In the letter, Jones also questions how many out trans people have ever been nominated for a BET Award, how many trans artists have ever been invited to perform at the annual awards show, and how many trans folks have presented during the broadcast aside from Laverne Cox. According to Jones, the answer is none.
“The [issues at BET with regard to trans erasure] are much bigger than what happened to me, or what didn’t happen to me,” Jones tells them. in a call. “There is a much wider problem here that is recognized across the length and breadth of our community from all backgrounds… [including] artists, activists, political leaders, academics, a professional athlete, tech entrepreneurs, clergy.”
Sydney Baloue, a producer and ballroom historian who signed the letter, tells them. via email that he added his name in recognition of the significant role BET plays “in Black communities and in Black media representation.”
“Now is the time that Black trans voices and Black trans people are offered the same level of respect and inclusion that our black cisgender brothers, sisters, and siblings get as well,” he says.
Signatories of the open letter include G.L.I.T.S. founder Ceyenne Doroshow; Marsha P. Johnson Institute Founder and Executive Director Elle Hearns; Minneapolis City Council Member Andrea Jenkins; filmmaker Tourmaline (Happy Birthday, Marsha!); and actors Brian Michael Smith (9-1-1: Lone Star) and Blossom C. Brown (Starlet Diner).
To address the issues highlighted in the letter, Jones recommends six concrete actionable steps, beginning with hiring, retaining, and promoting trans people at all levels. From there, she calls on the network to empower trans folks to write, produce, and run programs that include trans characters and to research, write, and present news related to trans issues.
More broadly, the letter urges the network to “undergo gender sensitivity and bias training through a Black lens led by Black transgender people,” in addition to hiring trans vendors and contractors and focusing the network’s charitable donations to Black trans-led non-profit organizations, with an emphasis on those in the arts.
“In this moment when we are declaring across the board that Black lives matter, at the core of that has to be the lives of Black trans people, especially Black trans women,” Jones says. “We’re no longer going to roll our eyes and say ‘Oh, that’s just BET,’ and give it a pass because it’s a Black network. Being a Black network at this point means they have a heightened responsibility to Black trans people.”
A BET spokesperson did not offer a public response to the letter at the time of publication. For the full list of the letter’s 47 signatories, click here.
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