I think we have taken strides since that movie… But we have a long way to go. It’s astonishing to me that we are here in 2015, and there are so many issues that need to be looked at and handled, and we shouldn’t dictate who people should love. Let people love people, and let’s focus on what truly needs looked at and help homeless people, homeless pets, sick people. Look at the rest of the world, let’s focus on those things.”
— Hilary Swank, who won a best actress Oscar for playing murdered trans man Brandon Teena in Boys Don’t Cry, in an interview with Meredith Viera
Captain Obvious
I’m wondering why there’s been no article on Maya Avant being the first transgender character on the Bold and the Beautiful. While there has been another “transgender” character on a soap before, there was no transition story(it got dropped while he was pre-op), they didn’t show counseling, they didn’t show anything substantial(jumped straight into a lesbian relationship while still a man), and they did an overall horrible job.
As far as I’m concerned Maya is the first transgender character in soap history. It’s kinda been a big deal on Twitter and the like.
sweetbrandigirl2004
@Captain Obvious: The reason is because the actress that plays Maya Avant ISN’T transgender she’s only playing the part of a transgender and thats not really news
Captain Obvious
@sweetbrandigirl2004: Hillary Swank isn’t transgender… nor is Jared Leto. Both of their movies were covered.
So how is this news and that isn’t? A trans story is a trans story. Actors role is to act, they don’t have to be a real life representation of the character they are portraying… hence you commenting on Boys Don’t Crying starring a real life female playing a trans character.
If trans people don’t even want to support their own representation then why should I as a gay male? Maya’s story made me care a lot more than I previously did so maybe you should stop cherry picking who and what to support.
Ryan
I was surprised the press didn’t cover Maya Avant in the news. Or, they did. A few outlets did and that was it.
I DO hope the CBS pilot Laverne Cox was recently cast in makes it to series because that would be a major coup, a transgender series regular on a broadcast network TV show…
But Maya Avant coming out as transgendered was quite beautiful. I’m not even a soap watcher but I happened to be off from work and tuned in for that episode. Great work, BandB!!
Pistolo
Watch that movie, Boys Don’t Cry, and it’ll break your heart. They should have that on TV all the time, people need to see it.
Captain Obvious
@Ryan: I LOVE Laverne Cox! Thanks for the info, didn’t know about the pilot, I’ll keep my eye out for it if it gets picked up. She is amazing!
sweetbrandigirl2004
@Captain Obvious: Playing a trans person on a movie is a whole lot different then on a day time soap. A Full leght movie reaches a whole lot more people and thus draws a whole lot more attention. IMO !