GLAAD Study Finds Largely Negative Portrayals of Transgender in Primetime

The Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation says that more than half of the portrayals of transgender characters in primetime have been "negative" over the past ten years.

GLAAD studied 102 episodes and non-reuccring storylines of scripted TV that contained transgender characters, and found that 54% contained "negative representations." An additional 35% were characterized between "problematic" and "good," while only 12% were considered "groundbreaking."

GLAAD singled out "CSI" for featuring a transgender serial killer who murdered his own mother; "The Cleveland Show" for featuring a man who vomits on screen for a long time after he discovered he had slept with a transgender character; and "Nip/Tuck," which, among other things,featured an entire season about a psychopathic trans woman who is depicted as a "Baby stealing sexual predator who sleeps with her own son."

The study also found that transgender characters were cast in the role of a "victim" at least 40% of the time, they were cast as killers or villains at least 21% of the time and that anti-transgender slurs, language and dialogue was present in at least 61% of the episodes and storylines.

The full study is here. Its release was timed to Transgender Awareness Week and the Transgender Day of Remembrance.