A Timeline of Trans Representation in Media

Throughout time, attitudes towards trans people have changed dramatically and are trending towards acceptance, but has trans representation kept up with the times?

1953: One of the first American movies depicting trans people, Glen or Glenda, is released.

1970: Myra Breckenridge premieres with a trans woman as the titular protagonist.

1977: Linda Gray’s character Linda Murkland becomes the first transgender series regular on an American TV show (All That Glitters).

1987: In an episode of The Golden Girls, a guest character named Gil Kessler comes out as a trans man, one of the earliest depictions of trans men.

1993: The Crying Game, which features a trans woman as a main character, is released in theaters.

1999: Boys Don’t Cry, a movie portraying the story of Brandon Teena is released. Brandon Teena was a young trans man who was abused and murdered by boys in his town.

2000: Jessica Crockett becomes the first trans woman to play a trans woman on American television on the show, Dark Angel.

2008: Isis King becomes the first trans model featured on America's Next Top Model.

2013: Orange is the New Black premieres, becoming the first story about women in prison to include a trans actress (Laverne Cox) to portray a trans inmate. Laverne Cox became the first openly trans woman nominated for an Emmy for this role in 2015.

2015: Former Olympian, socialite, and reality star Caitlyn Jenner comes out as a transgender woman.

2018: Pose, a TV show about the lives of trans women and gay men of color in the New York ballroom scene in the late 1980s-early 1990s, premieres.

2019: Supergirl introduces the first canonically transgender superhero, Nia Nall.

2020: Award winning actor and advocate Elliot Page comes out as a transgender man.

2021: Reality competition show RuPaul's Drag Race has its first trans male contestant