“Given the politicized atmosphere that seems to have afflicted our set, I don’t see how I can return to Transparent.”
–Jeffrey Tambor, in a statement to Deadline, announcing that he won’t be returning for the fifth season of Amazon’s Transparent.
Tambor, who plays lead character Maura Pfefferman, has been accused of sexual harassment and lewd conduct by two transgender actresses on the show, Van Barnes, who is also Tambor’s former assistant, and Trace Lysette.
Barnes accuses Tambor of making lewd comments towards her and groping her, while Lysette says he made sexual remarks towards her and thrust his penis against her while on set.
As previously reported, during the incident Lysette was wearing a “flimsy top and matching short shorts” for a pajamas scene. “Upon seeing me in my costume, Jeffrey sexualized me with an over the top comment,” Lysette said. “Then later, in between takes, I stood in a corner on the set…. Jeffrey approached me. He came in close, put his bare feet on top of mine so I could not move, leaned his body against me, and began quick, discreet thrusts back and forth against my body.
“I felt his penis on my hip through his thin pajamas and I pushed him off of me.”
Tambor denies claims of harassment, saying his actions were “misinterpreted,” but that he cannot continue to work on the show as a result.
He told Deadline that playing Maura Pfefferman, for which he received two Emmys, “has been one of the greatest privileges and creative experiences of my life.” However, he added that it has “become clear over the past weeks…that this is no longer the job I signed up for four years ago.”
“I’ve already made clear my deep regret if any action of mine was ever misinterpreted by anyone as being aggressive, but the idea that I would deliberately harass anyone is simply and utterly untrue,” Tambor continued. “Given the politicized atmosphere that seems to have afflicted our set, I don’t see how I can return to Transparent.”
A proposed ban on gender-affirming care for transgender youths failed to take effect in Kansas after Republican lawmakers narrowly fell short of the votes needed to override a veto by Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly.
Had the bill passed, it would have banned all gender-affirming surgical and hormonal interventions for minors suffering from gender dysphoria, with penalties, including the loss of their license to practice.
The proposed law also would have allowed former patients, or the parents of former patients, to sue any doctor who prescribed gender-affirming treatments.
On April 19, the Biden administration issued new rules outlining schools' obligations under Title IX, the federal law prohibiting sex-based discrimination -- including explicit protections for LGBTQ students.
The new rules, which take effect August 1, expand Title IX's protections against sex-based discrimination in educational programs that receive federal funding by prohibiting discrimination and harassment based on sexual orientation and gender identity in federally-funded educational programs.
That explicit expansion of the law seeks to align Title IX guidance with the principles undergirding a landmark 2020 Supreme Court decision finding that the Civil Rights Act protects LGBTQ workers from workplace discrimination, and that instances of anti-LGBTQ discrimination are inherently a form of sex-based discrimination.
Ohio Republican Attorney General Dave Yost is appealing a judge's decision to block the state from enforcing its ban on gender-affirming care for minors and a ban prohibiting transgender athletes from competing on female-designated sports teams.
Yost filed an emergency motion with the Ohio Supreme Court asking it to overturn a temporary restraining order issued by Franklin County Court of Common Pleas Judge Michael Holbrook, which blocked the law's provisions from taking effect for two weeks.
Holbrook, a Republican appointee, found that two transgender minors and their parents, who sued to challenge the law in court last month, were likely to suffer "immediate" harm, in the form of reduced access to health care providers willing to treat their gender dysphoria, if the law -- which imposes penalties on doctors who prescribe gender-affirming treatments -- were to take effect.
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