With 1.4 million Instagram followers, Tommy Dorfman is one of the breakout stars of Netflix’s “13 Reasons Why.” But when Dorfman, who is gender-nonconforming and goes by the pronouns “they” and “th…
is one of the breakout stars of Netflix’s “13 Reasons Why.” But when Dorfman, who is gender-nonconforming and goes by the pronouns “they” and “them,” was shopping around for a new agent in 2017, the process was harder than it should have been. As Dorfman recalls, one representative told them that not identifying with a single gender was “a fad,” and the agency couldn’t sign them.
The percentage of people who identify as gender-nonconforming is small — some estimates range from less than 1% to 3% — but growing. Anecdotally, experts say this could be attributable to a rise in visibility and representation. Only three years ago, in 2017, “Billions” introduced Dorfman is among the many nonbinary actors who yearn for a “they/them” character without a “they/them”-heavy storyline. This is a shared struggle for LGBTQ actors, and it may be that progress is only possible with time. “There always has to be a coming out,” Dorfman says. “There’s never just a gender-nonconforming person who exists on a TV show without some screaming on-the-street moment.”
As a kid, Taylor-Klaus — who came out as transgender nonbinary in 2018 — struggled to see themselves reflected on-screen. “It was always hard for me because I would see myself in these butch girls or these super femme or wussy guy characters. I never really had a character that was like, ‘Oh, that’s me. That’s me!’ That’s somewhere in the middle.”
As gender-fluid people are forced to seek out representation elsewhere, they sometimes turn to fantasy or animated worlds where gender rules aren’t so defined. The first time “The Politician’s” Germaine saw themselves on-screen wasn’t while watching a sitcom but while playing
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