Glee features 200-member transgender choir
Warning: This article contains spoilers for an episode of Glee that is yet to broadcast in the UK.
Glee has featured a choir made up of over 200 real-life trans people, as part of a storyline in which a character transitions.
It was revealed last month that Coach Beiste, played by Dot Marie Jones, would be transitioning to male – and last night’s episode saw him return to McKinley High after the transition.
Previous transgender character Unique, played by Alex Newell, also made a return for the episode, to help Beiste deal with his transition.
At the climax of the episode, Newell sings Hairspray track ‘I Know Where I’ve Been in front of a choir comprised of over 200 real-life transgender people.
The choir, which is thought to feature the most transgender people ever seen on TV, was put together with the help of LGBT media charity GLAAD, through a US-wide search.
A statement from the charity said: “GLAAD helped Glee recruit the 200 trans extras from across the country to come to Los Angeles and participate in the episode.
“Many of the transgender people said they had never been in a room with that many other trans people before.
“The energy and the enthusiam was fantastic – even though it was a very long day!”
Glee’s executive producer Dante DiLoreto said: “It is incredibly uplifting working with this choir.
“We never really knew if this was possible, but when you hear when everybody’s from… from Birmingham, to Denver, to Atlanta, it makes you realise this really is the face of America and you hope that when people see this episode they’ll recognize, ‘Hey, they look just like me’.
“This isn’t about tolerance, it’s about coming home, and coming home to who you really are – and who you’re meant to be and who you’re meant to be with.”
Watch the clips below:
(Photo: GLAAD)
