More Emmys

~ Cheryl

Laverne Cox at the Emmys

No, Laverne didn’t win one. She was presenting one. How cool is that?

Also she had by far the best dress of the night, and the second best red carpet photo (of which more later).

So, I did not get to Trans*Code today, and I am not at Fringe. I am still sick. But one of the very upsides of being woken regularly through the night by sinus pain is that you get to check on the Emmy results as they come in. This weekend was the high profile stuff: actors, directors and the like.

Game of Thrones won loads of gongs again, and George got to go on stage even though his name wasn’t on any of the trophies, which made me happy. Well done, mate. You’ve done us all proud.

Transparent won two awards: Jill Soloway for Director of a Comedy Series and Jeffrey Tambor for Lead Actor in a Comedy Series. In her speech Soloway said, “We need to stop violence against trans women and topple the patriarchy.” In his speech Tambor said, “please give transgender talent a chance. Give them auditions. Give them their story. I would not be unhappy were I the last cisgender male to play a transgender character on television.”

Of course it hasn’t escaped people’s notice that it is all very well for a couple of cis people make such comments when being heaped with awards. It is the second year that Tambor has won for the same role. Nevertheless, I think last night was pretty important. Here are a few things to note.

I have to admit that Transparent isn’t for me. I’m not good with TV comedy of any kind. But other trans folk have had good things to say about the show. One of Soloway’s parents identifies as trans, and the show has recruited a whole slew of trans people to work on it behind the scenes. Zackary Drucker has an associate producer credit on the show, which should be very good for her career.

Also here’s what a couple of people in the business had to say.

Both Boylan and Richards have seen Hollywood from the inside. They understand how the politics works, and the importance of having people like Soloway and Tambor stand up for them. Sure it is privilege at work, but change isn’t going to happen any other way.

I’m particularly pleased for Jen Richards. When she took a stand against the new Matt Bomer film (yet again a cis man playing a trans woman, and with far less justification than is the case with Transparent) it was clear from her tweets that she felt she might have just killed her career. Hollywood doesn’t like people who rock the boat. Thankfully That Moment has come. A few days later she went on to land a recurring role in Nashville. I like to think it was that event that gave Soloway and Tambor the confidence to speak out as they did.

So where now? Eden Lane had a very good point:

Looking over the press coverage, it is interesting to note which outlet’s reported Soloway’s comment about the patriarchy but left out her comment about violence against trans women, or which note Tambor’s win but leave out his support of trans actors.

We saw another major step forward last night, but it is only a step on the road. There’s a long way to go yet.

Oh, and I promised you another photo. You have probably all seen this by now, but it is great so I’m doing it anyway. Her name is Jessie Graff and she’s a stunt woman. Some of her recent work includes doing stunts as Supergirl, and as Bobbi Morse on Agents of SHIELD.

jessiegraff