention to the sort of barriers that separate those two genders."
source