No Filter: Hannah Gadsby and Jill Soloway Unite For Cuffing Season
Welcome back to No Filter, our once-weekly digest of queer celebrity social media. This week, our pal Cara Delevingne took her probably-girlfriend Ashley Benson to a Magic Mike show in Vegas and Radar made an entire article out of one picture. In New York, however, Cara accessorized with a pink stuffed monkey wrapped around her face. Listen, I don’t make the news, I just report it.
https://www.instagram.com/p/Bn9M6CsBnLy/?taken-by=blue_eyedsoul
Additionally, Rosie O’Donnell is marrying a cop, which means maybe Rosie O’Donnell is a cop now? Her fiancée Elizabeth Rooney is 33 years old, making her 23 years younger than Rosie, which means strangers on the street usually think Elizabeth is Rosie’s 20-year-old daughter Chelsea. That sounds uncomfortable! A cursory glance through Ms. Rooney’s Instagram reveals that she’s really into horses and being a cop! She’s also a member of the NYPD Mounted Police. Welcome aboard, Elizabeth.
While we’re talking about newly very public relationships, apparently Jill Soloway and Hannah Gadsby are a thing! A source told Page Six that they are very private and not trying to make a big deal about their relationship, and it looks like they’re doing a great job of that so far.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BpR9XABDZkW/?utm_source=ig_share_sheet&igshid=195ne0yvlf3gf
I know I’m old because my first thought upon viewing this very attractive photo of model Selena Forrest with model Aqua Parios is “where can I buy this couch?”
https://www.instagram.com/p/BpH9gMBBXkr/?taken-by=teddygeiger
I believe these two just lounge around in beautiful lighting and take Instagram photos of each other all day and I’m not at all mad at it.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BpIpGJ-F9W8/?taken-by=kingprincess69
This is the gayest picture in King Princess’ Instagram this week.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BpBfNBbHYUC/?taken-by=evanrachelwood
Evan Rachel Wood is celebrating cuffing season by dressing like me, wonder what that’s all about.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BpF2qRbFuGg/?taken-by=gabyroad
? Come ON you two.
I believe I promised you that Stephanie Beatriz was returning to standing glamorously in front of walls and I did not lie to you.
I love it when my favorite queer people collaborate! Yea, Brittani Nichols is the tie that binds us all together.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BpER-FTAQ5A/?taken-by=bishilarious
And there she is now, our glorious leader.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BpAvpqTnyqy/?taken-by=kehlani
Kehlani wanted to take this moment out of her momentous pregnancy to remind you she’s hot af. Duly noted.
Didddd you take ’em to the lake at wherever this is, forget to bring a jacket something something cos you wanted toooo?
https://www.instagram.com/p/BpCY-FXBItJ/?taken-by=janellemonae
I just like to imagine what it would be like to walk a red carpet with Janelle Monáe.
Join us next week for a sermon about the majesty of our Brittani Nichols.
Queer Women Take Over The 2016 Emmys
Maybe what Rush Limbaugh meant when he said queer women are taking over rural farms is that queer women are taking over television, because that’s a prophecy that actually came true last night at the 68th Primetime Emmy Awards. It was already revolutionary that Her Story got a nod for Outstanding Short Form, and that 21 people of color were nominated in acting categories, and that seven entire women were nominated for directing. But things got even more exciting when Kate McKinnon snagged her first trophy, and Sarah Paulson got hers too (with Marcia Clark sitting right beside her). Jill Soloway, who came out earlier this year, also scored a huge victory.
Let it not be said that TV has arrived — or that it didn’t smash our hearts to bits this year — but watching the world celebrate these women was a spark of hope. Other queer and feminist things happened too; this is a list of some of them.
Kate McKinnon Thanks Ellen and Hillary
What a year for Kate McKinnon!
https://youtu.be/CwmM9KjVpMw
Kate McKinnon! I'm so happy for you. You deserve it and so much more. And not just because you thanked me. #Emmys
— The Ellen Show (@TheEllenShow) September 19, 2016
Congratulations on your Emmy, Kate! Big fan of yours, too. pic.twitter.com/w00QO1GwyH
— Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) September 19, 2016
Sarah Paulson Engraves Marcia Clark’s Name on Her Heart
There are a million think pieces to be written about what it means for feminism that Marcia Clark stood beside Sarah Paulson and watched both of their names be engraved on her fresh Emmy Award. Or what it means that in her acceptance speech Paulson apologized to Clark on behalf of the entire country: “The responsibility of playing a real person is an enormous one. You want to get it right not for you but for them. I, along with the rest of the world, had been superficial in my judgment, and I’m glad that I’m able to stand here in front of everyone today and say, I’m sorry.” But this isn’t that think piece. It’s a celebration of Paulson’s very first(!) Emmy and also of the moment on the red carpet when she told Holland Taylor she loves her, and Holland Taylor responded in kind. She also said it in her speech, just to make sure Holland heard.
If I'm watching…?? If I'm WATCHING???
YES, I'm watching–!!!
good LORD! …
I LOVE you!!! pic.twitter.com/63341mz81C— Holland Taylor (@HollandTaylor) September 18, 2016
Jill Soloway Vows to Topple the Patriarchy
Jill Soloway didn’t just win; she won for directing, the most exclusive boys club category in all awards shows.
i'm so happy @jillsoloway won an emmy for directing @transparent_tv ep Man on the Land, maybe the most deserved directing emmy ever
— Mey Rude (@meyrude) September 19, 2016
Her speech was self-aware and remarkable. “Directing is a privilege, and it creates privilege. When you take women and people of color, queer people and trans people, and you put them at the center of the story, when they become subjects instead of objects, you change the world… we need to stop violence against transgender women and topple the patriarchy.”
Diversity Is More Than a Buzzword
When you see another black girl winning. Love this moment between Regina King & Taraji P. Henson. #Emmys pic.twitter.com/kgmddb2qtV
— Makho Ndlovu (@makhondlovu) September 19, 2016
There was a lot of talk about diversity last night, from white men. Jimmy Kimmel, Kit Harrington, and Andy Samberg all clowned on Hollywood’s overwhelming whiteness, and while that same old joke gets tiresome (stop laughing and start hiring not white men!), there’s evidence that the buzzword is causing incremental change. A record number of people of color were nominated for acting this year. Regina King pulled down a second consecutive, supremely deserved win for Best Supporting Actress. Aziz Ansari and Alan Yang won for Best Comedy Writing for Master of None (a show that includes a Black queer woman played by a Black queer woman). Key & Peele won Best Variety Sketch Series. And Rami Malek from Mr. Robot won Best Actor in a Drama. It’s only the beginning.
Give Trans Women a Shot
“Give trans talent a shot. I would not be here today if somebody didn’t give me a chance."– Laverne Cox @ the #Emmys pic.twitter.com/gfyWRIpT9V
— AJ+ (@ajplus) September 19, 2016
Jeffrey Tambor won again for Transparent. Last year he thanked the trans community for their patience and grace. This year he used his speech to speak directly to the folks who make TV: “Please give transgender talent a chance. Give them auditions. Give them their story…I would be happy if I were the last cisgender male to play a transgender female.” His speech, of course, comes on the heels of Matt Bomer’s new film, in which he plays a trans sex worker, and Michelle Rodriquez’s new film, in which she plays a trans woman who has forced gender reassignment surgery (or something? I honestly cannot wrap my head around what the deal is with that movie). The camera panned to Laverne Cox who cheered Tambor’s statement from the audience; in fact, she’d already shared the same sentiment with the audience earlier in the night. And Jen Richards weighed in on Twitter.
I start tearing up. Roommate says, "You're making a difference." Then I really cried. WE are making a difference. Our voices do have power.
— Jen Richards (@SmartAssJen) September 19, 2016
At Last, An Emmy For Maslany
https://twitter.com/tatianamaslany/status/777665532711604224
No one really thought Tatiana Maslany was going to win an Emmy. Not that she didn’t deserve an Emmy (or a wheelbarrow full of Emmys), but there was a lot working against her. She plays six hundred characters flawlessly, of course, but she does so on a sci-fi show that is filmed in Canada and airs on a niche channel. Mostly, though, the six hundred characters she plays are all women and one trans man who interact with other women (who are also all played by her, don’t you forget it) and awards shows have repeatedly proven that even the best stories don’t stand a chance of being honored if they disregard and dismiss dudes. But Tatiana did win! The internet will call it a victory for nerds, which is true, but more than that, it is a victory for women-dominated storytelling. Tatiana knows; she ended her speech with: “I feel so lucky to be on a show that puts women at the center. Thank you so much to the Academy. Thank you.”
No Filter: Amandla Stenberg Steals Your Date, Looks Adorable Doing It
Welcome back to No Filter, a collection of rare butterfly specimens meticulously pinned to a board. This has been an eventful week for my celebrity friends (They’re not really my friends but like, at this point I’d like to think we’re at least acquaintances, you know?). Also, the Golden Globes happened and some people won awards or dressed up or whatever. Why tell you when I can just show you? Let’s get started.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BAS4NUWm1Zq/
Amandla Stenberg, welcome to No Filter. We’ve been waiting for you.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BAYl_Nvxx8W/
Carrie Brownstein and Kathryn Hahn are hanging out at the Golden Globes, talking about all the ways a fictional manbaby named Josh has hurt their feelings.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BAI4jZCLmmo/
OMG GET A ROOM YOU GUYS.
Laura Jane Grace’s sink looks just like mine and I’m not even writing a book, just this column.
If you were a leopard in a tree who happened to be thinking about dropping a deer on Samira Wiley, your view would look a lot like this.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BAWBNKOMZX5/
Ruby Rose is haunted.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BAcx6GeDKIR/
Remember when Cara Delevingne got Annie Clark that guitar signed by Bowie and won all the girlfriend awards? Cara does, and this is actually very sweet. All of the commenters pointing out that it was not Wednesday when she posted this are jerks.
Jill Soloway brought Eileen Myles as her Golden Globes date and it was a wonderful day for blazers everywhere.
Ellen Page is levitating above her girlfriend. Probably this is Ruby Rose’s fault.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BAJKNveGFZ4/
I just really, really needed this today.
Join us next week, when the ghost of Ruby Rose takes on all the shitty commenters on Ellen Page and Cara Delevingne’s Instagram accounts.
22 Women Who Came Out Or Got Girlfriends In 2015
Another year, another batch of newly-minted queers helping the world gradually understand that it’s only a matter of time before everybody is gay. That’s right: everybody.
This year’s coming out stories happened with much less fanfare than in years past, and a majority of the people on this list didn’t even make an official coming out statement, they just casually entered into a public same-sex relationship and waited for the world to notice. We’ve also finally gotten to a place in Hollywood, at least, where calling a spade a spade (e.g., acknowledging a same-sex relationship exists just as easily as we would an opposite-sex relationship) isn’t considered defamatory enough to warrant outrage.
Oddly, some of this year’s biggest coming out stories came from people who the community-at-large has very mixed feelings about — a pop star with a rocky history of racial appropriation and disregard, a reality TV star who rose to fame by placing her infant daughter in child beauty pageants, and a transgender woman who endorses a political party that advocates against her community’s best interests (amongst other sins).
Without any further ado, here are the 21 women and one gender-fluid person who came out in 2015!
January
Stephanie Allynne, Actress / Comedian
Allyne identified as straight when she met Tig Notaro on the set of In a World. But as they described in the documentary Tig, which came out in July, what developed between them transcended Allynne’s prior conception of her own sexual orientation. Although their relationship wasn’t a secret, it became common knowledge on January 1st, when Notaro announced that the pair had been engaged for 53 minutes and so far, it was going very well. Allyne is a member of the Los Angeles Upright Citizens Brigade and an experienced comedian who has appeared on shows including Comedy Bang Bang, 2 Broke Girls, The Mindy Project, Key & Peele, Maron, and Kroll Show.
February
Patricia Velásquez, Actress / Model
Although rumors about supermodel and actress Patricia Velásquez had been swirling since her relationship with Sandra Bernhard in the early ’90s, the woman considered by many to be “the first Latina supermodel” made it official in February with the release of her memoir, Straight Walk.
Ali Liebert, Actress
She made you swoon playing gay babe Betty McRae in Bomb Girls, and then she made you swoon playing another gay babe in Lost Girl… and THEN she made you swoon again this year when she went public with her relationship with her girlfriend Charlie. Interestingly, she also appeared briefly in The L Word, as did the aforementioned Patricia Velásquez.
Halsey, Musician
Halsey photographed on Aug. 2, 2015 at Grant Park in Chicago // Lucy Hewett // via Billboard
This past February, Ashley Nicolette Frangipane, known as “Halsey” to her fans, identified herself as a mixed race bisexual woman on Twitter. Frangipane has also been open about her diagnosis of bipolar disorder, describing herself in an interview with Billboard magazine as an “unconventional child” and an “inconvenient woman.”
April
Ruby Tandoh, Chef
Ruby Tandoh made it to the final round of The Great British Bake-Off, writes about food for The Guardian and, in April, came out as a very funny gay lady.
Angel McCoughtry, WNBA Player
Atlanta Dream hoopster McCoughtry came out on Instagram, sharing a photograph of herself and her fiancée, declaring, “I understand we all judge and its in human nature, but the more i speak to God i never feel judgement front he man upstairs, even tho he has all the power too! He tells me to fall, learn, and grow because thats life. But to always keep my heart pure and believe totally in him. All i know love is a great feeling and GOD is Love.”
Kendra Fisher, Hockey Player
Fisher, an elite ice hockey goalie for Canada, was already out in her private life, but spoke openly about her lesbian identity for the first time at the Canadian Olympic Committee’s #OneTeam round table. “There’s this assumption that it’s not necessary for women in sports in particular to come out publicly,” she said. “It’s failing to understand the importance of having the conversation and being in that place. I came through in a generation when the transition of being gay was just supposed to happen quietly. I started a relationship with a woman and it just wasn’t talked about. Only in having conversations with people have I realized the need for me to talk about this.”
Faustina “Fuzzy” Allogey, TV Personality
Fuzzy Agolley, an Australian TV personality who co-hosts The Voice Australia and co-hosted Video Hits for five years, came out on her blog in celebration of her 31st birthday. “As black as my skin, as Chinese as my blood, and as Australian and British are my nationalities, I’m also a proud Gay Woman,” she wrote. “Most importantly though, I’m a happy human being.”
Pumpkin & Mama June, Reality TV Stars
Pumpkin and her mother, Mama June, of the TV show Here Comes Honey Boo-Boo, came out as bisexual on Inside Edition this past April.
Caitlyn Jenner, Athlete & TV Personality
via Vanity Fair
This was the big coming out story of 2015 — the Olympic hero, lifelong Republican, reality television star and lapsed member of the Kardashian clan came out as transgender on Diane Sawyer after decades of speculation.
May
Ursula Halligan, Journalist
As the vote on marriage equality in Ireland drew closer, 55-year-old prominent broadcast journalist Ursula Halligan came out publicly in an op-ed. She called on religious communities to support the measure and shed light on how homophobia had impacted her.
Miley Cyrus, Musician
Although the headline of this article indicates that this is a list of “women,” Miley Cyrus does not identify as a woman; she identifies as gender-fluid.
In a series of interviews and announcements beginning in May 2015, problematic pop star Miley Cyrus came out as pansexual and genderfluid, and revealed that she’d come out to her mother as bisexual at the age of 14. She recalled being the go-to hookup for other “sexually curious” girls as a teenager and having prior relationships with women. Although she’s lately been more interested in relationships with women or non-binary folks, she told TIME Magazine that “If I end up in a straight relationship, that’s fine — but I’m not going to be with f—ing slob guys who are watching porn, making all their girls feel ugly.”
Tatum O’Neal, Actress
Tatum O’Neal, the youngest actress to ever win an Academy Award (in 1974, for Paper Moon), told People magazine that she’s loving the ladies these days, saying that “I like women. I definitely have been dating mostly women recently.” Regarding her sexuality, O’Neal says, “I’m not one or the other.” Since that time, rumors have swirled regarding her alleged relationship with lesbian pioneer Rosie O’Donnell.
Rosie Perez, Actress
In a speech for the Trevor Project Live in June, Rosie Perez revealed that she had a lesbian relationship in junior high school, which makes her luckier than most of us. “All I wanted to do was hump her. And I suppressed the urge and suppressed the urge and suppressed the urge until Michelle one day started humping on me.” Perez says she is not “lesbian, gay or whatever” but rather “quasi-straight,” and that she wishes she’d had somebody to talk to during her relationship with Michelle: “If I had other people, specifically adults, if I was just able to call up and they said, ‘Oh, I humped the Michelle-type person, too. You’re normal, don’t worry.”
Danielle Brooks, Actress
The Julliard graduate and Orange is the New Black star was open about her relationship with filmmaker Nneka Onuorah, which ended mid-year. Does she like girls forever? Will she date another girl? Will that girl be you? Maybe, maybe not! We’ll see!
June
Ingrid Nilsen, YouTube Personality
YouTube star Ingrid Nilsen came out in — where else? — a tearjerking YouTube video in which she talks about struggling with her sexuality growing up in an enivronment where it wasn’t okay to be gay. The community met her with open arms, as did fellow queer YouTuber Hannah Hart, who is now Ingrid’s girlfriend!
Ramona Bachmann, Swiss Soccer Player
In an interview at The World Cup, 24-year-old soccer player Ramona Bachmann told Swiss Publicaiton Blick, “I’m very open. I do not care if someone is with a man or a woman. In Sweden we deal with this issue fortunately also very open and easy.” She also revealed that she is currently in a lesbian relationship with a 21-year-old student named Camille Lara, who she frequently featured on her instagram account.
July
Janae Marie Kroc, Weightlifter
World champion powerlifter Janae Marie Kroc came out as a “Transgender/genderfluid Alpha male/girly girl Lesbian in a male body” in July.
August
Kristen Stewart, Actress
Broody lesbian crush object Kristen Stewart became the first celebrity in coming out history to be outed by her mother, in June, but the actress didn’t more-or-less publicly confirm her mother’s claim until a Nylon Magazine interview in August. After having her sexual orientation be a subject of speculation for basically her entire career, the revelation barely made a splash. Stewart herself downplayed its importance in a statement reflective of a growing acceptance in Hollywood (while ignorant of a lack of acceptance elsewhere), stating, “I think in three or four years, there are going to be a whole lot more people who don’t think it’s necessary to figure out if you’re gay or straight. It’s like, just do your thing.”
Lily-Rose Depp, Actress / Model
The 16-year-old French-American actress and model, the daughter of Johnny Depp and Vanessa Paradis, appeared in i0 Tillett Wright’s “Self Evident Truths” project, a “a photographic document of 10000 people in the USA that identify as ANYTHING OTHER than 100% straight.”
November
Holland Taylor, Actress
Although Taylor was not, to the best of our awareness (which is pretty aware!), an out lesbian, she said she’d always “lived out” in an interview with WYNC for a podcast this past November. But now that she’s fallen madly in love with Sarah Paulson (it happens), the truth is definitely out for real — Taylor, at the age of 72, is a lady-loving lady.
December
Jill Soloway
(Photo by Maarten de Boer/Getty Images)
Although Soloway has long been immersed in the queer community and has a transgender parent and a lesbian sister, she told The Advocate in 2014 that she still identified as straight (although that may be changing). In a profile published in The New Yorker this winter, Soloway went public about falling in love with somebody I have also been in love with for quite some time: poet and author Eileen Myles. Mazel tov!
KeKe Palmer, Actress & Singer
This is a late-add to the list, as the actress/singer revealed to People Magazine on Deember 16th that she does not want to label her sexuality, which means she’s not straight! Hurrah! The revelation came after rumors related to her lesbilicious music video with Cassie and snapchat photos of her and Cassie kissing. MERRY CHRISTMAS, WORLD!
My Day On The Set Of “Transparent,” Where Trans Voices Actually Get Heard
Probably the main criticism that Jill Soloway‘s groundbreaking and award-winning show Transparent faces is that its main character, a transgender woman, is played by a cisgender man, Emmy winner Jeffrey Tambor, and that the show exists through a cis lens. While these criticisms are valid (as we were reminded by the recent New Yorker profile of Soloway), the show also is creating a never-before-seen version of trans representation and trans involvement in Hollywood. Soloway and Tambor may be the faces of the show, but its body is very much made up of trans people.
When I visited the set this summer I immediately saw other trans people — some actors, some crew members — all of them completely at home in their element. Here being trans didn’t make you the other; it made you a valued and respected part of the family. This was one of the few truly queernormative and even transnormative spaces I’ve ever been in. My transness, and the transness of the many other trans people on the set, was recognized — this wasn’t a genderblind community — but it wasn’t something that made me an outsider. I felt like an insider in a large group of people for one of the few times in my life.
Rain Valdez, a trans woman who works in the Accounting Department, felt the same. “At times, I felt like I was one of the cool kids. I think that had to do with the content of the show and the nature of the working environment created by our leaders [Soloway, Zackary Drucker and Rhys Easrnest],” she said, “Being one of the cool kids is a privilege I never had growing up, especially in school. I was one of the outcasts because I was different. So on Transparent, it’s like the tables have turned.”
This ethos of respecting trans identities, not othering them, extends beyond just the set. Both in the world of the show and in Hollywood, Transparent is hoping to make sure that trans people are in charge of, and profiting off of, their stories.
Rhys Ernst, Jeffrey Tambor, and Zackary Drucker. (Photo by Jerod Harris/Getty Images for Amazon Studios)
From the beginning of the show’s conception, Soloway has been committed to doing her best to get things right. She reached out to Rhys Ernst and Zackary Drucker, two trans artists who have worked as consultants and producers on Transparent, when the pilot was still just a script.
“We came in and had a meeting with her and were really super impressed with where she was at with her level of thought about trans issues and politics,” Ernst told me. “Jill really completely from day one understood that trans people need to be involved in a compelling way on this project. And I commend her for on that foresight, because it’s pretty rare. In most other productions in Hollywood, you see a ‘symbolic trans consultant’; they can take or leave their advice.”
With Ernst and Drucker involved so early on, and Soloway committed to including trans people in every step of the creative process, they were able to “sow these seeds that have then grown into much larger steps into trans inclusivity,” as Ernst put it. They’ve hired trans women, like Valdez, Natasha London in the costume department and, after the first season, Our Lady J as the show’s first trans staff writer. While the main role of Maura is played by cis male actor Jeffrey Tambor, Transparent has also had more trans actors on screen than maybe any show ever. Not only do they have people like Alexandra Billings, Trace Lysette and, this season, newcomer Hari Nef playing significant roles, but many other speaking and non-speaking roles are filled by trans people.
In this way, Transparent is hoping to create a new trend in Hollywood. One where trans people get to be a part of their own stories, where trans people get a piece of the money that’s being made off of their struggles. Ernst says he specifically hopes that other productions will look to Transparent and start to follow their lead. “There’s starting to become a sense that other productions need to hire trans people, and they’re starting to scratch their heads and say ‘Oh, we don’t have a trans person on our crew and we’re making a trans story, that’s a problem,'” Ernst said.
“I hope it also connects to other issues of intersectionality in Hollywood, because diversity is a big issue in Hollywood, period; and obviously in terms of women in Hollywood and people of color in Hollywood, and people who just had less access to being at the table or participating. So I think it’s a really exciting moment we’re having with all this. I hope it’s the beginning and not just a moment.”
It’s no secret that many trans women struggle to find jobs that accept them, so for this show to hire so many trans women and create a space where they can be themselves is something quite revolutionary. London told me that working on the show gives her the encouragement to be her true self. “It’s so uplifting and it gives you such a sense of confidence that you can’t really get anywhere else right now. You really feel like for once you don’t have to hide anything and that’s such a game changer.”
Valdez said from working on Transparent, she’s felt a freedom that she didn’t feel in her previous jobs. “I don’t feel as lonely. I’m also able to make deeper connections with some of my co-workers and colleagues because they’ve gotten to know the real me and actually still like working with me. That’s a special feeling in itself, one that I never had in most of my past jobs.”
For Valdez, working on Transparent was the first time she was openly out as a trans woman at her job. “In fear of discrimination or losing my job, I felt I had to withhold that part of information about me. I kept it secret for a very long time because I wanted a career in this industry and I didn’t want being trans to get in the way of that. Fortunately, and I don’t say that lightly because I consider myself to be very lucky, I am a trans woman with ‘passing privilege’ and so I was able to live ‘stealth’ most of my personal and professional life as a means of my own survival. Which sounds like a dream way to live, but you’re always compartmentalizing your emotions and separating your worlds in two — who knows versus who doesn’t know. At a certain point that can get exhausting and you just want to be entirely you. I don’t have to live like that anymore. On Transparent, I can be a trans woman and talk about it, and it’s okay.”
When I was on set, and every time I’ve talked to people who work on the show, it’s clear the show has no intention of otherizing trans people. Ernst says that this is deliberate. “Jill talks a lot about ‘privileging the other’ and that’s amazing coming from a showrunner. To me, one of the next steps in trans representation is situating trans people within larger narratives in which they’re not just reduced to their transition or the fact that they’re trans. They’re three dimensional characters with different aspects of their lives or families or relationships.” For Ernst, though, that’s just the first of the next steps.
“I think the other side of the future of trans representation is enabling trans authors, filmmakers, writers, producers, directors, wardrobe, costume designers, etc. into the chain. I think that’s going to take some time, because when you’ve had people excluded forever, going from zero to sixty, suddenly running a show from your first day on the job, you know, I think it’s a long game. I give a lot of credit to Jill, and it’s not just lip service. I’m grateful for the precedent she’s set being a Hollywood insider, which she didn’t really have to, by any means. The way she’s just kind of invested in the trans crew people and helping them in their careers and moving them up has just been sowing the seeds for a lot of future change too.”
Including so many trans people in the production of the show gives these very talented trans people a chance to show other people in the industry what they can do. For many trans people, it’s a lack of opportunity, not talent that holds them back. Nef wants to see other parts of Hollywood to start recognizing talented trans people the way Transparent does.
“This season we have a trans writer (Our Lady J), a trans director (Silas Howard), and a few other trans actors with major roles other than me, [Alexandra Billings, and Trace Lysette]. We’re good, we’re professional — we’re trained. Our work this season proves that: One, trans people are the folks who are best at telling our stories; and two, that we can hold our own outside of trans-related content. I don’t feel entitled to every role I audition for, but I would like an audition. The ‘trans tipping point’ won’t last forever. Our work does — and will — speak for itself.”
Nef told me that the presence of a large community of trans people on set and behind the scenes made everyone work better, and therefore the show is better because of it. “I’ve worked with so many great teams, but with Transparent there was a unique sense of community and safety. There were trans folks everywhere: writers, directors, actors, producers, even the PAs driving me to set in the golf cart. I’m usually the only trans person in the room, and that’s hard. The trans-firmativity of the Transparent set allowed me to do my very best work,” she said.
Drucker says that she’s even seen the Los Angeles trans community come together in new ways because of Transparent. “I feel like I’ve witnessed this entire community formation over the last two years,” she told me, “and for me it’s very attached to the show because we’ve been able to bring in so many gender non-conforming and trans actor friends, as well as bringing a lot of people onto our production team.”
It really hit her how big the Transparent trans community was when they made a video to send to Camp Aranu’tiq, a camp for trans and gender nonconforming youth. “We just did this little video with interview shout outs from the cast and all the trans crew,” she said, “and just watching it turn into a 16 minute video because there were so many of us, you know, it’s the first time I had visual evidence of the trans community that’s embedded in the production of Transparent.”
One of the reasons the show is so successful in making sure that trans people are a top priority is the way it makes sure that its cis members are mindful about trans issues. Drucker told me about how a cis crew member became a trans ally because of the lengths the show goes to make sure trans issues and people are at the are at the forefront of everyone’s minds.
“They probably would have no exposure to a trans person unless they worked on this show, but I realized that by them working on the show and reading the Trans Daily Digest — we get this email every day with a dozen headlines of what’s going on in the trans world every day, and it goes to everybody who works on Transparent — and I realized that this person is an invaluable ally, because they’re going out to their community who’s had no exposure to trans people and talking to them and challenging them on their assumptions.”
London and Valdez agreed. London said the show did a good job of providing resources and informative meetings on how to be a trans ally; Valdez also celebrated the open and everyday way trans topics were discussed.
“We would even get into discussions about the movement and what’s going on in the world,” Valdez said. “For some of my co-workers, I was able to give them a first hand experience on what it’s like for a trans person. And 99% of the time, they all could relate… because we’re not that much different. Transparent has created a space where conversations about the trans movement is a normal topic. And searching trans history in your browsers is common. The more things like this happen, the more trans people become a part of our world and our way of thinking as opposed to something that’s discrete or taboo. Transparent is bringing so many worlds together where everyone is different and unique and it’s quite acceptable.”
One of the people who’s been most committed to understanding and helping the trans community is the show’s star, Jeffrey Tambor. “I think that Jeffrey has been a really important ally to the community,” Drucker told me, “and he’s taking the role so seriously that it’s always been my feeling that we’re lucky to have him, because he always shines a spotlight every chance he gets. You know, he’s not easy to pin down, but any time you invite him to a community event with trans people, he’s there. In the same way that Maura has discovered the trans community, Jeffrey Tambor has as well.”
Soloway and Transparent are fully committed to listening to and valuing trans people’s stories, input, opinions and contributions. “There’s always the fear of being tokenized and not listened to,” Our Lady J, told me, “but from day one everyone really listened and took my experience in emotionally and intellectually and I feel great about it, it’s been really lovely.” She went on to talk about how the show is really setting a new precedent for involving trans people in trans stories in a very real way.
“I think Transparent is a great example of how we should be making trans art and trans storytelling. The thing that Hollywood has done in the past is to tell transgender stories from an outsider point of view, and it rarely involves a trans person. As a trans artist, I’ve been in LA for five years now and I’ve gone to countless lunches with directors and writers who ask me about my experiences, and then at the end of the day they’re profiting off of our lives, and none of us are making a penny. And we’re in a place where economically, and artistically too, we need to be empowered. So I think that the Hollywood machine needs to incorporate trans artists into every trans story that’s being told, behind the scenes, in front of the camera. I think that’s what Transparent’s doing.”
This heavy involvement from trans people has also helped to open up the world of possibilities for the characters on the show itself. While other shows and movies are stuck at a 101 — or even lower — level, Transparent is able to jump right into 301- and 401-level stories. In season two, shit gets real. Ernst told me that he, Drucker and Soloway don’t want to do any hand holding with their audience and instead want to “plunge into this waist deep.”
“I think it’s gonna be really gripping to see what the response is, because I’ve certainly never seen anything like this on TV before and I’m really nervous and excited for how it goes over, nervous in a good way,” Ernst said.
Both Ernst and Drucker are especially excited for people to see where Maura and the other trans women in her life go this season. “For me, personally, many of my closest friendships and my friend circle are other trans women,” Drucker said, “and to see Maura finding that feeling of solidarity and sisterhood and finding that camaraderie and sameness — their friendship and their bond for me is one of the most exciting parts of season two. And shooting those scenes is just really magical because they go off book, and they improvise, and the three of them, they have their own friendship that’s being captured on camera.”
Ernst told me that he’s excited to move past the transition narrative with Maura’s story. “Maura, her story this season is really a lot about her branching out, and she’s at this next stage of her internal transition. She’s kind of like, ‘I’ve sort of transitioned, now what?’ And where does that leave her? And she’s thinking about dating and what that might mean for her and what challenges there might for a lesbian, late-transitioning trans woman. One of the things I really love this season is her friendship with Shea and Davina. It’s like they’re they’re own little chosen family. And dating issues kind of crop up that way too, because Davina’s boyfriend comes back from being gone a long time, and so we see her world, being a trans woman who dates men, vs. Maura’s world.”
Drucker’s equally excited to see where the show will go. She told me that they don’t have to do 101 work anymore and can create a more complex trans character without the same amount of responsibility than they had when introducing Maura in the first season. “[We] created Maura with a lot of sensitivity to not contribute to the damaging history of representation of trans people, and that has to be done really carefully I think, because there isn’t enough out there about us, especially when you consider a mainstream audience,” she said. “I sometimes wonder if season one will be a humble beginning for a really intricate tapestry of a narrative. Culturally have been stuck on the transition narrative for so long that the nature, the form, of Transparent for both seasons creates this incredible opportunity to transcend that narrative and create a character who is trans, but is a lot of other things as well.”
The trans characters on Transparent are able to be complicated in ways that other trans characters simply can’t be, and that’s because there are trans people behind the scenes. Drucker says that in season two they’ll be letting a trans person show a darker range of emotions occasionally. “You know, we’re assholes sometimes, it’s not like we’re perfect all the time and so we’re allowing a character to be complex.”
Our Lady J is excited that she’s able to help bring more nuance and grit to the story. “My thing is, for any show that’s dealing with trans people or any people who have been otherized or marginalized, I ask myself, ‘Is this character being represented just as every other character is?’ And as we know, every character on the show falls down, and so Maura’s gonna fall down a little bit this season. Last season she was handled with great care and respect, and I fell in love with Maura last season, and so now we get to be a little dirtier and that’s fun for me.”
In one of the most stunning new storylines this season, there are flashbacks to 1930s Berlin, the Magnus Hirschfeld’s Institut für Sexualwissenschaft, a sexology institute that was one of the most groundbreaking and earliest LGBTQ rights institutes. There we meet Gittel, played by Nef, a trans woman who was a part of Maura’s family history.
Ernst said that he was especially excited to tell this part of history because not only did it provide an insight into the Pfefferman’s family history, but because Hirschfeld’s “institute and its legacy were dismantled by the Nazis, which is so crazy, because it was this totally Utopian moment, and then basically just demolished. And it’s really a little-known history, even in the trans and queer community, that to me is like, I don’t think we’re thinking along the lines of a linear step ascension from 101 to 201 to 301, we’re just going backwards and forwards in history now and being pretty no-holds-barred, in terms of a range of queer issues.”
The scenes at the Institut für Sexualwissenschaft are some of the most beautiful and powerful scenes in the entire show, and they’re certainly more complex and impactful than most other attempts at showing trans history.
For Nef, who studied drama at Columbia and has trained at Northwestern and with Olympia Dukakis, getting to play such an important role as her first professional TV acting job was exciting. “Jill Soloway gave me a pep talk while shooting my first scene,” she said, “I think she could tell I was nervous. She said, ‘Listen, this isn’t modeling, this isn’t even acting. We’re telling a story. This girl’s story needs to be told. She’s coming up into your body. She needs you.’ That was the last word we ever spoke about acting. Jill is magic.”
Hari Nef as Gittel in Season 2 of “Transparent.” (Courtesy Amazon Studios)
This is a whole new type of trans storytelling. Even in the recent past, with movies like Dallas Buyers Club and The Danish Girl, many trans people felt the portrayals to be inauthentic and even insulting. And that’s not even mentioning the even more dangerous and damaging portrayals that came before, and around, that.
This new type of storytelling has allowed for the show to incorporate trans people even more. Nef said that it transformed her whole experience on the set. “I could work with an open heart. Nobody was going to misgender me, the clothes were going to fit my body, the representation of transness was going to be supervised by trans people,” she said, “Sympathy is great, but empathy can make an even stronger difference in the work.”
When you’re telling more in depth and more real trans stories, you’re going to have more than just one trans person in your scenes. This season, we saw that, and for Drucker, it was a moving experience.
“We shot a scene at my favorite bar that I go to every week with all my girlfriends and all the girls from the show. We all go to this bar every weekend, it’s in the middle of nowhere, it’s like really suburban and it’s a queer trans woman who runs it, and it’s the only trans party that you go to and it’s mainly trans people. And the real thing that’s happening is this trans community that’s formed, and we were able to bring that into episode two. Maura, Davina and Shea kind of all land there. So we were recreating this club that I go to every weekend for Transparent and also being able to also pay a lot of people who don’t get paychecks often enough and putting them in front of a camera and saying, ‘We are all worthy of being represented, we are all worthy of being a part of this.'”
The idea that we’re all worthy of being represented and being a part of this moment was echoed throughout the cast and crew. Nef told me, “When I reblog something on Tumblr, if I relate to it strongly I add a simple, silly, caption ‘me.’ I don’t mean that literally, it just feels really good to encounter media you relate to in more than a peripheral or abstract way. When you’re a minority, perhaps it’s even more important.”
The way London sees it, Transparent is not only telling trans stories to the public, but to Hollywood as well. “The Transparent team has trans writers, actors, producers, crew members and they are really talented; I hope Hollywood is taking note of how ‘normal’ we really are. We aren’t the stereotypes, we aren’t our pasts, we are who you see before you and that’s what should count.”
Valdez hopes that “one day this industry will no longer be treating trans people as a gimmick. Hollywood is such an influential part of the world and historically we’ve seen it make a difference. But it still needs its training wheels when it comes to trans issues. We need more shows like Transparent to set examples. We need more trans people in the creative process and in the decision making end.”
The transnormative world that Transparent is trying to create is just the start, and they know it. They’re excited to see where the tracks that they’re laying will lead. As Ernst told me, “It will be interesting in five years to watch again because this stuff is moving so fast, and who knows what the world will be like at that time.”
Pop Culture Fix: Jill Soloway and Eileen Myles Are Officially Gal Pals
Welcome to the Pop Culture Fix, your weekly look at all the important pop culture stories you need to know about.
2015: The Year of Gal Pals
Riese has this working theory that we’re quickly approaching a day when all women will date other women, and that’s just the way the world will be, and deal with it, etc. 2015 seemed determined to back up her hypothesis; nary a fortnight passed without an always-assumed-straight celebrity casually making it known that she was now braiding another woman’s hair in an official Gal Pal capacity. As the year winds down, Transparent creator Jill Soloway continues the trend. In a profile in the New Yorker, Soloway revealed that she is “in the tight grip of new love” with Eileen Myles. They’re “touching each other’s backs and legs ceaselessly.”
Remember how Kayla told you that in the new season of Transparent, Cherry Jones plays Ali’s new Eileen Myles-esque graduate poet/professor? Yeah, well, when Soloway was researching the role, she got a Big Lesbian Crush on Eileen.
“So I go on sort of a deep dive of who Eileen is, watching videos of her,” Soloway told me. She felt the spiky blossoming of a crush. “I kind of get a feeling of, like, Oh, this is gonna be bad.”
And then they met in real life and had an instant connection and now they’re together, and that’s that. Turns out it wasn’t bad at all! The New Yorker profile is fascinating in the way all New Yorker profiles are fascinating, in large part because sentences like this exist: “Myles was wearing jeans and a button-down shirt, her hair silver and shaggy, her face set in a more lined version of the intense stare that Robert Mapplethorpe captured when he photographed her in 1980.” The profile is not without its bizarre, offensive, eyebrow-raising quotes about gender and identity, though, as all things related to Transparent seem — at least in part — to be.
Good Movies & Teevee Are Queer Movies & Teevee
The Screen Actors Guild Award nominations were announced this morning, and lordy, the SAGs are gonna be a queer old time next year.
Cate Blanchett and Rooney Mara are both up for acting awards for Carol.*
Queen Latifah snagged a nod for Bessie.
Christina Ricci, too, for her portrayal of an extra-queer Lizzie Borden.
Viola Davis seems like a lock for Best Female Actor in a Drama Series, for her portrayal bisexual Slytherin badass Annalise Keating on How to Get Away With Murder.
Same for Uzo Aduba for playing Suzanne Warren in Orange Is the New Black, which is also up for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series.
And Transparent too.
* When is Carol coming to you? Here is that information.
UPDATE: Carol was also nominated for five Golden Globes, more than any other TV or movie. Lily Tomlin got two nods, for both Grandma and Grace and Frankie. Transparent and OITNB were both nominated for Best Drama, and Uzo and Viola were both nominated for Best Actress.
+ Queen Latifah will headline a new Lee Daniels drama on Fox about an all-female singing group from Atlanta!
Asked about his inspiration for the show, Daniels said, “It’s based on LaBelle, it’s based on the Supremes, it’s based on TLC, it’s based on Destiny’s Child. Same sort of inspirations, same sort of template when we created Empire … The new pilot has the possibility for a crossover with Empire, but there are no immediate plans yet.
Queer Women Out and About
+ You know who doesn’t give a flip if you like her, or the characters she plays? Lily Motherfucking Tomlin, that’s who. She and Amy Schuemer chatted about it for Variety.
+ Every queer women’s favorite imaginary girlfriend, Samira Wiley, will voice Michonne in Telltale Games’ new The Walking Dead: Michonne. The trailer, which premiered at the Game Awards last Friday, is chilling and also awesome. (Obviously I will never play this due to the blood, but you should play it and tell me what you think.)
+ Megan Rapinoe tore her ACL at USWNT practice on Friday, and now Hawaii’s Attorney General is stepping in to see if Aloha Stadium defaulted on its agreement to provide the women’s team with a “first class field.” After Rapinoe’s injury, the team wrote an open letter on The Players Tribune demanding access to facilities as good as those provided for the men’s national team, who never play on artificial turf. Abby Wambach took up this fight last year, and it seems like the USWNT is going to see it through. The New York Times published a lengthy look at how this fight has progressed and what it will mean for Rapinoe’s future.
Uzo Aduba and Viola Davis Make History At The Most Feminist Emmy Awards Ever
I can never decide whether to watch the Emmy Awards or punch myself in the face. Both things hurt my head, but at least the second thing saves me from having to watch an endless parade of straight white men accept awards for playing and directing and writing about straight white men on TV, and I’m in bed by 10:00. Tonight’s Emmys, however — the 67th Primetime ones — were a lot less like self-inflicted tortured and a lot more like church! For starters, Uzo Aduba and Viola Davis made history by becoming the first black woman to win an Emmy for playing the same character in two different genres and the first black woman to win Best Actress, respectively. Regina King also (finally!) won an Emmy for Outstanding Supporting Actress for her role in American Crime. This is the first time three black women have won Emmys in the same year.
Viola Davis quoted Harriet Tubman in her acceptance speech before dropping this truth on the audience: “Let me tell you something, the only thing that separates women of color from anyone else is opportunity. You cannot win an Emmy for roles that are simply not there.” Kerry Washington and Taraji P Henson — who were also nominated in the category — were moved to tears in the crowd while Davis spoke.
https://youtu.be/jrkGmYbvISo
The incomparable Uzo Aduba raced through a list of cast and crew and friends and family before being overcome with emotion during her acceptance speech, thanking Jenji Kohan “because you let me be me.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=2&v=lCX1MqVg6Vk
But the fun didn’t stop there! Openly queer writers/directors Lisa Cholodenko (who you probably know most from The Kids Are All Right, but who also wrote the episode of The L Word that introduced us to Peggy Peabody) and Jane Anderson (who you probably remember from If These Walls Could Talk 2) won Emmys for Best Directing and Best Writing for Olive Kitteridge. Jill Soloway also took home a Best Directing Emmy for Transparent‘s “Best New Girl,” meaning that two out of three Directing trophies awarded to individual people were won by women. (Another record!) In her acceptance speech, Soloway noted that 32 states can legally discriminate against her Moppa, and urged viewers to visit transequality.org to show their support for the Equality Act. “We don’t have a trans tipping point,” she said, “we have a trans civil rights problem.” She also delivered the Emmys’ first and only Male Gaze joke!
Other queer things: Bessie won Best Television Movie; Jane Lynch won Outstanding Host For A Reality Or Reality-Competition Program for Hollywood Game Night; and Transparent picked up two acting wins for Jeffrey Tambor and Bradley Whitford, whose Emmys Mey Rude has graciously agreed to house since they were dedicated to her.
Again, I'm very excited to see the emmy going to @transparent_tv and Jeffrey Tambor!
— Mey Rude (@meyrude) September 21, 2015
also super excited to hear all of these trans ppl's names being mentioned in his speech! that was cool!
— Mey Rude (@meyrude) September 21, 2015
and i'll definitely accept any & all emmy awards that are dedicated to me, just dm me and i'll give you my address so you can mail it to me
— Mey Rude (@meyrude) September 21, 2015
Other feminist highlights:
Andy Samberg’s opening monologue:
“The wage gap between men and women hired for major roles in Hollywood is still an issue. Wait, I’m sorry, I misread that. The age gap between men and women hired for major roles in Hollywood is still an issue. Wait, I misread that. It’s both. Still both. So crappy on two fronts.”
Amy Poehler presenting the Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy Award:
“What an exciting two to four hours for women in comedy.”
Taraji P. Henson, all night long!
Taraji P. Henson (@TherealTaraji) helps @ReginaKing celebrate her win at the #Emmys backstage pic.twitter.com/nu8JI6l2gB
— Variety (@Variety) September 21, 2015
No one is more supportive than @TherealTaraji. #Emmys pic.twitter.com/VEn3IxDDCI
— Vulture (@vulture) September 21, 2015
The Social Medias
@UzoAduba is EVERYTHING! You deserve any and everything, you beautiful girl. I 💜 U!!! 🏆🏆 #winning!!
— Samira Wiley (@samirawiley) September 21, 2015
https://twitter.com/jamieleecurtis/status/645789634006417408
https://instagram.com/p/7300CYpqAa/?taken-by=daniebb3
https://instagram.com/p/7369G0sZay/?taken-by=rubyrose
https://instagram.com/p/73jzn9xx_2/?taken-by=carrie_rachel
The Full List of Winners
Outstanding Drama Series
Better Call Saul
Orange Is the New Black
Game of Thrones
Downton Abbey
Homeland
House of Cards
Mad Men
Outstanding Comedy Series
Louie
Modern Family
Parks and Recreation
Silicon Valley
Transparent
Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt
Veep
Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series
Claire Danes, Homeland
Viola Davis, How to Get Away With Murder
Taraji P. Henson, Empire
Tatiana Maslany, Orphan Black
Elisabeth Moss, Mad Men
Robin Wright, House of Cards
Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series
Uzo Aduba, Orange Is the New Black
Christine Baranski, The Good Wife
Emilia Clarke, Game of Thrones
Joanne Froggatt, Downton Abbey
Lena Headey, Game of Thrones
Christina Hendricks, Mad Men
Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series
Khandi Alexander, Scandal
Rachel Brosnahan, House of Cards
Allison Janney, Masters of Sex
Margo Martindale, The Americans
Diana Rigg, Game of Thrones
Cicely Tyson, How to Get Away With Murder
Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series
Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Veep
Edie Falco, Nurse Jackie
Lisa Kudrow, The Comeback
Amy Poehler, Parks and Recreation
Amy Schumer, Inside Amy Schumer
Lily Tomlin, Grace and Frankie
Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series
Julie Bowen, Modern Family
Mayim Bialik, The Big Bang Theory
Anna Chlumsky, Veep
Gaby Hoffmann, Transparent
Jane Krakowski, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt
Allison Janney, Mom
Kate McKinnon, Saturday Night Live
Niecy Nash, Getting On
Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series
Pamela Adlon, Louie
Elizabeth Banks, Modern Family
Christine Baranski, The Big Bang Theory
Joan Cusack, Shameless
Tina Fey, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt
Gaby Hoffmann, Girls
Outstanding Actress in a Mini-series or Movie
Maggie Gyllenhaal, The Honorable Woman
Jessica Lange, American Horror Story: Freak Show
Felicity Huffman, American Crime
Queen Latifah, Bessie
Frances McDormand, Olive Kitteridge
Emma Thompson, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street Live From Lincoln Center
Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Limited Series or a Movie
Angela Bassett, American Horror Story: Freak Show
Kathy Bates, American Horror Story: Freak Show
Zoe Kazan, Olive Kitteridge
Regina King, American Crime
Mo’Nique, Bessie
Sarah Paulson, American Horror Story: Freak Show
Outstanding Directing for a Limited Series, Movie, or a Dramatic Special
American Horror Story: Freak Show, Ryan Murphy
Bessie, Dee Rees
Houdini, Uli Edel
Olive Kitteridge, Lisa Cholodenko
The Honorable Woman, Hugo Blick
The Missing, Tom Shankland
Wolf Hall, Peter Kosminsky
Outstanding Writing for a Limited Series, Movie, or a Dramatic Special
American Crime, “Episode One,” John Ridley
Bessie, Dee Rees, Christopher Cleveland, Bettina Gilois, and Horton Foote
Hello Ladies: The Movie, Stephen Merchant, Gene Stupnitsky, and Lee Eisenberg
Olive Kitteridge, Jane Anderson
The Honorable Woman, Hugo Blick
Wolf Hall, Peter Straughan
Outstanding Directing for a Comedy Series
Louie, “Sleepover,” Louis C.K.
Silicon Valley, “Sand Hill Shuffle,” Mike Judge
The Last Man on Earth, “Alive in Tucson (Pilot),” Phil Lord and Christopher Miller
Transparent, “Best New Girl,” Jill Soloway
Veep, “Testimony,” Armando Iannucci
Outstanding Reality Competition Program
The Voice
Top Chef
Dancing With the Stars
The Amazing Race
So You Think You Can Dance
Project Runway
Outstanding Variety Series
The Colbert Report
The Daily Show
Jimmy Kimmel Live
Last Week Tonight
Late Show With David Letterman
The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon
Outstanding Writing for a Variety Series
The Daily Show
The Colbert Report
Inside Amy Schumer
Key & Peele
Last Week Tonight With John Oliver
Outstanding Directing for a Variety Series
James Hoskinson, The Colbert Report
Chuck O’Neil, The Daily Show
Amy Schumer and Ryan McFaul, Inside Amy Schumer
Jerry Foley, Late Show With David Letterman
Dave Diomedi, The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon
Outstanding Variety Sketch Series
Drunk History
Inside Amy Schumer
Key & Peele
Portlandia
Saturday Night Live
Outstanding Limited Series
American Crime
American Horror Story: Freak Show
The Honorable Woman
Olive Kitteridge
Wolf Hall
Outstanding Actor in a Mini-series or Movie
Richard Jenkins, Olive Kitteridge
David Oyelowo, Nightingale
Adrien Brody, Houdini
Mark Rylance, Wolf Hall
Ricky Gervais, Derek
Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series
Episodes, “Episode 409,” David Crane and Jeffrey Klarik
Louie, “Bobby’s House,” Louis C.K.
Silicon Valley, “Two Days of the Condor,” Alec Berg
The Last Man on Earth, “Alive in Tucson (Pilot),” Will Forte
Transparent, “Pilot,” Jill Soloway
Veep, “Election Night,” Simon Blackwell, Armando Iannucci, and Tony Roche
Outstanding Directing for a Drama Series
Boardwalk Empire, “Eldorado,” Tim Van Patten
Game of Thrones, “Unbowed, Unbent, Unbroken,” Jeremy Podeswa
Game of Thrones, “Mother’s Mercy,” David Nutter
Homeland, “From A to B and Back Again,” Lesli Linka Glatter
The Knick, “Method and Madness,” Steven Soderbergh
Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series
Better Call Saul, “Five-O,” Gordon Smith
Game of Thrones, “Mother’s Mercy,” David Benioff and D.B. Weiss
Mad Men, “Lost Horizon,” Semi Chellas and Matthew Weiner
Mad Men, “Person to Person,” Matthew Weiner
The Americans, “Do Mail Robots Dream of Electric Sheep?” Joshua Brand
Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series
Jon Hamm, Mad Men
Kevin Spacey, House of Cards
Bob Odenkirk, Better Call Saul
Jeff Daniels, The Newsroom
Kyle Chandler, Bloodline
Liev Schreiber, Ray Donovan
Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series
Jonathan Banks, Better Call Saul
Jim Carter, Downton Abbey
Alan Cumming, The Good Wife
Peter Dinklage, Game of Thrones
Michael Kelly, House of Cards
Ben Mendelsohn, Bloodline
Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series
F. Murray Abraham, Homeland
Alan Alda, The Blacklist
Beau Bridges, Masters of Sex
Reg E. Cathey, House of Cards
Michael J. Fox, The Good Wife
Pablo Schreiber, Orange Is the New Black
Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series
Louis C.K., Louie
Don Cheadle, House of Lies
Jeffrey Tambor, Transparent
William H. Macy, Shameless
Anthony Anderson, Black-ish
Will Forte, The Last Man on Earth
Matt LeBlanc, Episodes
Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series
Andre Braugher, Brooklyn Nine-Nine
Adam Driver, Girls
Keegan-Michael Key, Key & Peele
Ty Burrell, Modern Family
Tituss Burgess, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt
Tony Hale, Veep
Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series
Mel Brooks, The Comedians
Louis C.K., Saturday Night Live
Paul Giamatti, Inside Amy Schumer
Bill Hader, Saturday Night Live
Jon Hamm, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt
Bradley Whitford, Transparent
Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Limited Series or a Movie
Richard Cabral, American Crime
Denis O’Hare, American Horror Story: Freak Show
Damian Lewis, Wolf Hall
Bill Murray, Olive Kitteridge
Michael Kenneth Williams, Bessie
Finn Wittrock, American Horror Story: Freak Show
Your move, Oscars.