Recently in Transgender Issues Category

UPDATE, August 18, 2008: Thanks to constituents sharing their concerns with Fox News, on August 15 America's Newsroom host Gregg Jarrett apologized on the air for comments made about a transgender contestant on the upcoming season of America's Next Top Model: “This time yesterday we aired a segment about a transgender by the name of Isis, who will compete in the upcoming season of the television show America’s Next Top Model. The group GLAAD, Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation sent us an email saying it was offensive. That was not our intention. We apologize.” 

TV Gayed listings are up for the week! Among the highlights:

Now is the time to ACT!

As previously reported, Fox News Channel aired a crude and obnoxious segment concerning the recent announcement of America’s Next Top Model’s first-ever transgender contestant. Isis, who will begin appearing on the new cycle of the popular CW program when it premieres on September 3, was interviewed exclusively in the current issue of Us Weekly.
 
Fox News anchor Gregg Jarrett and Us Weekly Editor-at-Large Ian Drew spent the segment gratuitously insulting the America's Next Top Model contestant, using dehumanizing terminology, inaccurate and inappropriate pronouns and offensive references to her anatomy. 

While laughing and joking, Jarrett mocked Isis’ description of herself as a woman whose “cards were dealt differently,” and said, “That’s an understatement!”  Drew referred to recent instances of transgender visibility on reality television as “The Crying Game ’08,” going on to call the show “America’s Next Top Tranny.”  Drew then said that she doesn’t look any different from other contestants because “they are not exactly the most high-class group of women.”  Throughout the segment, Jarrett switched back and forth between male and female pronouns, and both Jarrett and Drew suggested that Isis “fooled” people by “blending in.”  They went on to make crude remarks about her genitalia and the pitch of her voice.

Soon after the segment aired, GLAAD contacted both Fox News Channel and Us Weekly, calling on both to apologize.  Us Weekly issued the following statement: “We apologize if any group was offended by our editor’s comments as it was by no means his intention.”  Fox News did not respond.

Please contact Fox News Channel and call on them to apologize for these obnoxious, insulting and dehumanizing comments.

Fox News Channel

Gregg Jarrett  - Anchor
(212) 301-3000
gregg.jarrett@foxnews.com

Jay Wallace - Executive Producer
(212) 301-5168
jay.wallace@foxnews.com

Tom Lowell - Senior Producer
(212) 301-3000 (outlet)
tom.lowell@foxnews.com

On August 14, Fox News Channel aired a crude and obnoxious segment concerning the recent announcement of America’s Next Top Model’s first-ever transgender contestant. Isis, who will begin appearing on the popular CW program when it premieres on September 3, was interviewed exclusively in the current issue of Us Weekly.

Fox News anchor Gregg Jarrett and Us Weekly Editor-at-Large Ian Drew spent the segment gratuitously insulting the America's Next Top Model contestant, using dehumanizing terminology, inaccurate and inappropriate pronouns and offensive references to her anatomy.

GLAAD has reached out to both Fox News Channel and Us Weekly to address the matter and will have an update available shortly. 

In the meantime, watch the offensive clip below:

THIS JUST IN: The gorgeous Isis, seen here, is one of the 14 models competing to win over Tyra, Mr. Jay, Ms. J and all the other judges in the upcoming cycle of America's Next Top Model. What's so fab about her, other than the fact that she has legs for days and will surely give the other girls a run for their money? She's the first-ever transgender contestant in Top Model history.

Us Weekly provided the exclusive scoop, so read it directly from the source, or check out featured highlights below:

Hailing from Prince George's County, Maryland, Isis identifies herself as "a woman born physically male."

Will she be a role model?

"I like to help people, but I'm here to follow my dreams," she tells Us.

The inclusion of Isis is being hailed by GLAAD president Neil Giuliano as "an unprecedented opportunity for a community that is underrepresented on television.

"We applaud Tyra Banks and The CW for making this historic visibility of transgender people possible," Giuliano said.

Here, here! America's Next Top Model kicks off September 3 on The CW.

On this week's I Want to Work For Diddy (airing Monday nights on VH1), Laverne taught the house what being transgender meant, and then proceeded to entertain the group by completing multiple fouettes (ending in a split, no less), while Rob came out to his housemates and discussed the perils of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell."

All within the first ten minutes.

Is this show LGBT-inclusive, or what?!

See for yourself! I won't tell you who goes home, but I will recommend you watch 'til the bitter end. A certain contestant compares herself to Martin Luther King. It's pretty remarkable. And by that, I mean, shockingly inappropriate.



Got no time for tube? Read Rob's hilarious recap of the episode on AfterElton.com.

In GLAAD's 2007-2008 Network Responsibility Index, we urged MTV to consider featuring a transgender houseguest on its long-running reality hit The Real World. Though TRW: Brooklyn has yet to announce whether the cast for the 21st season (!) has a gay or transgender person, sister network VH1 has beaten MTV to the punch by offering up two LGBT castmembers in I Want to Work for Diddy, a reality-competition series featuring 13 people vying to become Sean "Diddy" Combs' assistant.

The series made its debut last night, and it looks like transgender contestant Laverne and gay contestant Rob will both be in it for the long haul.

After reviewing episode one, Laverne stands out as a strong leader, a woman who stays calm under pressure and also possesses the rare ability to run in heels for 24 hours. 

Rob is a welcome presence on reality television: a competent, even-tempered person who acts as the "voice of reason" while others lose their heads. (Be sure to read his great recaps of each episode, exclusively on AfterElton.com.)

Laverne is upfront about her gender identity from the get-go. Check out her intro below:
 


And you can watch the first episode in its entirety here. Thanks, VH1, for allowing millions to avoid work for a full hour!

For those of you that have read our most recent Network Responsibility Index, you might recall that we asked MTV to feature a trans person in a reality show to create visibility. Well, sister network VH1 just beat them to the punch!  I Want to Work for Diddy premieres on Monday, August 4th, and will feature transgender actress Laverne Cox and gay writer Rob Smith among the thirteen contestants vying to be the assistant to Sean "Diddy" Combs.

U People is a documentary that takes the filming of a music video and turns it into a forum on being black, female, and lesbian in America. Sometimes race/gender/sexuality are explored jointly, sometimes separately, but always with passionate voices. Are labels to be embraced or denied? Are black women included in feminism? Are LGBT people included in black civil rights activism? What is the definition of manhood, of womanhood? How much should lesbians who pass as straight be taken to task for enjoying heterosexual privilege? What about lesbians who pass as men and enjoy that privilege? When a person formerly known as a lesbian comes out as a "straight" male, what does that mean for his relationship with the lesbian community? How does race complicate gender and sexuality, how does gender complicate race and sexuality, and how does sexuality complicate gender and race?

A film I loved when I attended the U.S. premiere back in January made two appearances at Outfest: The Canadian documentary She's a Boy I Knew. From director Gwen Haworth (left), the film is a first-person account of Haworth's transition from straight male to gay female. Blessed with two generations worth of archival footage, Haworth has made a 70-minute trans-primer that is part genealogical record, part family drama and part love story — with comedic observations and a handful of animated sequences to lighten the mood.

With revealing and emotional interviews with her two sisters, parents and ex-wife Malgosia, Haworth weaves a tale of a family who mourned the loss of Steven and eventually came to embrace Gwen. The film doesn't shy away from details (or video) of Haworth's sexual reassignment surgery and the high price — financial, physical and emotional — the director has paid.

The doc won the Audience Award for Most Popular Canadian Film at the Vancouver International Film Festival, as well as the fest's Women in Film and Television Artistic Merit Award. "That was extremely gratifying," says Haworth about being recognized by a jury of her peers — female filmmakers.