7 Ways the Oscars Screwed Lesbian, Bi, and Trans Women

That's right, last night the Academy Awards aired and all big reveals finally came to light...literally in the case of Spotlight, which more or less randomly swooped in to win Best Picture. From the start, this year's ceremony was already guaranteed to have a less celebratory tone, with host Chris Rock taking every opportunity to face the #OscarsSoWhite controversy head on and acknowledge the racism in Hollywood that contributed to no actors of color being nominated for acting awards. His opening monologue was scathing, often uncomfortable in all the necessary ways, and will hopefully be a catalyst for even more change in the future.

From there on, the Oscars continued to be the occasionally entertaining, somewhat awkward, too-long ceremony we all know and kind of love, and eventually we felt as tired as Patricia Arquette sounded while announcing Best Supporting Actor. This wasn't helped at all when we realized, in a world where gorgeous and worthy lesbian love story Carol wasn't nominated for Best Picture, that we would also have to watch incredibly talented bi, lesbian, and trans artists lose awards, face harmful disclusion, and/or have their work reduced to a mere joke throughout the evening. Here are seven particular disappointments, ranging from the loss of an award to even deeper, more personal blows that turned the ceremony, for some, from a night of celebration into a night of hurt.