On January 7, 2026, GLAAD announced the nominees for the 37th Annual GLAAD Media Awards, and many of this year’s nominees center diverse and compelling stories about transgender and nonbinary people.

As GLAAD stated in our latest Where We Are on TV report, in the current climate, as the media and politicians spread hateful rhetoric about trans people unchecked, exposure to authentic and meaningful trans representation in entertainment is of critical importance. When non-LGBTQ people see the LGBTQ community represented in the media, their familiarity and comfortability with the community grows. These nominees are the type of stories that we need now more than ever.

In the Outstanding Film – Limited Theatrical Release category, is Ponyboi, a film written by and starring River Gallo (pictured below), about a trans and intersex person living on the margins who must run from the mob when a drug deal goes sideways. The film also features Indya Moore as a trans woman and friend of Ponyboi. Gallo received a Rising Stars Grant from GLAAD in 2019 for the Ponyboi short. 

In the Outstanding Film – Streaming or TV category, is Queen of Coal, starring Lux Pascal (pictured below) and based on the true story of Carla Antonella “Carlita” Rodriguez, a trans woman who challenges superstition and patriarchy in her Patagonian mining town when she fights to become their first female coal miner.

In the Outstanding Documentary category, Enigma, directed by Zackary Drucker, charts the parallel stories of April Ashley and Amanda Lear as they faced public scrutiny about their gender; the Sam Feder film Heightened Scrutiny, follows ACLU attorney Chase Strangio (pictured below), the first out transgender person to argue at the Supreme Court as he fights against Tennessee’s ban on healthcare for transgender youth; Kimberly Reed’s film I’m Your Venus, follows the brothers of transgender icon Venus Xtravaganza and members of the House of Xtravaganza, as they seek to honor Venus’ legacy and find new details about her life and death; In Transit, a South Asian docuseries directed by Ayesha Sood and produced by Zoya Akhtar and Reema Kagti, about nine transgender and nonbinary people across India as they navigate family, love, and self-acceptance; and Love & Rage: Munroe Bergdorf, centering British transgender icon and advocate Munroe Bergdorf as she faces her past while writing her memoir.

In the Outstanding New Series category, is Clean Slate, starring and executive produced by Laverne Cox (pictured below), as a transgender woman returning home to Alabama in order to repair her relationship with her estranged father played by comedy icon George Wallace.

In the Outstanding Comedy Series category Survival of the Thickest features Peppermint (pictured below) as a trans woman and friend of Michelle Buteau’s Mavis who, this season, marries her fiancé Harrison in a groundbreaking wedding episode.

In the Outstanding Drama Series category, The Sandman continued to feature transgender and nonbinary actor Mason Alexander Park as Desire, a member of the Endless, and also added Indya Moore to the cast as Wanda, a transgender woman who joins Dream and Delirium in their search for their long-lost brother.

In the Outstanding Limited or Anthology Series category, Wayward, created by and starring Mae Martin (pictured below), is about a transgender man who moves to his wife’s bucolic hometown, only to find himself in the middle of a twisted web of conspiracy emanating from the local troubled teen camp.

In the Outstanding Reality Program category, Jay & Pamela centers transgender man Jay Manuel Chavez, and his wife, Pamela (pictured together below), as they navigate planning a wedding, finding independence, and living with Osteogenesis Imperfecta Type 3, while challenging misperceptions about queer identity and disability.

In the Outstanding Reality Competition category, there are three nominees: season two of I Kissed a Boy included a transgender man in the cast; American Ninja Warrior featured Clayton Reeves and Jenson Little (pictured below), the first two out transgender athletes to ever be featured on the show; and Project Runway, which this year crowned its first ever out transgender winner, Veejay Floresca.

In the Outstanding Kids & Family category, Moon Girl & Devil Dinosaur includes Brooklyn, a young trans girl voiced by Indya Moore, and Tai, a nonbinary student voiced by Ian Alexander.

In the Outstanding Comic Book category, Avengers Academy: Marvel’s Voicesfeatured Shela Sexton, aka Escapade, a trans superhero, and Marcus Wetherall, a young trans man who’s a reporter; The Oddly Pedestrian Life of Christopher Chaos: Children of the Night includes Jordi Jacinto, a Black trans teen who happens to be a vampire; and Secret Six includes trans superhero Nia Nal, aka Dreamer.

In the Outstanding Graphic Novel/Anthology category, Gayasians includes an Asian American drag queen discovering that she is also a trans woman; Hey, Mary! includes a Latina trans woman who is navigating her own history with Catholicism; Low Orbit includes a nonbinary trans teen who is still exploring their gender identity; and the nonfiction graphic novel Trans History: From Ancient Times to the Present Day is a look back at trans and gender non-conforming people over the past several hundred years. In A Song for You and I, a younger character is exploring their gender and asks people to call them by a new name, and in Spent, there is at least one nonbinary young person.

To read more about the trans and nonbinary nominees in the OutstandingChildren’s and Kids & Family categories, click here.

To read more about the trans and nonbinary nominees in the Outstanding Video Game category, click here.

Many talk show, podcast, and journalism nominees feature trans people and/or highlighted issues affecting the trans community. A full list of those nominees may be found here.

Several of the nominees this year also included nonbinary characters who are not explicitly defined as transgender, adding to the growing conversation about gender diversity. Those nominees include:

In the Outstanding Film – Limited Release category, Sorry, Baby includes E.R. Fightmaster as the nonbinary partner of Naomi Ackie’s Lydie, and Tommy Dorfman’s directorial debut, I Wish You All The Best, stars Corey Fogelmanis as a nonbinary teenager navigating a new school, friendship, and identity.

In the Outstanding Documentary category, Come See Me in the Good Lightfollows poet Andrea Gibson as they navigate the unknown and what it means to make the most of the time one has left after their terminal cancer diagnosis.

In the Outstanding Reality Program category, Selling Sunset features Chrishell Stause and her relationship with her nonbinary partner G Flip, and The Ultimatum: Queer Love, which includes multiple nonbinary cast members. 

Projects nominated for the 37th Annual GLAAD Media Awards were published, released, or broadcast between January 1 and December 31, 2025. The GLAAD Media Awards ceremonies, which funds GLAAD’s fight for equality and inclusion beyond the red carpet, powers GLAAD research, fuels GLAAD’s news & rapid response efforts, and energizes GLAAD’s global education, training and advocacy programs for marginalized and queer communities worldwide.