I think for characters of a specific race the actor needs to also be that race and trans characters need to be played by trans actors. The Vice article mentioned how having cis men play trans women (or vice vera) reinforces that idea that trans women are just pretending to be men. I think racial accurate casting is similar. There is a physical difference and it just feels wrong to ignore that. Queer characters are more ambiguous to me. It would be cool if queer characters were accurately represented and queer actors were able to get roles as straight or queer. Right now, I think it’s more important for queer people to be involved in the writing process and to collaborate with the actor. It feels like it could be valuable for queer actors to get roles as queer characters but there is a financial issue and it might not be clear if an actor is queer when casting. Overall, queer characters should be written by queer people and it shouldn’t matter who plays them. Trans and people of color should be played by the appropriate group, because there is a physical difference and a group of experiences specific. I’d group non-binary people in with queer here because many people can look androgynous, which is the general idea of nonbinary. It would, of course, be cool to see nonbinary people playing nonbinary characters but it feels like a less pressing issue. I don’t think there is much nonbinary representation right now.
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