Network Trans Rating…

It seems like everybody has a list of the ten best and now GLAAD has come out with their list of the best networks on LGBT issues. The sixth annual GLAAD Network Reasonability Index listed…
CW Network
ABC Network
Fox Network
NBC Network
CBS Network
As the top five friendly LGBT networks. They said,

The number of LGBT images has stabilized this year as the range of impressions continues to grow. With 69% of LGBT impressions on broadcast networks made by gay men and 66% of LGBT-inclusive broadcast hours showcasing white people, the Network Responsibility Index also calls for networks to highlight the great ethnic and cultural diversity of the LGBT community.

Now does GLAAD included trans-people in their survey or is it just gay men, do they mean LGBT=gay men? Or do they mean gay men=LGBT? I think when they say LGBT that they really mean only gay men and lesbian women and if anything trans-people are just an afterthought. Because if you read on they say…

Transgender representation continues to be low on nearly every television network. Transgender inclusive hours recorded on broadcast television went from 0.002% last year to 0.01% this year, the number also remained extremely low for the cable networks tracked at 0.005%

So while networks continue to increase their lesbian and gay positive image, we are just thrown bread crumbs by the networks. There are a few trans-characters in TV series like Degrassi: and Glee we are in only a few TV shows and of those that feature trans-characters how many of them are played by trans-actors?

Should trans screen roles be played by trans actors?
Transsexual characters promote positive discussion, regardless of who plays them. But trans actors need more opportunities
The Guardian
By Juliet Jacques
14 January 2012

"He's playing a transsexual," said Ben Stephenson, controller of drama commissioning, as the BBC announced that Sean Bean would star as Simon, an English teacher with an "alter ego" named Tracie in legal drama Accused. "[It's] a brilliant story," Stephenson told the Broadcasting Press Guild, "untold, I think, on mainstream television." Bean's appearance is the latest to raise an issue constantly debated within certain circles: should trans roles on screen be played by trans people?

Critiquing stereotypical portrayals in Whipping Girl, Julia Serano stated that "in a world where transsexual and intersex works of art … are not considered mainstream enough to be nominated for Emmys and Pulitzers, the facade presented in [HBO drama] Normal … profoundly shapes audience opinions about transsexual and intersex people". The problem, argued Serano, was that Normal appropriated gender-variant experiences without including transgender perspectives, replacing them with the director's unchallenged prejudices, which, intentionally or not, felt deeply transphobic.

Should only trans-people play the role of a trans-character? Having a non-trans-character play a trans-character, is it like a white person playing the role of a black persons?

What about a trans-actor being cast in a non-trans-character role? Should we play the role of a non-trans-character or would it be like the reverse of a non-trans-charter playing the role of a trans-character?

It may be that nobody with a trans history is competent to play mainstream roles – it's hard to know, as few explanations for casting decisions have been forthcoming, and until a test case, little will change. If openly trans people were occasionally given cisgender roles, or if mainstream broadcasters or filmmakers finally try a trans actor, even a non-professional, in a leading trans role (as arthouse director Sébastien Lifshitz did recently in Wild Side), then we see the media landscape shift entirely, and provide a generation with opportunities and inspirations. That could be a brilliant story.

What are your thoughts?