Here’s a Top Five for Pride Month! It’s time to celebrate trans and nonbinary characters, and in the interest of representation, only characters played by trans and nonbinary actors will be considered. Despite having a pretty small pool to draw from, I managed to compile a soild list of favorites. What’s more, I know that trans/nonbinary representation has increased quite a bit in recent years, so I’m sure there are great characters out there on shows I haven’t watched yet.
Blanca Evangelista (Pose)
Blanca is fabulous. She’s fierce and determined and has an enormous heart, and she constantly has me rooting for her. She fights for her family like nobody’s business, and I love how seriously she takes her role as house mother. Whether she’s looking out for her “children,” agitating for AIDS awareness, or going toe-to-toe with a bigoted landlady, Blanca is a force to be reckoned with.
Jonathan Van Ness (Queer Eye)
Okay, so Jonathan’s not a character, but he’s quite the character, you know what I mean? Queer Eye’s grooming expert is fabulously authentic, equal parts hilarious and heartfelt in dealing with the heroes. I like seeing his fashions evolve over the course of the show as he gets more confident about wearing heels or dresses on camera, and I really like the way he casually asserts his identity with gender-neutral language in the most recent season (the first that was released since he came out as nonbinary.)
Nia Nal (Supergirl)
Dreamer! What’s not to love about the first transgender superhero on television? She’s a reporter, she’s half-human/half-Naltorian, she has prophetic dreams and wields dream energy like a boss, she’s a devoted friend and loving daughter/sister, and she’s bold. I like that she variously comes out as both trans and half-alien, and I love how much she grows to love her powers and being a hero. She and Brainy are also utterly sweet together, and I’m majorly excited to see where Supergirl’s final season takes them individually and as a couple.
Ruthie (Shrill)
Oh man, Ruthie is so much fun. Working as Gabe’s assistant at the Weekly Thorn, the woman exudes IDGAF energy, her lack of productivity a near-impenetrable barrier for folks like Annie and Amani who are trying to get something done. She has no filter, she’s completely self-obsessed, and she’s always good for some excellent laughs.
Sophia Burset (Orange is the New Black)
I’m pretty sure Sophia was the first major trans character I ever saw who was played for a trans performer. A big part of her role on the show addressed the experiences of trans people in prison – while Sophia is at least held in a women’s prison, she still has to deal with the system yanking away her HRT at random and being put in solitary confinement to “protect” her from transphobic inmates – but she’s also just a member of the Litchfield community. She runs the salon (I love the season 1 scene of the Black inmates brainstorming how Sophia should do Taystee’s hair before meeting with the parole board,) and she fosters a nice friendship with Gloria and struggles with maintaining a relationship with her son on the inside.
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