Trans and nonbinary individuals — and their allies — are pushing Hollywood to tell more inclusive, authentic stories about their lives. In an open letter published in Variety, GLAAD and Time’s Up’s 5050by2020 initiative called on Hollywood “to use its power to improve the lives of trans people by changing America’s understanding about who trans people are.” “Transparent” creator Jill Soloway spearheaded the letter, which was signed by 47 companies including Ava DuVernay’s Array Alliance, Shondaland, Women In Film, Ryan Murphy Prods., SAG-AFTRA, and several talent agencies.
“Hollywood tells the stories that help people understand how to feel about themselves and how to feel about people around them who are different. As Roger Ebert said, film is an empathy machine,” the letter observes. “We know projects like ‘Ellen,’ ‘Will & Grace,’ ‘Brokeback Mountain,’ ‘Milk,’ and ‘Moonlight’ helped to break down stereotypes about gay and lesbian people, and the timeline for marriage equality would have been remarkably different without them. Women, people of color, people with disabilities, and diverse faith groups have made it clear they want more authentic stories about their lives in films and on TV. Trans people feel the same way.”
The letter also introduces a resource guide GLAAD and 5050by2020 put together for studios and networks planning to hire trans folks on either side of the camera. The guide includes info on how to find trans performers and appropriately cast trans roles, advice on collaborating with trans creatives, and suggestions on where to find projects from trans people.
The trans community is one of the most underrepresented groups in pop culture. Across the top 100 films of 2017, there was not a single trans character, the Annenberg Inclusion Initiative recently found. According to GLAAD, there were only 17 regular or recurring transgender characters on broadcast, cable, and streaming platforms during the 2017-18 TV season. Four of those characters were portrayed as nonbinary.
Unfortunately, it’s still not unusual for cis actors to be cast as trans characters. This was the case in the recent Scarlett Johansson “Rub and Tug” debacle. Johansson had signed on to play a trans man and, after a swift and powerful backlash, subsequently dropped out of the project.
“Orange Is the New Black” actress Laverne Cox spoke to Variety about why trans people need to be the ones telling trans stories in a recent roundtable discussion. “I think if all things were equal, then everyone should be able to play every character. But all things are not equal,” she said. “As an artist, I don’t ever want someone telling me that I shouldn’t play something. But the reality is, 84 percent of Americans do not personally know someone who is transgender. So most Americans learn what they learn about trans people through the media.”
As Cox explains, the need for better trans representation in the media is essential in the current political climate. “Right now in this country, in the first days of this year, 10 states introduced 21 pieces of legislation targeting trans people, mostly trying to limit our ability to go to the bathroom. The current president is trying to ban us from the military. Our unemployment rate is three times the national average.” She continued, “So in this cultural environment, when we see representations of cis people playing us over and over again, that reinforces the idea that trans women are not really women and trans men are not really men and nonbinary people don’t exist. That is the basis of the discrimination that trans people experience.”
Soloway has stated that the campaign to increase trans representation will lobby major studios and networks for public support next. “We’re creating a moment where a producer or a studio might think to cast a cis person in a role as a trans person and say, ‘I read that letter and it’s actually not okay anymore … the moral code has changed around this,’” they said. (Soloway identifies as nonbinary and uses they/them pronouns.)
Head over to Variety to read the open letter in full.
