Where are all the trans actors?
The representation of LGBT people in popular media has taken massive strides in recent years. With shows like Steven Universe and The Owl House , even young kids are seeing positive appearances of queer folks in the media, something unthinkable even a few decades ago. However, there is one aspect of this effort that is faltering heavily: the showcasing of transgender people and actors. Trans women especially often face challenges that their cis counterparts do not. With the refusal to offer them “cis” roles and the lack of writing about trans stories, trans women are faced with a high barrier of entry into the acting industry. The main problem facing trans women in media is that they are only cast for trans roles. This is due to a strong sense of tokenism in relation to trans characters. If we have a side character who is black, white, male, or female, there would be no, or very little change to how they are written or perceived based on who acts as them. A character being black or