Transgender characters fell to zero across 225 analyzed films according to a GLAAD film report released in July.
Television Representation Plummets
Transgender representation saw a steep drop during the 2025–2026 season. GLAAD’s annual “Where We Are on TV” report tracked only seven transgender characters among 369 LGBTQ+ characters on scripted primetime broadcast, cable, and streaming original series that aired new seasons between June 1, 2025, and May 31, 2026, marking a 79% decrease from the 33 trans characters counted the previous year, as LGBTQ Nation reported.
Overall LGBTQ+ representation on television dropped by 25% from 489 characters in the previous season. Two of the seven trans characters tracked last season were played by cisgender male actors in shows produced outside the United States, specifically Squid Game and The Dead Girls.
“In the last couple years, trans people have been scapegoated by the media,” said Raina Deerwater, associate director of entertainment research and analysis for the GLAAD Media Institute, according to The Hill. “They have been targeted in ways that are offensive and dangerous. Lives have been lost.”
Because three of the trans characters appeared on canceled series and four on limited series, none of them will return for the upcoming television season, the Guardian reported. Canceled or concluding shows featuring those characters included The Family Law, Community Squad, and Squid Game, while the limited series included The Dead Girls, Monster: The Ed Gein Story, Unspeakable Sins, and Wayward.
Actors Struggle to Find Steady Work and Income
Trace Lysette said that despite earning an Independent Spirit Award nomination for best lead performance in the drama Monica and landing a role in NBC’s Quantum Leap revival, major series regular offers failed to materialize.
“I thought for sure I would have gotten some offers for a series regular on a TV show, which would have helped me finally buy a house,” Lysette recalled.
“But it didn’t come.”
Laverne Cox, who came out as trans and non-binary in 2020, said that she had lost approximately 90% of her income over a two-year period as hosting contracts, corporate speaking engagements, and acting roles diminished, according to the Guardian.
Saw that Jack Haven was about to lose SAG-Aftra health insurance…made a video and then “got a lot of offers” for jobs. I’d just like to say I lost my SAG health insurance 2 yrs ago which is why I had to find money elsewhere. Sooo, if anyone has a gig. Here is me asking for help…
Jack Haven, a trans actor who appeared in Netflix’s Atypical and the film Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma, posted a video plea on YouTube in late September seeking employment to qualify for Screen Actors Guild health insurance.
“I guess what I’m asking is if you, or if anyone you know, can hire me on a set or production and pay me $4,000, I will do pretty much any job,” Haven said.
Vico Ortiz, who appeared in Our Flag Means Death, warned that diminishing opportunities directly threaten community resources and medical access, noting to the Guardian:
“No one wants us any more, and that affects our healthcare,” Ortiz said, “and that affects our chances to get gender-affirming care, should we want that, and it just spirals.”
GLAAD leadership characterized the reduction in inclusive storytelling as a commercial miscalculation. Sarah Kate Ellis, GLAAD’s president and CEO, pointed to popular streaming hits such as Heated Rivalry on HBO Max, Pluribus on Apple TV, and The Hunting Wives on Netflix to demonstrate sustained audience demand for diverse narratives, as LGBTQ Nation reported.
“Hollywood is slashing LGBTQ stories and characters even while demand is increasing,” Ellis said in the release. “It’s a bad business decision and one of the drivers turning audiences away from traditional TV and streaming platforms.”
Nick Adams, the GLAAD Media Institute’s vice president, said that television executives have turned away from authentic trans characters at a time when those stories are needed most to show audiences that transgender people are friends, co-workers, family, and neighbors.
“If the streamers and the networks want to keep these young eyes on their content, something needs to change,” Ellis said in a statement cited by LGBTQ Nation. “These companies need to listen to their viewers, instead of anti-LGBTQ rhetoric that is further and further removed from what audiences want to see.”
