Jared Leto's Oscar Criticized By Transgender Community

That's a little too Freudian.

#1 Leguizamo was kinda hot.

#2 Wong fu didn't really seem serious but there have been more serious trans films like Transamerica about a transwoman, played by a woman i think, who discovers she fathered a kid.

That would be the movie to complain about, or even the crying game.

Tbh though, nig budget acting talent isnt easy, even if the role.is similar to the a tors life. Talent is the priority when casting a drama and arquette doesnt have the chops

I'd love to provide citations, but unfortunately this is going back to the days when the internet was young and it's a pain in the arse. Also, it was much like the uproar about Dallas Buyer's Club: a vocal minority. They weren't even that vocal because most of the community was saying, "Shut up, they're portraying us positively for once."

That's kind of how everything goes, though. The Wizard of Oz and Citizen Kane both had their share of naysayers and screaming ninnies. It'd be unthinkable that considerably more flawed films like To Wong Foo wouldn't (note: I say it is flawed but that doesn't stop me enjoying it, in case that somehow wasn't clear).

It's true though... Ru Paul has even criticized members of the LGBT community for their uptightness.

Oh they were quite vocal here in Los Angeles. Every gay publication was publishing articles about transphobia and transmisogyny days before the Oscars.

HRC and GLAAD surprisingly kept hush about that matter.

Edit: The only flaw in To Wong Fu was Patrick Swayze's outfits!

It has pacing issues. Not big ones, but I distinctly remember being bored. Then again, it might have been during a fashion montage. I may have dated a drag queen or two, but that doesn't mean I give a toss about women's clothing. Or men's clothing, for that matter. Nudity for all, damnit! Yes, even the ugly folks, I'm equal opportunity if it means that I can see Harry Styles wandering around the way he wants to be.

Wait, what were we talking about?

Oh, I meant that the uproar about Wong Fu and Priscilla were not that loud, not the uproar about DBC.

SODA!

I generally avoid calling people out from outside of a group, I do, however, appreciate when members of that group do it. I believe a lot of the social stigma around groups like LGBT and even racial minorities is magnified by people within those groups having a "offense is the best defense" approach to relations with outsiders. I've had many friends of varying ethnicity and orientation and never felt like we were "different", but I know that is not always the norm.

Actually they have a point.

But the right hairdo will hide it.

Really? I could say the same to most Straight people who need to pull the stick out of their ***.

Everyone needs a bigger rod up their tuckus.

I am not biased, I swear.

My experience has largely been that people are going to hate regardless of how the people they hate act. I had the very unpleasant experience of working with a few guys who, literally the second they saw me, said, "Oh, thank god, you're not a n*****." I can't even remember the last time I heard that word outside of rap songs, much less meant with all the vitriol that only a stupid white person can muster up. Thing is, this came straight out of nowhere. I'd only said "Hello." We were working with a couple of Latinos and I got to listen to a conversation about how lazy and sloppy they are in spite of witnessing neither (well, no more than is usual for construction workers of any ethnicity, anyhow).

Imagine being part of a named minority and hearing something like that. I'm sure plenty of Latinos here lousy things about "Mexicans" all the time, in part because I've met plenty of Americans who assume erroneously that an immigrant is somehow now bilingual (I've gotten a few wide-eyed stares for being able to speak Spanish, too -- isn't it the most common language kids learn in high school?). Gay and lesbian folks who aren't out (for instance, I don't announce my sexuality in a work situation unless the conversation comes up and I feel like pointing it out -- I get asked if I'm married on a regular basis) have the misery of being able to blend and hear all the ***people say when they think they're not being watched.

That said, homophobic remarks are a lot less common in my covert listening. Racist remarks, on the other hand, seem to be getting worse again. Even if I were a well-adjusted and proud African-American who can shrug off the stupid opinions espoused by equally stupid people, I can imagine eventually reaching my limit. The question would be whether I want to protest Morgan Freeman for playing yet another Magical Negro. If I did, though, I'd at least feel it has more weight since Freeman has made a career of that schlock whereas Jared Leto has only put in the one performance (not that I think Leto deserves this heat, anyhow).

When the fact that yet another cisgender actor is playing a trans character is the least problematic aspect of an issue, it's pretty bad.

My issue is the fact that any discussion of the issues with how we find any aspect of this offensive is outright dismissed as or with

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That's not discussing the issue, that's saying your piece, shutting the door, and washing your hands of it. We want discussion, they want dismissal.

Frankly, until any minority speaks up about something being offensive or problematic, the public doesn't get it and keeps doing it over and over again.

This is how change comes about.

Dallas Buyer's Club was a decent movie, with a problematic element. There was no Rayon in the actual story of Bob Woodruff and the Dallas Buyer's Club. The writers of the film took many liberties with the story, and added a transgender woman as a stand-in for the entire LGBT community. Good, in theory. In practice, what we got was the same tired stereotype we've already seen in almost every other mainstream media portrayal of a trans woman.

The director, Leto or any of them did not go into this with the intent of doing something transphobic. By creating the character of Rayon they thought they were doing good. They did their research, and whether it wasn't adequate or they just didn't take anything important away, we will never know. Good intent can still do harm.

Leto stated multiple times, the character of Rayon is intended to be a transgender woman, Leto met with transgender women when researching the role. The fact that alleged LGBT expert Baconwrap can confuse this character that is written to be a trans woman for a cisgender gay male drag queen illustrates part of the problem with this character. One news source said Rayon was a transvestite, then corrected this as transgender. When your trans woman character that you made up for reasons is so easily interchangable with a cisgender man in a dress to the general public... there is a problem. That's not writing a character, that's writing to negative stereotypes/tropes, and they could have done better in portaying a trans woman in that particular time/place. That's not doing the story of those women justice.

Stereotypes and tropes are lazy, effortless writing, and are especially harmful when there are little to no positive, non-stereotype characters in mainstream media to offset the negative.

We're lagging behind the gay and lesbian communities in terms of equal rights and public image by roughly 15-20 years. This does not help us close the gap. Nor does ignoring/dismissing us when we call this stuff out for what it is.

TL;DR: Stereotypes are lazy writing, and we're tired of that being all we get, and especially tired of being told to shut up and like it.

Stereotypes are part of every movie nowadays, or close to. They aren't always good, some of them are exaggerated, some are lessened, some are on point.

The thing is, if everyone starts to cry for every stereotype that is flawed, there will never be any end to people being upset over something trivial.
In this specific situation, well, no luck, it had to do with the LGBT community, which has been rather noisy in the past years now (read: useless noise, because among their good fights there has been a lot of useless noise, such as the situation at hand). As much as I can understand people being upset, I do not understand how people can not die in shame for being so noisy over something so small, so insignificant, so superfluous.

It would be like black people complaining that the guy in 12 years as a slave was never a slave, and therefore has 0 credibility (maybe it was done, I don't know). It would be like this guy who played Nelson Mandela isn't even close to what Nelson lived, and therefore has no place in that role. It would be like that woman who played an American president in I don't remember what movie when there has never been a woman at this position. Same for Morgan Freeman playing an American president when a black person at such position was still unthinkable for most people. Do you know how many korean/japanese/chinese actors play the other nationalities they aren't? They're legion. And so on, it's endless.

The story isn't here to do the trans man/woman justice, it's merely featuring one. They didn't portray it properly, they did a mistake as an actor/director, whatever, it happens, Hayden Christensen made for a shitty Anakin and we're still upset about it, this is in the same league.

People should learn to care less when it's superfluous. This situation is one of them.

how dare you respond with reason and logic

honestly if you are all that buttfrustrated about it make your own damn transgender movie... with blackjack and hookers

Edit: movie featuring someone who is transgender wouldn't want to go around rustling extra jimmies

It is too PC. And as a member of the LGBT and as a HIV+ man I have every single right to say it's overly politically correct.


No what you got was a film that desexualizes an epidemic. I can assure you the HIV+ transgenders in my meetings don't have a problem with Dallas Buyer's Club or Jared Leto's role.

Why? Because they too are impacted by HIV. They understand that HIV is a bigger issue particularly when the LGBT community still discriminates members who are infected with the HIV. You have LGBT owned establishments who terminate HIV positive people in a city like West Hollywood.

HIV Positive Employee Sues Hollywood Restaurant The Ivy for Discrimination, Wrongful Termination

They also understand the importance of such films and PrEP b/c not as many "at risk" homosexuals and transgenders are on PrEP.

Being in WeHo can actually be a part of the problem. The community in that cancerous little hole (note: I'm hideously biased because of the misery that WeHo causes my little brother and which he staunchly denies in an attempt to fit in) is not the same as places with smaller and less well-established communities. It's actually the curse of becoming mainstream and accepted: it opens the doors for discrimination within our own ranks. *** folks are hardly the first ones to do that, either.

You have every single right to say whatever you want, but....
You're a member of the "G" in "LGBT" so, no, you do not get to dictate what is or is not offensive to Lesbians, Bisexuals, or Transgender people, we've been over this. The "united front" or "One Big Family!" approach is invalidated if you're using it to treat another segment like crap.

There is a major difference between political correctness and this.

This is bringing attention to cisgender people continually stereotyping us in mainstream media, while denying and dismissing discussion on it and completely overlooking/denying how this is a problem. Silence will change nothing.


Something can do something positive for some, while still negatively impacting another. The fact that Rayon is problematic does not take away from that part of the film's message. There are many of us who don't see why progress for some needs to come at the expense of another.

Basically, the film could have just as easily desexualized an epidemic without continuing this trend of cisgender people writing and playing us as the same harmful stereotype as always.



Still no reason to deny, stifle, or dismiss issues with this film. Some don't find this offensive, some do, the "But so-and-so is okay with it!" card does not apply to anything, never has.

You want to say the LGBT community is one big family? Then how about we stop discriminating against each other, period. Let's stop stepping on each other's backs, and take a long look on how we can stop these kinds of things from happening. That means when someone speaks up, we listen. That means that as we achieve rights and equality, we aren't just passing that oppression down the line to become someone else's problem. When we can treat each other as true equals, then you can claim it's one big family.

Wrong because the HIV epidemic is something that united the LGBT community since the 80's. Or are you going to sit here and tell me HIV isn't a major issue for the transgender community.

So I may not "share" the HRT or GRS/SRS of negative transgenders, but I do "share" the Atripla, Complera, Truvada, Stribild etc of poz transgenders. So yes I can say whether it's offensive and more importantly selfish, particularly on a film whose main topic is HIV not transexualism.

Rayon is a fictional character. Last time I checked transgenders don't put on that much blush to "blend in." We could sit here and argue all day whether she's a transgender....OR a drag-queen. In which case any offense taken by members of the "T" community is ludicrous.

Is your authority on what LBGT are allowed to be offended by a service you provide? Do we have you on retainer here?

Rayon is identified as transgender by the people who actually wrote her into existence. I don't know how more definitive that needs to get.

The used the term drag also used by Leto even before the release. Nice try

Leto's ignorance, and multiple cases of confusing gender with sexual orientation, among other things does not negate that they wrote Rayon as a trans woman.

If you want to come across as someone even remotely knowledgeable on trans people, and what they are offended by, stop being a bigot for once.

A bigot from within the community. Hahaha.

You just aren't happy with a fact that another LGBT doesn't agree with you- plain and simple. The fact remains the film is about HIV not transexualism, crying transphobia about the film only makes you one come across as selfish.

Common as muck.

Of course, that's assuming that one believes gay men are in the same community as lesbians or transgender people of either gender or even bisexuals. I've long asserted that none of us are very closely linked except by external pressure. Expecting us to get along and understand each other is rather like expecting newly-immigrated Chinese people to identify with and commingle with newly-immigrated Mexican people on the basis that the white people in power don't much like either group for roughly the same reason.

So does this mean that all discussions of homoeroticism in relation to Top Gun should be automatically curtailed because the movie was first and foremost about military jet pilots? You know full well that a movie can carry more than one layer.

That said, I haven't actually been told as a person who has not yet seen this film what about it is actually transphobic. Some people object to Leto not being explicit to the transgender community during his award speech, but that's Leto and his speech, not the movie. Some people have objected to Leto being a cisgender male rather than a transgender female, but that's meta-narrative rather than narrative. Ginny hinted that the portrayal was flawed but has yet to actually explain how it was flawed. Someone fill me in here: what was wrong with the Rayon character and/or the plot around her?

You laugh, but it is incredibly common. Being gay does not exclude someone from being misogynist, biphobic, or transphobic. Being a lesbian does not prevent a woman from being a misandrist, biphobic, or transphobic. A bisexual can be misandrist, misogynistic, transphobic. A trans person can be misandrist, misogynist, biphobic, homophobic.... do you see where this is going? You're a cisgender man with a LOT of issues with trans women.

You repeatedly say negative things about trans women, repeatedly use transphobic slurs, repeatedly treat us like garbage. You're a textbook case of a bigot.


LMAO
Here's the thing. I have no issue with disagreeing. You on the other hand... I keep bursting your bubble about this united community you use as an excuse to treat women like me as crap.

I never said it was about trans people. It has a trans woman in it, and it *** it up, as usual. You don't seem to understand, something can be positive for one (in this case, it's handling of HIV) and be negative for another (it's portrayal of trans women). You're the one making it an all or nothing situation, it's not that simple.

Why don't you just stay in your regressive little bubble in WeHo and let the rest of us handle the real world.

Have you seen the film? This film doesn't carry more than one layer.

It's over-analyzing the script at best.

Bursting my bubble on FFXIAH. LOL. Living in Los Angeles, I can assure you I've interacted with more LGBT than you have. So sorry the only opinion you've bursted is this imaginary one you seem think exists on the internet.

You really should go and interact with transgenders, or LGBT for that matter, in NYC or WeHo. You're really in for a reality check if and when you do.

LGBT is more united than you think, it may be full of cynicism and catty jokes, but it's united to some degree.

ftfy.

How? You've said this twice with no further explanation. I haven't seen the film, mostly because I don't tend to see movies until about 5 years after release, so I'm curious what is wrong with Rayon.

If Rayon is a drag-queen- they did a fantastic job. Her make-up, mannerisms, demeanor is very dramatic. She uses very vibrant colors in her makeup particularly her blush and eye-shadow.

If Rayon is a transgender then they possibly did a very bad job. I mean there are transgenders who are very dramatic in their make-up and demeanor like Amanda LePore, but most are trying to blend in.

EDIT: She uses no prosthetic or padding to give her a woman's figure. There are times when she takes off her wig and makeup to address her co-star, but there are other times she goes out in public in her "attire."

For what it's worth, here in 2014 I know a transgender woman who is, for all intents and purposes, still a man. If I didn't know her name, her haircut is sufficiently ambiguous and she makes no effort in terms of changing her figure. She's also in her 60s, so I suspect she's well past the point of caring, but the point is that there are all kinds of people out there.

Repeatedly referring to trans people as mentally ill and using slurs isn't being catty, it's bigotry.

We're so united, my cisgender gay male boss at my previous job totally didn't go from treating me like a daughter for three years to telling everyone I am a man and terminating me after finding out I was trans.... Oh wait, no, that actually happened.


Because Rayon is called a trans woman, but she's portrayed almost entirely as a cis male drag queen. She's written and played as a man in drag, not a woman. They exaggerate her feminine mannerisms to emphasize them as artificial. If the director, Leto, and the rest of the crew were not so insistent this character is a transgender woman, this wouldn't be quite so bad. Then they try and legitimize it by saying how they did research on trans women, and they did. They just didn't use much of it. These portrayals of trans women are exceedingly common, to the point that no research was really necessary to create Rayon. The film itself, and the statements of the cast further false stereotypes of us being pathetic, artificial, men pretending to be women, i.e. not actually women. Rayon, and so many others are written to this stereotype. These characters sum up almost the entirety of how trans women are portrayed in mainstream movies and tv. While people like this do exist, in media they are the norm, not the exception. Without proper research and more varied portrayals, the mainstream media is perpetuating discrimination and prejudice against trans women.


Prosthetics, padding, and wigs are not always necessary, used, or even considered.

Mentally ill, never. A listed mental condition in the DSM termed gender dysphoria- yes I have stated that several times. Hence how transgenders obtain insurance coverage. Sorry you haven't convinced society nor the APA that transexualism is a natural process like child birth. Take your beef up with the APA.

Slurs? Stay out of progressive gay neighborhoods is my suggestion. Oh and don't watch RuPaul's Drag Race.

Whether you care to admit or not drag-queens are always going to exist in the gay community. I'm terribly sorry if "fishy drag queens" are so difficult for you to process.