ABC executives are planning to meet
with two gay rights groups opposed to the upcoming sitcom Work It.
In the series, which premieres on
January 3, Lee Standish (played by Ben Koldyke) and Angel Ortiz
(Amaury Nolasco) play two unemployed men who land jobs as sales
representatives for a pharmaceutical company dressed as women. (A
trailer for the show is embedded in the right panel of this page.
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In criticizing the show, the Gay
and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) said it
reinforces mistaken transgender stereotypes.
“Transphobia is still all too
prevalent in our society and this show will only contribute to it,”
said Mike Thompson, the group's acting president. “It will
reinforce the mistaken belief that transgender women are simply 'men
pretending to be women,' and that their efforts to live their lives
authentically as women are a form of lying or deception.”
Matt Kane, GLAAD's associate director
of entertainment media, told the Los
Angeles Times that plans are underway for a meeting with the
network that would also include representatives from the Human Rights
Campaign (HRC), which has also criticized the show's message.
“We're in communication with ABC, and
we're setting up a meeting,” Kane said. “We don't know their
response yet to our request [to kill the show].”