Trans Representation in Media

This is a list of examples of positive examples of trans people over time in media. Although it is incomplete now, it will be expanded on over time.

The Rocky Horror Picture Show

This 1975 film was the first to have an openly (and proud) transsexual character take a heroic role as she opens up the eyes of characters Brad and Janette to the beauty of sexuality. This movie was the first of its kind to be loved by young people of all genders and sexualities, and remains a classic to this day.

Steven Universe

Not only was Steven Universe the first children's cartoon to have an openly lesbian couple, but it's also the first to have a non-binary trans character, named Stevonnie, who characters openly refer to with the pronoun 'they'. Now one could argue that this is because they are a fusion of two characters, Steven and Connie, however, other fusions (such as Garnet, Opal, and Malachite) are all addressed by female pronouns. It may be that Stevonnie is a demigirl (hence the more feminine appearance) or is genderfluid, or anywhere in between!

Modern Family

Modern Family recently made history in 2016 by having the first transgender child actor appear on the show. The young actor's name is Jackson Millarker as Tom in the episode 'A Stereotypical Day' or S8E2.

Glee

In the 16th episode of season three, Glee features an African American trans girl by the name of Unique. She transitions into the true person she is on stage, with the help of Kurt and Mercedes. Unique is played by an actor from the sister show Glee Project, who regulatory sang in drag.

El Goonish Shive

Tedd from El Goonish Shive is genderfluid. Unlike most trans people, Tedd has access to technology that allows them to change their physical sex.

Rain

Rain stars a trans girl named Rain, who is starting to live full-time as her preferred gender.

There is also Ky(lie), a genderfluid trans person.

Assigned Male

Assigned Male is a webcomic by a trans girl by the name of Sophie Labelle. The main character is usually a trans girl named Stephie, but this can vary from comic to comic. There are minor characters who are non-binary, trans, as well as multiple characters that have different sexualities. This progressive comic teaches about not only trans issues, but other gender politics and LGBT+ issues, as well as other minority-related issues as well. This comic is in English, but has translations in French and German.

Undertale

Undertale (2015) was a game that revolutionized LGBT+ representation in video games by including a lesbian couple as two of the main characters, a trans character, and three non-binary characters.

Mettaton, firstly, is a robot who was female at birth (as seen in his room back when he was a ghost) but identified as nonbinary for a short period of time (hence the ghost "Happsta" who eventually transformed into who we now know as Mettaton) and was reffered to with the pronoun 'they' by several characters. Eventually, with the help of his friend Alphys, he gains his true form (Mettaton EX, his robotic non-rectangular body), saying it's the form he has always wanted.

Frisk, the protagonist is most likely genderfluid, but could be non-binary or agender as well. Throughout the game, the young human is referred to with the pronoun 'they', unquestionably by all of the other characters. It is said that this could be because the other character do not know the human's pronouns, but there's no reason to believe that when Frisk befriends everyone to the point of where they should have that knowledge.

Like Frisk, the game indicates that Chara is most likely non-binary, genderfluid, or agender. However unlike Frisk, the game seems to indicate that the most likely of these is a non-binary gender when Chara says "HP. ATK. DEF. GOLD. EXP. LV. Every time a number increases, that feeling... That's me."

Lastly, there is Napstablook, a non-binary ghost who is only referred to with the pronoun 'they'. They are also Mettaton's cousin, and really seem to look up to the robot.

Magical Girl Rising Project

La Pucelle is a trans girl, who always wished to be a girl without knowing that she could be, and finally gets her wish granted when she becomes a magical girl. You can tell she really hated being 'stuck' as a boy for so long, by the way she insists that Snow Wight refer to her with her magical girl name as opposed to her birth name and wants to be addressed with female pronouns.

Adventure Time

In S4E13, there is a character by the name of Baby Snaps who says she wants to become a princess (just like Princess Bubblegum), to which she is met with only laughter, therefore humiliating her. Baby Snaps clearly wants to be a female, but is treated like she is crazy for this. She ends up going legitimately crazy trying to become a princess. The entire episode is a very clear metaphor of gender dysphoria and the consequences of the lack of acceptance from mentors and society for being who you truly are.

Homestuck

Davepetasprite^2 is canonically non-binary. They, like Stevonnie from Steven Universe, are a fusion of a male character and a female character (Davesprite and Nepetasprite respectively), but have canonically discussed gender and came to the conclusion of preferring neutral pronouns.

Len'en Project

While sadly remaining obscure, Len'en Project is a great step forward in the representation of transgender and non-binary characters in video games. No character that has appeared in any of the four currently released Len'en Project games has a canon gender, and everyone uses singular they pronouns, as well as their Japanese counterparts.

The official stance of JynX, the sole developer behind Len'en, on the genders of anyone that appears in the games, is "When characters with a definite gender are introduced, I'll be sure to make that clear. For the characters who this doesn't apply to, their genders will always be ambiguous. They won't ever be given a definite gender, so please don't worry, and let your imagination run wild."

Craig of the Creek

“	In December 2019, it was confirmed that the show had a non-binary character, named Angel José. Their voice actor, Angel Lorenzana, who also uses they/them pronouns, an agender storyboard artist for the show, confirmed this. In later tweets, they added that their "cartoon self" used they/them before themselves, gave a shout out to the show's crew, and said that while this was a small contribution to LGBTQ+ representation, they hoped "fans can take comfort knowing that there's also non-binary people working behind the scenes" on every one of the show's episodes. Some praised the show for the number of non-binary characters, comparing it to the apparent number of "non-binary characters" in Steven Universe, where every Gem is "non-binary" (though the Gems are biologically sexless and all use female pronouns).	”
–Craig of the Creek page on wikipedia

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