Just a blog post about all the bullshit surrounding what Cynthia Nixon said about how she chose to be gay. 

Excerpt:

You know, if someone turned to me tomorrow and said, “Hey, great news, Jacq, I can make you straight,” I’d punch their fucking lights out. I’m happy being queer. I’m not very happy with the world around me, but I’m happy with me, and my marriage and my life. Why would I change that? I wouldn’t care if they had empirical evidence of an out and out “cure” for the gay. I don’t want it. I’m making that choice right now. Nothing to do with how I was born. Everything to do with not thinking that being queer is a bad choice to make.

A good buddy of mine tries to hash out what we mean when we identify as “queer” instead of all the other possibilities, and why it’s important that there be a Q in LGBTQ. 

Well worth a read. 

iragray:

The Guardian published a surprisingly good commentary on this controversial question. My personal opinion is that there is nothing with having cis folks playing trans* folks; the problematic part for me is when the cis folks have to be in drag in order to play the part. At least honor the trans* people being portrayed and have people who are men playing trans men and who are women playing trans women. When it comes to the non-binary folks out there, I doubt we’re going to be in movies soon, but you never know. I have no idea what my thoughts are on that yet. 

This particular article talks about how trans* characters bring up good conversation regardless of the actor who plays them; however, there needs to be more support and opportunities for trans* actors. 

It seems to me that the token response is “But Mrs. Doubtfire!” That’s one example out of how many? As opposed to the reality that the trans* person faces where every time we’re depicted in fictional media, it’s through drag.

This IS really interesting. And it’s such a huge question that unfortunately can be upsetting to discuss. And I’ve written something with a trans (man) character and have gone back and forth between imagining the part played by different actors, including some of my favourites, of course. (you would never, ever guess)

So let’s pretend my screenplay is doable and I’m casting it. 

Because the character (who is an adult) transitions within the scope of the story (and not to any kind of finish, but definitely from the very start), I think it’s a legitimate consideration to cast a cisfemale in the role. There are some male actors who I think might fit, but they’d have to be able to convincingly play a female-bodied person for a significant part of the story.

The other thing about casting trans characters is that most of the trans friends I’ve had live stealth to one level or another. It’s not like casting people with disabilities, or gay people, or for race.

A lot of trans people transition so their gender/sex never has to be an issue again. Why should they have to be out in order to get a part as a trans person (I suspect any trans actor living stealth would probably avoid those parts like the plague anyway). How do I know that actors auditioning for a part are or are not trans? I wouldn’t ask. They’d be welcome to tell. 

I like the final paragraph about how things simply need to change — one way or another. 

If openly trans people were occasionally given cisgender roles, or if mainstream broadcasters or filmmakers finally try a trans actor, even a non-professional, in a leading trans role (as arthouse director Sébastien Lifshitz did recently in Wild Side), then we see the media landscape shift entirely, and provide a generation with opportunities and inspirations. That could be a brilliant story.

(Source: theguardian.co.uk)