Just a few short years ago there were exactly zero shows on TV that I could watch to see transgender women like me, played by transgender women like me, on a weekly basis.Now, thanks in large part to Laverne Cox’s brilliant breakout Emmy-nominated role in , it seems like networks are scrambling to jump on the trans bandwagon.
Trans dating show
We asked a few trans individuals to describe their experiences looking for love.
So this is the funny part — this guy can get past me being trans, but even then you still end up discovering they’re a horrible person. And we were texting back and forth about how he’s running late but then he suddenly stops responding to me for like 40 minutes and I’m waiting at the bar like, “OK.
I’m done.” So I’m about to leave and he calls me like, “I’m here!
I was having issues but now I’m here.” So we did two and a half to three hours of drinking and I said, “I hope to see you again,” and he says “Yes, of course! And then he goes, “OK, well let me know,” and I’m thinking like, um, no, you should check up on me. He didn’t send me any other text message or phone call ever again.
Nick Adams, the director of transgender media and representation at GLAAD, confirmed that it’s “extremely rare” to see two or more trans characters talking to each other on a scripted show, regardless of who’s playing the part.
Seeing a lone trans character with scripted dialogue is only slightly less rare.We don’t know how long this very welcome trend will last (especially since the scripted shows are just pilots and might not even get picked up), so while we’ve got options, we thought we’d look at the slate of upcoming shows and gauge our excitement for them.To be honest, I’ll probably check out all of these that are on channels that I get because I’m starved for representation and I have almost no willpower when it comes to things like this.Evanston vegan chef Brandon Byxbe said he came across a casting call two years ago for a new NBC dating show executive produced by Ellen De Generes for vegan singles.Byxbe, of Michigan, said he's found it challenging dating people in Chicago because he's not into the bar scene, so he filled out an application for the show and sat for an on-camera interview. Though the show wasn't what he thought it would be, Byxbe said he was "already, like, excited so I just stuck along for the ride." He is one of dozens of singles from around the country who agreed to be set up with a stranger on a date at MK restaurant on the Near North Side in July 2015."I wasn't really sure what I expected, but I got myself open to all sorts of possibilities and the show really made it seem like they were going to try to pair us up with people that we would like genuinely have something in common with, which sounded really fun," Byxbe told the Tribune by phone.It would be nicer to see some more diversity, though.