It’s now widely reported that Nicole Maines this week landed a major role on CW channel’s “Supergirl” television show. She’ll be playing what I think may be the worlds first transgender superhero in a television series.
I think this is fabulous and is one more example of trans roles going to trans people.
More of this is coming.
Here’s a tip for us all in the transgender community. It’s a powerful one and I hope you take it to heart since you’re reading this: If folks in the trans community could focus on outcomes like these, instead of focusing on the absence of outcomes like these, there would be a LOT more outcomes like these leading to the complete portrayal of trans people on film BY trans people.
I know some people are going to now write and dispute this with things like the need to be activist, call out evil or wrong doing when you see it and such. And I’ll patiently respond to those who are cordial about their resistance.
But to be honest, nothing is inaccurate about that tip. It works every time in every case, whether you believe it or not.
Of course it doesn’t really matter what people in the trans community do or not do, because in time, most if not all trans characters portrayed on film will eventually be portrayed by transgender people. Just as it has turned out that way for Native Americans, Asian people and African Americans.
But the speed with which this inevitability will become our collective reality would be so much faster, if we stopped focusing so much on what’s wrong and focus more exclusively on what’s going right.