A few days ago, I asked if Showtime’s new House of Lies series, premiering tonight at 10p.m. ET, would give a positive and unoffensive portrayal of the gender variant child of the lead character. Early indications are that they have done so. Diane Anderson-Minshall at the Advocate says, “For all the reasons other shows fail around transgender and gender variant issues, this one succeeds.”
The father in the show, Marty Kahn (Don Cheadle), is “confused,” Anderson-Minshall says, but nevertheless “goes to bat for the kid. . . . Like Kurt Hummel’s father on Glee, he’s trying to understand the kid. So is Roscoe [Donis Leonard Jr.] gay? Transgender? Or just playing around the way kids should be allowed to do? We know as much as Marty does but, based on episode one, it’ll be a fascinating journey watching Roscoe find out.”
My friend Cathy Renna, whose firm Renna Communications does publicity for Gender Spectrum, also liked the portrayal of the child in the first episode, as did After Ellen’s The Linster.
Based on the trailer, parenting may be the only area where Marty acts with integrity, but I’m all right with that—having a good character accept his child would have been expected, and perhaps yawned at. Having a sleazy one actually try to do the right thing in this area makes it even more compelling. And Marty is just one in a long line of morally ambiguous Showtime parents, who include Weeds’ drug-dealing Nancy Botwin (Mary-Louise Parker) and Dexter’s serial killer Dexter Morgan (Michael C. Hall).
Positive media images aren’t the only thing that will grow acceptance and understanding of gender variant children, but they help. Good for Showtime.
