Metro Weekly

GLAAD turns on “Ticked-Off Trannies with Knives”

”The filmmakers provided a copy of this film to GLAAD in February, and for weeks the organization had been supportive to the filmmakers. In fact, GLAAD representatives advised the film’s producer, director and cast on how to describe the film to its core constituency.”

Statement from the Tribeca Film Festival regarding the film ”Ticked-Off Trannies with Knives.” The low-budget film’s fantasy plot appears to revolve around several transgender female performers who respond to a violent bashing with some violent revenge of their own. (New York Times)


”By marketing Ticked-Off Trannies with Knives as a “transploitation” film, by using the word “trannies” (a pejorative term for transgender people) in the title of the film, by casting transgender women in some roles, and by citing the murders of Angie Zapata and Jorge Mercado in the trailer, Israel Luna has attempted to place his film squarely within a transgender narrative. However, while some of the actors in the film identify as transgender, the characters are written as drag queens, “performing” femininity in a way that is completely artificial. The very names of these over-the-top female caricatures (Emma Grashun, Rachel Slurr, et al.) drive this point home…. GLAAD finds it troubling that the respected Tribeca Film Festival would give a film that sensationalizes anti-transgender violence and misrepresents the lives of transgender women, a platform that affords such great exposure.”

Statement from the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation that is asking the public to contact the Tribecca Film Festival to pull the presentation of ”Ticked-Off Trannies with Knives.” (GLAAD)

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