Jeffrey Tambor had this amazing thing to say about transgender actors and we agree

At last night’s Emmys (September 18th), Jeffrey Tambor won a the Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series for his role of Maura Pfefferman, a transgender woman, in Amazon’s Transparent.

Beating out the likes of Aziz Ansari, William H. Mac, and Anthony Anderson, Tambor used his platform to make an important and vital statement about transgender talent and it had us screaming “YASSSS!!!”

Taking to the stage, the 72-year-old actor, who is also known for his role of Oscar Bluth in Arrested Development, made a passionate plea to studios, producers, networks, agents and creatives to hire more transgender talent.

"To you people out there..." Tambor said, "please give transgender talent a chance. Give them auditions. Give them their story. Do that." Continuing, he added, "One more thing: I would not be unhappy if I was the last cisgender male to play a female transgender on television. We have work to do. I love you."

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Tambor’s statement comes weeks after the backlash following the controversial casting of Matt Bomer as a transgender sex worker in the upcoming Mark Ruffalo executive produced film Anything.

Transparent creator, Jill Soloway. also picked up an Emmy last night for Outstanding Directing for a Comedy Series.

During her speech, Soloway thanked Amazon for helping her spearhead a TV movement.

"This TV show allows me to take my dreams about unlikable Jewish people, queer folk, trans folk, and make them heroes. Thank you to the trans community for your lived lives," she said. "We need to stop violence against transgender women and topple the patriarchy. Topple the patriarchy."

This year’s Emmy awards were noted for their celebration of trans, queer, gender and LGBTQ+  politics.

While presenting the award for Outstanding Directing for a Variety Special, Laverne Cox – who, in 2014, became the first transgender woman to be nominated for an Emmy for her role of Sophia in Netflix’s Orange is the New Black – also spoke out about hiring transgender talent.

"Give trans talent a shot," she said. "I would not be here tonight if I was not given that chance."

Similarly, this year Her Story, a web series starring two transgender actors, was nominated for Outstanding Short Form Comedy or Drama Series, although the show did not win.

The third season of Transparent begins on September 23rd only on Amazon Prime.