Transphobia in Glee

As a show Glee was meant to be about acceptance and diversity combined with that school musical thing popularised for teens by Grease and High School Musical. It may have seemed promising from the first episode, but the show is now one massive, weekly trainwreck.

This post is about transphobia on the show.
Glee has been applauded for being so LGBT friendly, though I've discussed in several posts why the depictions of LGBTQ persons is actually fairly offensive and regressive. Despite praise for this show, it actually seems to verge on transphobic despite the introduction of trans character Unique, also known as Wade Adams, a young, pre-op trans mtf teen. This show has dropped terms like "tranny" and "she-male" as if to normalise verbal transphobic abuse. Where the show has previously attempted to point out the derogatory and inappropriate nature and usage of the word "faggot", transphobic slurs go by without question or criticism.

In the Rocky Horror episode having a man play the role of Dr Frank'N'Furter was deemed inappropriate (the word "transsexual" even removed from the show as if to suggest it's a bad word) and Unique was later prohibited from playing Rizzo; following the notion that art imitates life we see the echo of transphobia even in fictional events on the show.
In Glee's version of "Born this Way" the verse that mentions gay/transgender persons is cut.

These examples show a level of discomfort concerning trans issues and an unwillingness to provide a positive message to/about the trans youth of today. Instead Ryan Murphy's creation of Unique as a character seems exploitative. Actor Alex Newell came from The Glee Project. Though not a winner, Ryan Murphy initially gave Newell a 2 episode arc and then kept the character on where other winners like Joe Hart (played by Samuel Larson) and Rory Flanagan (played by Damian McGinty) and Harmony (no surname given, played by Lindsay Pearce) all faded into the background. Ryan Murphy originally didn't seem too interested in Newell until Newell expressed interest in performing in a dress and heels. You could practically see the dollar signs rising in Murphy's eyes as he noticed something new and different to exploit on the show.
The show, that claims to be inclusive of everyone, is not in that it excludes trans people thus passing on transphobic views to an impressionable audience of typically young viewers. If trans people are included from the message of acceptance they will continue to feel the brunt of discrimination and violence (both verbal and physical) will continue against the trans community. This show should spread awareness, not further ignorance.

Just because Ryan Murphy is gay does not make his views acceptable, it does not make him a trans* ally. 

As a transgender woman Unique experiences a high level of transmisogyny from almost everyone on the show. When some of this transmisogyny is presented as humour it helps to normalise such views and abuse which only knocks the trans community one step back. Transgender women, especially transgender women of colour, are all too often the victims of violent hate crimes.
For Glee to show discrimination is good, people need to understand the daily discrimination the transgender community face, but they don't seem to be tackling the issue in a sensitive and effective way. It should never be presented as a joke. Unique is even forced to give up female clothing and go under her birth name during school hours, ultimately being robbed of her identity, with little sympathy from fellow Glee club members or further discussion on the issue. This allows for misgendering and uncertainty about which pronouns to use towards Unique whose identity is being stolen and questioned, controlled by others.

Dean Geyer even called a fellow tweeter a "tranny" and then claimed to see nothing offensive in such a term:

As you can see, when Dean is called out and asked to apologise he does but whilst stating that he doesn't think calling someone a "tranny" is disrespectful. This is disgusting behaviour that shows the transmisogyny of Glee on and off screen, the seriousness of transphobic slurs isn't acknowledged.

Unique is rarely given solo songs anymore, swallowed whole by the hypocrisy of the New Directions, a further loss of identity.