Trans People In Television

Okay, those who follow my blog know that one of my pet peeves is when something says “LGBT” and it isn’t. Well it happened again, this time in the New York Times, oh they threw us a bone but they ignored most of the televisions shows with a trans character with a recurring role.

14 TV Shows That Broke Ground With Gay and Transgender Characters
By Kathryn Shattuck
February 16, 2017

Last year was a remarkable time when it came to the representation of gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender or queer regular characters on television, according to the latest Glaad report monitoring diversity on the small screen. But that milestone, along with more accurate story lines and fewer stereotypes, has been a long time coming — a turbulent 45-year trajectory from television movies to single episodes involving secondary players to fully fleshed-out characters central to a show’s story line. “All of these moments are very important in one way or another, either in progressing our lives as L.G.B.T.Q. people, or being able to help people understand who we are, especially in those times when so many people lived hidden and invisible,” said Sarah Kate Ellis, the president and chief executive of Glaad (formerly known as the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation). The following are some of the most momentous.

And they threw us a bone in naming two trans shows…

2013 — ‘ORANGE IS THE NEW BLACK’ This Netflix series tells the story of a women’s correctional facility and its diverse cast of inmates, including the transgender Sophia (Laverne Cox) and the lesbian Poussey (Samira Wiley), who is killed off in Season 4 — the latest fatality in a 40-year string of lesbian deaths on television, beginning with Julie (Geraldine Brooks) in “Executive Suite” in 1976.

2014 — ‘TRANSPARENT’ This Amazon show stars Jeffrey Tambor as the patriarch of a California family who is transitioning late in life to the woman he has always identified as. Inspired by her own transgender parent, the show’s creator, Jill Soloway, makes a point of putting transgender people both in front of and behind the camera.

So what shows did they leave out?

All in the Family
Brave New Girls
Bosom Buddies
Degrassi
Dirty Sexy Money
The Education of Max Bickford
Golden Girls
The Jeffersons
Married... with Children

Then there are a whole hosts of crime dramas that had trans characters such as NCIS, Law & Order, CSI: Crime Scene Investigation and others. There were a number of Soaps that also had trans characters including All My Children that had a number of trans people on who I know.
So once again we got short sticked when it comes to LGB_t.

Here is a excerpt from the support scene in All My Children...