Trans Brides in the History of Trans Representations: All That Glitters (1977) and Sense8 (2015-2018).

Innovative televisual producers Norman Lear and the Wachowski siblings are key contributors to the history of queer television, but underappreciated for their use of regular transgender characters in their television series: All That Glitters (Syndicated, 1977) and Sense8 (Netflix, 2015-2018). This essay analyzes the white trans feminine character in each within the context of the transgender rights movement and the history of scripted transgender representations. The character’s romantic relationship with a cisgender partner, which ends in marriage, is especially significant, as they validate trans persons as worthy of love and devotion rather than fear, pity, or ridicule.