The Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) and the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) are condemning the ABC television network, saying that the upcoming cross-dressing comedy Work It “reinforces false and damaging stereotypes about transgender people.”

The series, which is scheduled to premiere on January 3, deals with the relationship between two straight out-of-work car salesmen (played by Ben Koldyke of How I Met Your Mother, and Amaury Nolasco of Prison Break). After their car dealership closes down, they decide to dress as women in order to secure employment with a pharmaceutical firm that is hiring female sales reps.
HRC and GLAAD claim Work It reflects stereotypes about transgender individuals.

On its Web site, HRC called for an email campaign to compel ABC not to “air a show that reinforces negative and damaging stereotypes about transgender people.”

GLAAD’s Web site published a message from its acting president, Mike Thompson, which stated that the show will only add to the discrimination experienced by members of the transgender community. “Transphobia is still all too prevalent in our society and this show will only contribute to it,” Thompson wrote. “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.”

In addition, GLAAD said that the print advertisement campaign for Work It is especially offensive, including ads which depict the show’s main characters standing in front of men’s room urinals while they’ re d

ressed as women. They urged ABC executives to axe them.

Said GLAAD: “Not only does it inadvertently further notions that transgender identities are humorous or artificial, but imagery like this is one of the first things anti-LGBT activists resort to when trying to deny transgender people equal access to public facilities and services. We ask that ABC recognize this fact, keep the show’s bathroom advertisement out of circulation, and seriously consider whether airing this show is worth the damage it has the potential to do.”