Stonewall Community Foundation Is Key Funder of Trans and Queer Storytelling

Friday, December 9, 2016

Stonewall Community Foundation Is Key Funder of Trans and Queer Storytelling

Time magazine declared a “transgender tipping point” in 2014 when it featured actress Laverne Cox on its cover. In the two years following that proclamation, mainstream media and pop culture attempted to follow suit. TV shows and movies like Transparent and Tangerine garnered critical acclaim and media buzz, but not all of it was positive. Despite increased portrayal of trans characters in media, the people creating and playing them remain predominantly cisgender.

There’s been increasing public outcry about the use of cisgender people to tell transgender stories. When cis male actor Eddie Redmayne was cast as a trans woman in Tom Hooper’s 2015 film The Danish Girl, the internet exploded with disappointment, spawning thinkpieces calling the choice “regressive, reductive, and harmful.” Even more recently, the announcement that actor Matt Bomer would be playing a trans woman sex worker in the film Anything led to a repeat disappointment and fear that trans women being portrayed by cis men would only add to the transphobic belief that trans women are “really” men. And lest we forget: According to GLAAD, 2016 has been the deadliest year on record for trans people, especially for trans women of color...

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