I just read this New York Times article on a transgender actors in film and television, featuring Laverne Cox (Orange Is the New Black), Tom Phelan (The Fosters) and Trace Lysette (Transparent).
The interviewer asked, "There's been a push on shows like Modern Family To make gay people seem just like everyone else. But there are big differences between the gay and straight worlds. Do you think roles that treat transgender characters as next-door-digger takes might be erasing what makes transgender people unique?"
I love what Laverne Cox said in response: "Me embracing my trans identity but also my identity as a black woman from a working-class background from the South, all of these things make me special. I'm not interested in your racing. In some ways trans people are like everybody else, and in some ways we are not. When we get specific In thestorytelling, that's when the universality happens."
When we get specific in the storytelling, that's when the universality happens. I want to tattoo that on my arm some days. What does that mean to you?
