Guest blogger
Diana O'Brien is a transgender advocate, writer and licensed esthetician & electrologist in Wilton Manors, FL. She current writes a guest column for the South Florida Gay News.
The third season premiere of Lost Girl just demonstrated the well-worn path for advancing gay/lesbian/bisexual themes in the media. That path continues to be walking over the crushed public image of transgender people.
Lost Girl has received a lot of attention for its sexually charged plot lines and positive portrayal of lesbian and bisexual female characters. Even GLAAD has taken notice of the show, promoting it in The GLAAD Wrap and
What to Watch.
Season 3 Episode 1 titled Caged Fae brings transphobia and trans panic back into the mix It depicts this week’s villain as a man impersonating a female prison warden so he can impregnate the all-female inmate population and sell their babies. After “outing” the corset-clad warden with a telling kiss, the show’s heroine Bo leaves justice in the hands (and riot sticks) of the female prison guards. The men-hating prison guards do a hands-on package check, and haul the warden away for some off-screen punishment. This whole scenario sets up the moment when Bo and her female love interest decide to make their lesbian relationship status official.
So here we have it – the whole reason our opponents say trans people (specifically trans women) should not have rights.
We are just a bunch of men that want into women-only facilities so we can “trap” them and violate them. We deserve whatever severe punishment our discoverers decide to meet out. We are the villains. Again.
It is particularly offensive that SyFy Channel takes a page out of the defense playbook of
Angia Zapata’s murderer. Trans panic was the supposed justification for beating Angie to death in 2008, after her boyfriend “found out” she was trans. A jury saw through this defense and found her murderer guilt of first degree murder and a bias-based hate crime. This episode shamefully exploits trans panic violence as justified.
This kind of defamation has to stop. The media needs to take responsibility for its continued promotion of transphobic stereotypes and justification of trans panic violence. NBC Universal and the SyFy Channel need to be held accountable and take corrective action. We need GLAAD to take direct action on this now, and stop promoting Lost Girl until its content is friendly towards the whole LGBT community!
