Mj Rodriguez Makes History As The First Trans Woman Nominated for Major Acting Emmy

[Justin Woodpond]

The category is “making history”. 
 
Mj Rodriguez has become the first transgender performer to earn a Primetime Emmy nomination for a major acting category. Woop woop!  
 
Rodriguez is nominated for Outstanding Lead Actress in a drama series for her portrayal as Bianca in Pose, FX’s brilliant ballroom culture “period drama” of sorts. The nomination is significant step for LGBTQ+ representation; specifically transgender representation at the Emmys. 
 
She has some stiff competition in the form of Oscar winner and likely favourite Olivia Coleman (The Crown), Golden Globe and Emmy winner Elizabeth Moss (The Handmaid’s Tale), Emmy winner Uzo Aduba (In Treatment), newcomer Emma Corin (The Crown) and critic’s darling Jurnee smollett (Lovecraft Countet). 
 
Billie Porter, last years Emmy winner for Outstanding Lead actor in a drama series (Pose), has been nominated for a second time (in the same category). 
 
As so many of us have fallen in love with Bianca, Mj’s angelic character on Pose, It just feels right that in its final season the television academy has chosen to recognise Mj (and Billie Porter again). They both deserve every bit of adulation for their portrayals of HIV positive LGBT members in 80’s/90’s New York at the height of the AIDS epidemic and during the deeply homophobic and repressive Regan/Bush years. 
 
See Mj’s reaction below upon learning about her groundbreaking nomination.