Tambor Tells Hollywood: Give Transgender Actors Their Due

At last night’s Emmy Awards, outstanding actor in a comedy winner Jeffrey Tambor had a few choice words for Hollywood about transgender roles. He should know. He just won an award for playing one.

While he could have taken a more chastening tone, the Transparent star chose his words carefully with respect and affection for both his constituents and the transgendered actors he hopes his role will help to move into the limelight. “I’m not going to say this beautifully,” he began at the podium. “To you people out there, you producers, you network owners, you agents and you creative sparks, please give transgender talent a chance.”
Tambor, who plays a transgendered male-to-female on the series, put it plainly: “I would not be unhappy were I the last cisgender male to play a female transgender on television. We have work to do.
“Give them auditions,” he intoned while holding the Emmy he’d just won. “Give them their story.”