Comic-Con@Home: LGBTQ+ panel talks TV representation, personal journeys
By Shaun Stacy
Comic-Con@Home hosted a panel of LGBTQ+ actors and actresses who gathered together to discuss representation on television, supporting their community, and their own personal journeys in Hollywood.
Comic-Con@Home is embracing a more diversified take on pop culture this year, providing an opportunity for LGBTQ+ actors and actresses to share their stories and take a look at what’s next for LGBTQ+ characters in Hollywood.
The “LGBTQ Characters on Television – What’s Next?” panel was moderated by TV Guide‘s Jim Halterman and featured Jamie Chung (Once Upon a Time), Jamie Clayton (Roswell, New Mexico), Wilson Cruz (Star Trek: Discovery), Tatiana Maslany (Orphan Black), Anthony Rapp (Star Trek: Discovery), J. August Richards (Council of Dads), Harry Shum, Jr. (Shadowhunters), and Brian Michael Smith (9-1-1: Lone Star).
You can watch the entire Comic-Con@Home panel below:
Cruz took the lead in the conversation by discussing how far he has seen representation on television come since his groundbreaking portrayal of gay teen Rickie Vasquez in 1994’s My So-Called Life. He sees a likeness between Rickie and the character of Victor Salazar in Hulu’s present-day series, Love, Victor.
“What’s exciting to me about where we are now is the fact that we have something like ‘Love, Victor,’ which takes Rickie and expands on that story in a lot of ways,” Cruz said of the coming-of-age comedy that focuses on a gay teen, who is part of a religious Puerto Rican family, as he navigates the trials and tribulations of high school.
“That show looks at a queer Puerto Rican boy and his family and how he navigates that,” he continued. “And it’s incredibly moving and fresh on my mind because I spent the whole night binging the entire series in a bucket of my own tears.”
The Emmy-award winning Maslany, who played several cloned characters on Orphan Black, commented on the sense of community that comes with accurately portraying the LGBTQ+ experience. The cast of Orphan Black recently reunited for a virtual reading of the show, which raised money for LGBTQ+ centers and homeless shelters. Maslany talked about realizing how important the representation of Cosima, a clone who is a lesbian, after she attended San Diego Comic-Con following the first season.
“Being able to go to Comic-Con and connect to fans who were finally seeing themselves on screen in Cosima and able to speak to their parents about who they are because Cosima allowed them to have an example … was really eye-opening to me,” said Maslany, who is currently starring in HBO’s Perry Mason reboot.
The care put into portraying Cosima in a genuine manner increased in the show’s second season. “We felt this immense pride and responsibility and protectiveness over the LGBTQ community and our Clone Club, who were majority LGBTQ,” she said.
As for the future of LGBTQ+ representation in television, the panel suggested just having more diversified LGBTQ+ experiences. Rapp encouraged more stories that focus on non-binary characters, and Smith hopes for “more queer representation in fantasy and action movies — not just the sidekick. I want them to be the lead.”
Smith, along with Clayton, were featured earlier this month in Netflix’s documentary Disclosure, which examined the roles of trans characters throughout the decades in Hollywood. Clayton, best known for her portrayal of Nomi Marks in the hit Netflix show, Sense8, would just like to have the same opportunities as cisgender actors.
“It’s always been my goal to be given the same opportunities that any cisgender actor and actor who identifies as cisgender is given. I want to be able to audition for all kinds of roles, ” Clayton said. “For so long, actors who identified as trans, we have only been allowed to audition for parts that are trans. … I want to see non-binary and trans-identified people playing all kinds of characters and not just be there to talk about their gender or their transition or their surgeries.”
Clayton also spoke about the wonderful experience of being a woman of trans experience who portrayed a woman of trans experience in a show written and directed by a woman of trans experience on the set of Sense8. She discussed how isolating it can be for her on a set with no other trans actors or crew members around.
In watching this panel, there is a camaraderie among these actors. Whether they even knew each other before, they all knew that, on some level, they have shared experiences in the industry. The unwavering support and adoration they have for each other was palpable. It’s refreshing to see in a world where celebrities often compete with each other over everything.
Next. What we learned about His Dark Materials at Comic-Con@Home. dark
What was your favorite part of the LGBTQ+ panel for Comic-Con@Home? Let us know in the comments section below.