“Tell me again how you think God will judge others for who they love, and not judge you for hating someone you never met?” said Sophia Burset, one of the transgender characters in the hit Netflix series, “Orange Is The New Black” (OITNB).
Since its premiere on July 11, 2013, the series, which is intended for a more mature audience, has quaked conservative American life and captivated audiences everywhere with its incorporation of LGBT characters and their backstories, signifying a boom of progress for the LGBT community.
Based on one woman’s memoir in a women-only prison, the show revolves around Piper Chapman, played by Taylor Schilling, who is serving 15 months in Litchfield’s Women's Prison for possessing a suitcase filled with drug money for her ex-girlfriend. There, she meets other characters who had previously struggled with their sexuality and gender identity.
Not only does “Orange is the New Black” serve as a suspenseful, addictive show that all can enjoy, but it also offers Americans examples of real women in the LGBT community with real struggles.
Most LGBT characters on television right now are stereotyped in a negative light as senseless, sex-driven individuals. Chapman, however, is a far cry from a cliched character, and one of the only positively growing, bi-sexual characters in all of television.
Lea DeLaria, who plays the “butch” lesbian Carrie “Big Boo” Black in OITNB, spoke about how the show has been a huge influence in fighting for the rights of the LGBT community.
“We’re thrilled that we got to be part of this moment and time, being these proxy representatives of things we believe in,” Delaria told the Television Critics Association panel.
Behind the show is director Jenji Kohan, who has not only created a compelling story surrounding strong, authentic LGBT characters, but has also used actors in the actual LGBT community to play different roles.
Most notable is Laverne Cox, the first openly transgender woman to be nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award. Cox plays the show’s cheeky hair dresser, Sophia Burset, who is serving time for stealing credit cards to support her sex reassignment surgeries.
In Season 1, Burset struggles with the transmisogyny directed at her since she is the only transgender woman in the prison. The writers use Burset’s character to exemplify the daily injustices faced by transgender individuals in society — where people are immediately labeled as "weird” for being different.
“We’re showing the world that it’s OK to have different women and people represented,” said Selenis Leyva, who plays the cook Gloria Mendoza to the TCA panel. “Netflix has been bold. We started a trend, and that trend is to be diverse — to be a butch, to be a Latina, to be different — we started something.”.
And “Orange is the New Black” is certainly “something,” entertaining the public and breaking Netflix’s streaming records every year, all while raising awareness for the LGBT community.
“It’s been about winning the hearts and the minds of people, and ‘Orange is the New Black’ has been an important part of what has happened in our community,” DeLaria said during the TCA panel.
