‘Glee’ Unveils Its First Transgender Character, See Shannon Beiste’s New Identity


A few weeks ago, Glee dropped a bombshell that McKinley High School’s coach, Beiste, was transgender. In a touching scene, the coach revealed to her coaching assistant, Sam, that she wanted to transition from female to a man because she didn’t feel comfortable about her own skin.

It was something that was openly discussed on a network series, let alone on prime time. Glee‘s Dot-Marie Jones spoke to People magazine about Shannon Beiste’s new storyline, with an exclusive photo that shows coach Beiste fully transitioned into a man.

At first, Dot-Marie revealed that she was hesitant to take on the story line. “I just didn’t want to let down the girls who are straight and tomboys that my character represented the last four seasons.”

She continued to explain what changed her mind about the transitioning storyline. “But I got the script and I was, like, ‘Oh my God. This is amazing.'”

Here’s the first look at Dot-Marie Jones as her character’s new identity.

When the transgender storyline was introduced on Glee, Dot-Marie Jones said she was overwhelmed with the amount of love she received on Twitter.

“I had thousands of Tweets from people. I was crying. Members of the transgender community were saying, ‘I never thought I’d see myself on TV. You have no idea what this means to me. Now, maybe people will get it.'”

In January, the Glee star spoke to the Hollywood Reporter, after her transgender episode aired.

Clearly surprised by the direction her character was going to go in, Jones said, “I didn’t want to let anybody down. I’d done the domestic violence storyline before and having young girls look up to Beiste and looking at it now, it’s just another vehicle to reach another group of people who are learning to be OK in your body. ”

As for how we will witness this transformation, Jones gave a bit of a hint. “I’m out for the next three or four episodes and come back, I think, in episode six. In this episode, I talk about what my next steps are and what I’m having done, so when I come back it’s after all of that and I’m coming back as Sheldon.”

Are you excited to see this storyline continue on Glee?

[Image via Fox]

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