Glee features 200-member choir of real-life trans* people

A 200-strong choir of trans* people appearing in one of the latest episodes of Glee has achieved a milestone with what is believed to be the highest-number of trans* people appearing on TV at once.

The choir’s appearance was part of an episode in Glee’s latest season where one of its characters, coach Shannon Beiste (three-time Emmy nominee Dot Marie Jones), undergoes a personal gender transitioning journey after being diagnosed with gender dysphoria.

For the episode titled Transitioning, the choir was put together with the help of LGBT charity GLAAD, who had conducted a US-wide search to recruit the 200 extras to help sing a rendition of I Know Where I’ve Been.

“Many of the transgender people said they had never been in a room with that many other trans* people before,” the charity said in a statement.

“The energy and the enthusiasm was fantastic — even though it was a very long day.”

Glee executive producer Dante DiLorento said that it was uplifting working with the 200-member trans* choir.

“We never really knew if this was possible, but when you hear where everybody’s from… it makes you realise this really is the face of America and you hope that when people see this episode they’ll recognise, ‘Hey, they look just like me’,” DiLorento told ET.

“This isn’t about tolerance, it’s about coming home, and coming home to who you really are — and who you’re meant to be and who you’re meant to be with.”

Watch the scene in full here: