When Are Trans Actors Allowed to Act?
On Sunday night’s episode of Pose, the Ryan Murphy–helmed FX drama that follows the lives of several young queer and trans people in New York’s ballroom scene, opportunities vanish.
In one scene, Blanca (Mj Rodriguez) confronts Lil Papi (Angel Bismark Curiel), one of the abandoned queer youth she’d brought into her house, after she finds out that he’s been selling drugs. As he tries to defend himself, Lil Papi points out that there are precious few employment options for a 20-year-old with limited education.
In another, House Abundance mother Elektra (Dominique Jackson), one of the more established trans women in the scene, finds herself shut out of a relationship with Dick Ford (Christopher Meloni), the wealthy paramour whose love (and financial support) came with the condition that she not undergo gender affirming surgery. Upon finding out that Elektra had paid for the surgery using the money he’d been giving her, Ford walks away from her—and leaves House Abundance without its most consistent source of funding to cover living expenses. After Candy (Angelica
