Setting the Standard for Transgender Representation in TV

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By Parisa Akbarpour

Up until recent years, there were few transgender characters in film, let alone films about transgender characters, and these trans characters were almost always played by cisgender* performers.

Boys Don’t Cry (1999) was arguably the first film about a trans person to receive mainstream attention, and it was based on a true story. Even though the film and its cast won several awards including Golden Globes and an Oscar for Best Actress, the role of the transgender main character was played by Hillary Swank, a cisgender woman. The film can also be hard to watch for trans people because it involves a graphic and tragic hate crime and can feel like it’s glorifying that violence.

However, there has been a positive shift recently in film and TV shows that aim to uplift the trans community and tell the powerful stories of those within it.

Of course, I think it’s important to recognize that there’s no one correct portrayal of a trans character. The trans community is extremely diverse in backgrounds and experiences, so there can’t be any set guidelines for how a trans character should be expected to act. The way we manage this though, is by making sure there’s representation both on the screen and behind the scenes. If a show includes a trans character, that character must be played by a trans performer, and there must be other people on the set and involved in the production process who are also trans. It’s the only way to ensure that the representation being fed to a massive audience is one that isn’t insensitive, stigmatizing, or perpetuating stereotypes.

Here are a few shows starting to set the standard for trans representation in television and why it’s important:

Euphoria (streaming on HBO Max)

“I think the representation with jules was really well done: mainly because although they make a point to address her being trans, it isn’t everything to her character and she’s well rounded, just a full person,” said Dakota Varney, a 21-year-old trans man studying communications at ASU. “Not just throwing in trans characters for representation.”

The special episode on Jules that was released earlier this month consisted of a lot of discussion about how Jules feels about her own gender identity. Hunter Schaefer, who plays Jules and is trans, helped write the episode with the creator Sam Levison. Schaefer was able to use their own experience with gender identity to understand the struggles Jules would be going through.

“At least for me, being trans is spiritual. You know, it’s not religious. It’s not, like, for some congregation. It’s for me. It’s mine. It belongs to me,” Jules says. “And I don’t ever wanna stand still. Like, I wanna be alive. I mean, that’s what this has always been about is, like, staying alive”

La Veneno (streaming on HBO Max)

This biographical series tells the life story of Cristina “La Veneno” Ortiz, a trans sex worker who rose to fame in the 90s. The role of La Veneno is played by three trans women: Jedet plays her at the beginning of her transition, Daniela Santiago plays her as she gained mainstream attention, and Isabel Torres plays her later in life.

The role of Paca La Piraña, La Veneno’s longtime friend and roommate, is played by herself; which is so special to have the real icon play their own character in a series about a story’s legacy.

Paca met La Veneno in the park where her and a group of girls worked, and they remained close up until right before La Veneno passed away in 2016 from a traumatic brain injury that occurred after a fall.

The show is in Spanish, but available in an English-dubbed form or with subtitles (in my opinion the subtitles are worth it).

RuPaul’s Drag Race Season 13 (streaming on VH1)

For the first time in RuPaul’s Drag Race Herstory a trans man is competing. Gottmik is the stage name for Kade Gottlieb, a 24-year-old makeup artist from Los Angeles.

“Drag has kind of been gatekept by the gay community for a long time, which was especially heightened when RuPaul said something about trans women not being able to do drag because it’s men that’s do it not (trans) women. So to have an openly trans person on the show (even if he’s a man) is a huge step for the community,” said Sam Walls, a 20-year-old college student who identifies as non-binary.

“There’s a lot more representation in the media for trans women than there are trans men. so having another person for transmasculine people to look up to is really positive,” they said.

Pose (streaming on Netflix or FX)

“Pose has been monumental in giving LGBTQIA+ people of color, specifically black trans women, the platform they deserve to express authentic narratives,” said 20-year-old Kye Mogg, who uses they/them pronouns. “For so long the only queer representation that was palatable enough for mainstream media was cis, male, and white which is completely not representative of [the queer] community.”

Taking place inside the ballroom community of New York City in the 1980s and 90s, Pose illustrates the lives of those who have contributed so much to the queer community but continue to be left behnd. Played by trans performers, these trans women of color are part of a group who defined a large part of queer culture which will be around forever.

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There are a couple more shows who are providing positive representation for trans and non-binary people: We Are Who We Are is streaming on HBO Max, Are You The One streams on MTV, Disclosure is a great documentary on Netflix.

While progress is being made, we’re still far from normalizing the trans community within the world of Hollywood. Even further, there is very, very, little representation in the media for non-binary people.

In the meantime, these shows are perfect opportunities to learn about the lives of those who have been strategically pushed out of mainstream media. We must continue to support trans creators and creatives because their impact in the entertainment industry is so strong, but has always been exploited, so it’s important they are given a place inside of it where they’re valued and uplifted.

*Cisgender means a person’s gender identity is the same as the sex they were assigned at birth.