The winner of this year’s Golden Globe Award for Actress in a Drama TV Series wasn’t always a female.
Michaela Jae “Mj” Rodriguez, star of the FX show “Pose,” became the “first transgender actress to win a Golden Globe,” according to the website. The awards are presented annually by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association.
The winners of the 79th Golden Globe Awards were announced Sunday at the Beverly Hilton Hotel. NBC refused to air this year’s ceremony in protest of the association’s absence of Black voting members.
The 31-year-old Rodriguez, who told Playbill that she began hormone-replacement therapy in 2016, described her win as a victory for transgender and minority performers.
“Number one, thank you, Golden Globes,” she said in a video post on Twitter. “This is for the LGBTQAI, Black-Latina-Asian, the many, multi, beautiful colors of the rainbow around the freaking world. This is not just for me, this is for y’all. This is the door that opens for y’all. Not me. For y’all.”
Ms. Rodriguez was applauded on social media for her historic win by her fans, who said the prize for her portrayal of the character “Blanca” was well deserved, while critics argued that she had usurped an honor intended for biological women.
The other performers nominated for the award were Christine Baranski, Uzo Aduba, Elisabeth Moss and Jennifer Aniston.
“Congratulations for stealing an award from women and giving it to a man. That’s progressive, right? Why is it never men who pay any price for the gender ideology cult?” tweeted the @WomenAreWomen3 account.
Ms. Rodriguez also made history in July as the first “out transgender actor or actress nominated in a lead acting category” for an Emmy Award, according to GLAAD.
MJ Rodriguez discussing her Golden Globes win. pic.twitter.com/TiFruvbgHV
— Jarohn Johnson (@JarohnJ) January 10, 2022
The Golden Globe pick comes amid rising uneasiness over male-born transgender figures winning recognition for leapfrogging the female competition in sports and entertainment.
Two prominent examples have stirred debate in recent weeks.
Penn swimmer Lia Thomas, who competes on the women’s team after three years on the men’s side, holds the NCAA’s top times this season in the women’s 200- and 500-yard freestyle, fueling speculation that she could make a run at records held by Missy Franklin and Katie Ledecky.
Transgender “Jeopardy!” whiz Amy Schneider was hailed last month as the “winningest woman” in the show’s history by the Washington Post after she surpassed contestant Julia Collins’s 20-game winning streak. Last week, she was described by media outlets as the first woman to pass $1 million in earnings.
“Many of the most accomplished women are now men,” quipped conservative pundit Ben Shapiro in a Dec. 30 tweet.
