Bloomberg Businessweek - USA (2019-06-24)

◼ BUSINESS Bloomberg Businessweek June 24, 2019

24

ILLUSTRATION BY BRÁULIO AMADO. *THERE WERE NO TRANSGENDER CHARACTERS IN 2017; DATA: USC ANNENBERG

can’tsponsorvisasforhisfamily.Unlikemany

foreignersfollowinga same-sexspousewhorelyon

short-termtouristvisas,Bates’shusbandwasable

togeta studentvisaandlaterqualifiedfora work

visaafterstartinga smalltradingcompany.Says

Bates:“Ifpushcametoshoveandweneededhelp,

theremightbesomethingthecompanywouldbe

abletodo,butit’salwaysanopenquestion.”

Youngerpeopleaccustomedtoequalrightsare

lesswillingtoacceptsuchuncertainty.A colleague

ofDmitrenko’satFreshfields,AustralianRachel

McCafferty,25,leftJapaninFebruaryaftera tem-

poraryassignment.She’dwanteda longer-termjob

therebutreconsidered.“Toliveina societywhere

youdon’tenjoythesameequalrightsmakesmefeel

you’renotentitledtothesamehappinessasevery-

oneelse,”shesays.ShenowworksinLondon,

wheresheliveswithhergirlfriend.�BruceEinhorn

THEBOTTOMLINE Bigcompaniesincreasinglyrelyonmoving

talentaroundtheglobe.Theanti-LGBTlawsin 70nationscan

complicatethoserelocations.

● TheFXTVhitPoseis a landmarkfortrans

creators.Butit’sa lonelyachievement

StevenCanalshasbeendeepinpreparationforhis

firsttimedirectinganepisodeofprime-timetelevi-

sion.TheBronx,N.Y.,nativeis workingonthesec-

ondseasonofPose, a showhewritesandco-created

thathascriticsgenerallyelated.Theopportunityto

nowdirect,hesays,“isincredible.”

TheFXNetworksshowhasthelargestnumber

oftransactorsinseriesregularrolesinTVhistory.

It’sanurbanfantasia,a soapwhereinlarger-than-

lifeglamazonsfightbattlesonthedancefloor,pan-

tomimingtothemeslike“executiverealness”and

“royalty.”Fanstooktosocialmediaduringthe

Season2 premiere to share GIFs of characters such

as Angel Evangelista, a Puerto Rican sex worker

played by trans actor Indya Moore, and quips from

sharp-tongued emcee Pray Tell (Billy Porter). The

stars have drawn attention everywhere—magazine

covers, fashion campaigns, red carpets—and the

show was just picked up for a third season.

TheGolden Globe-nominateddramamixes

ethereal costumes with the gritty reality of pov-

erty and the AIDS epidemic in 1980s New York. Set

against a backdrop of Trump-style wealth and lean-

ing heavily for inspiration on the documentary Paris

Is Burning, it captures the life of black and Latinx

trans and other queer outcasts who built maternal

“houses” that took in LGBTQ youth. In its second

season, the story moves to 1990, when Madonna’s

Vogue thrust the dance scene into the mainstream.

Canals, an openly gay Afro-Latinx screenwriter

who wrote the pilot in 2014, spent years being told

it was too niche and not commercial enough, before

being discovered by Ryan Murphy, the co-creator of

Glee and American Horror Story, in 2016.

“The reality is that we still aren’t seeing a lot of

trans narratives being told,” Canals says. He notes

there’s been progress in inclusion for LGBTQ people

as a whole in Hollywood, and gay men and women

in particular, but “we’re not doing great when it

comes to representation of folks who are bisexual,

and certainly I don’t think we’re doing great when

it comestotransrepresentationeither.”

Thenumbersbackhimup.A 2018studybythe

UniversityofSouthern California’sAnnenberg

InclusionInitiativefoundtransgenderpeoplelargely

absentfromHollywoodfilmsandthatonly1%ofall

charactersin1,100popularfilmsfrom 2007 to 2017

werefromtheLGBTQcommunity.Therewasn’tone

transcharacteracrossthetop100 movies of 2017.

TV is more inclusive, with the percentage of LGBTQ

series regulars on broadcast prime-time scripted

programming reaching an all-time high of 8.8%

in 2018, says GLAAD, the LGBTQ media advocacy

group. The producers behind Transparent and Vida

have sought out LGBTQ writers and actors.

“You have a show like Pose out in the world that

Hollywood Still

Struggles to Catch

The Rainbow

● LGBT characters

among the 4,403 roles

in the 100 top-grossing

U.S.moviesof2017*

◼Lesbian

◼Gay

◼ Bisexual