During its first two seasons, Pose received near-universal acclaim, winning awards from GLAAD, Peabody, and more. But despite receiving eleven Primetime Emmy nominations to date, the groundbreaking FX series has only won once — a disparity that seems especially glaring in light of the fact that the win was for Billy Porter, a cis man and the only actor to be nominated for a show that celebrates the beauty and talent of trans women of color.
But this year, with the show’s moving final season lodged in recent memory, GLAAD hopes that the Emmys will finally stop overlooking Pose — which is why the LGBTQ+ media advocacy organization published an open letter on Thursday calling for voting members of the Television Academy to ensure that the “deserving transgender and nonbinary actors who lead this series” will be nominated “in their respective categories.”
The letter specifically names Mj Rodriguez, Dominique Jackson, Indya Moore, Hailie Sahar, and Angelica Ross as actors worthy of their own Emmy nods and urges the Academy to nominate Pose for Outstanding Drama Series again.
The GLAAD letter was also signed by 39 other leading LGBTQ+ organizations (including the Black AIDS Institute, The Trevor Project, GLSEN, and Lambda Legal), and by the four largest North American LGBTQ+ film festivals (NewFest, Outfest, Frameline, and Inside Out).
“This television season Emmy voters have the opportunity to make history — an opportunity to celebrate an entire underrepresented community that hasn’t been valued for their artistic vision, creativity, or contributions,” the letter begins, proceeding to detail how significant it is that, for the first time, “the largest national LGBTQ+ organizations [and] the four largest North American LGBTQ+ film festivals” have joined forces to “pen an open letter in support of a single series’ worthiness for recognition at the Emmy Awards.”
The letter primarily focuses on how Pose has revolutionized Hollywood during its three years on air, noting that the series “transformed the landscape of transgender representation in Hollywood and educated the world on who transgender people are, all while entertaining audiences with high energy, compelling drama, and authentic storytelling.”
The series has “struck an undeniable emotional and cultural chord that will not soon be forgotten,” the organizations wrote.
Unfortunately, this revolutionary work has not been fairly recognized. “While Billy Porter became the first openly gay Black man to win an Emmy for his performance… the talented transgender actresses, actors, and nonbinary performers in this series have not yet been honored by Television Academy voters,” the letter notes. “Their performances deserve acknowledgement.”
This, of course, is a sentiment shared by many fans of the show — as well as by many of the actors who appear on it. In a recent feature with InStyle, Pose star Mj Rodriguez offered her opinion on why the trans performers in the show have yet to receive nominations, despite the show itself being nominated for Outstanding Drama Series in 2019.
“There’s a piece of this industry that does not see us as who we identify as and I think that’s one of the reasons why they probably wouldn’t give those [nomination] spaces to women like us,” she told the magazine. “I think people need to respect us and see us as who we are. Then we can move forward.”
Last year, on the day the 2020 Emmy nominations were announced, stars Indya Moore and Angelica Ross also spoke up about the snubs. “Something abt trans ppl not being honored on a show abt trans ppl who created a culture to honor ourselves bc the world doesn’t,” Moore tweeted.
