Eleven years after Time magazine put “Orange Is the New Black” star Laverne Cox on the cover and called it “the transgender tipping point,” those trend lines are heading in the opposite direction amid a GOP pushback against the trans community that has seen the number of trans characters decline for a second year in row, according to GLAAD’s 2023-2024 report.
After the heights of Amazon’s “Transparent” — which starred cis actor Jeffrey Tambor in the lead role but also featured nine trans actors — and “Pose,” which made scripted TV history with five trans actors as series regulars, the window for greater trans gender representation appears to be slamming shut.
Under Trump’s anti-LGBTQ administration, opportunity for transgender performers on TV is “somewhere between treading water, taking on water, and dead in the water,” trans historian Susan Stryker told TheWrap.
“Trans people are less visible on screen. They’re being pushed out of every aspect of public life in every way, shape and form. They are trying to sweep trans people under the rug and isolate us. That is very, very intentional, and it is heartbreaking to see the way that major studios are seemingly willing to play into that,” said trans actress Nicole Maines, whose resume includes “Supergirl” and “Yellowjackets.”
Cox, the first trans actress to receive an Emmy nomination and still the most well-known trans actress in the world, co-created and starred in her own 2025 Prime Video series, the Norman-Lear-produced “Clean Slate,” about a trans woman named Desiree who returns to her hometown in Alabama. The well-reviewed series ran eight episodes but was not renewed for a second season. Cox said the cancellation of the series, which was largely drawn from her own life, was “devastating.”
Desiree wasn’t the only trans character who exited stage left in the past year. GLAAD reported only 24 trans characters across broadcast, cable and streaming, dropping 25% from the previous season and the lowest level since the 2017-2018 season. A trans-inclusive series that’s a massive hit, like “Baby Reindeer,” is increasingly rare.
“Queer shows are always going to be the ones who get the chop first,” Maines said, referring to the one-season-only trend as “the Season 2 Graveyard.”
Given the current anti-trans political climate that began even before Trump was re-elected, studios and networks have been scrubbing trans content from existing shows, especially those aimed at kids. In November, shortly after Trump’s victory, Disney pulled an episode of the animated series “Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur,” which featured a recurring trans character named Brooklyn.
After casting teen trans voice actor Chanel Stewart as an openly trans character in the Pixar series “Win or Lose,” that aspect of the storyline was completely cut in December. Stewart, who was 14 when she landed the role and is now 18, told TheWrap, “I was told about the change around two months before the show’s release. After four years of working on the show, I was shocked. I was so proud and excited to show queer youth that it’s okay to be who you are. I would’ve loved to have this representation when I was younger.”
Disney released a statement at the time: “When it comes to animated content for a younger audience, we recognize that many parents would prefer to discuss certain subjects with their children on their own terms and timeline.”
“Studio City” actor Scott Turner Schofield, who in 2020 became the first trans man to be nominated for an Emmy, told TheWrap, “There is a clampdown on what stories are being allowed to be told. There was pre-compliance to this ideology against the beautiful diversity that we’ve been seeing for the last 10 years. We see who’s in charge, and we see that they want to hold on to power.”
Schofield added, “And of course trans people are the canary in the coal mine. We LGBTQ people, we always see that first against our culture.”
Among the shows with trans characters that ended last season was Netflix’s “The Umbrella Academy,” which had changed the gender of Elliot Page’s character after he came out as a trans man. Other series with at least one trans character that signed off in the 2024/2025 season: Max’s “Somebody Somewhere” and Paramount’s “Star Trek: Discovery,” as well as “The Acolyte” on Disney+.
Trans activist and TransLash founder Imara Jones told TheWrap that, looking back, Time’s proclamation of a “tipping point” was premature. “Even at the time, people thought, ‘This might be overblown or overstated,’” Jones said, adding, “In terms of the actual substance and range of the roles, that really changed around ‘Pose.’”
The FX series, which was set in the 1980s New York world of drag balls, was created by Ryan Murphy, Brad Falchuk, and Steven Canals, with trans writer and producer Janet Mock serving as one of the executive producers. Michaela Jaé Rodriguez, then billed as MJ Rodriguez, became the first transgender woman to earn an Emmy nomination in a major acting category in 2021. The following year, she won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a TV Drama.
Cut to 2025, where landing a role for any actor is tough among studio cutbacks, DEI rollbacks, lingering fallout from the 2023 strikes and January’s devastating Los Angeles wildfires, let alone someone who’s transgender.
This year, Maines reprised her role as Lisa — whose gender was never discussed — in Season 3 of “Yellowjackets” and guested in an episode of “Clean Slate” with Cox. She said she’s having trouble finding work right now, but so are her cis friends.
“It’s hard to tell if it’s because there is a shifting political feeling, or is it just the same, ‘Oh, nothing’s getting greenlit, nothing’s getting bought,’” Maines said. “The state of the industry is just so awful right now and the last thing we need is to be restricting who can and can’t be on screen because, ‘Oh, we don’t want a headline.’”
Trans people are less visible on screen. They’re being pushed out of every aspect of public life in every way, shape and form” — Nicole Maines
Despite the current gloomy outlook, several performers were optimistic that there will eventually be an upswing in trans TV characters.
After gushing about Nava Mau’s Emmy-nominated role in “Baby Reindeer,” and her new short film on Vimeo, Schofield said, “I’ve been in this game for a very long time, and I’ve watched trends come and go. This too shall pass. We don’t need to be afraid, but what we do need to do is go the independent route and realize as consumers that our views really matter.”
Stryker noted that documentaries are the most trans-friendly content being created right now. “I see some action in docs on the streamers, but not much else,” she said.
Filmmaker Gianna Toboni’s new documentary “Just Kids” about three trans kids dealing with gender-affirming care bans across the country, just premiered at Tribeca.
Toboni is also hopeful, partly because Gen Z kids don’t watch much television. “They aren’t going on Netflix necessarily, but they are watching social media, and a lot of stars of those shows have huge followings. That’s incredibly meaningful for these kids. In fact, it’s everything.”
Toboni shared an anecdote from the “Just Kids” set: “A lot of these kids have never met a trans adult. One of our crew members was spending time with one of the kids while we weren’t shooting, and they were just chatting and there was this incredible moment where the child looked at them and realized they were trans. And they said, ‘I just never really realized that I could be a trans adult and have a healthy, happy life.’”
She added, “Being able to see trans elders in real life, on their phones, on TikTok, it’s what gives these kids the hope that they can have that life too. That they can grow up and live in society as a healthy person. So these shows are so much more than entertainment. These shows are elevating the voices of people that give an entire generation hope.”
