Maya and Rick's Bold And Beautiful Wedding

While I was working on escaping from Casa de Slumlord, I didn't have cable during that time period, and I missed some of the groundbreaking episodes in the Rick and Maya trans story line on the Bold and the Beautiful leading up to their wedding.

While that was going on, Maya was trying to repair the relationship between herself and her father Julius Avant that had become contentious between them when she transitioned in her teen years .

First her younger sister Nicole, and now her mother Vivienne relationships with Maya have been improving to the point that Nicole accepts and loves her unconditionally as her big sister, and the relationship between her and her mother Vivienne was improving during that time period she was visiting her in LA.

But Julius is still transphobically unrepentant concerning his feelings for Maya, she overheard him during the run up to the wedding, and it came to a head as Maya was about to get married to Rick Forrester

This is a groundbreaking story line that not only features a major character who is trans, but that character also happens to be African-American.

This wedding may also be the first for a soap opera in terms of it involving a trans feminine character marrying a cisgender male.

It has also been groundbreaking (and emotional at times for me) to see how the issues surrounding Maya's transition have played out in an African-American family


Well, speaking of those episodes, here they are for your perusal TransGriot readers.

Three Must See Trans TV Events!

Wednesday is going to be an interesting day of television in that you have three shows being broadcast that will be broadcast that feature well known transpeople on them.

First up will be Isis King spending the next few days (Wednesday-Friday) on The Bold and the Beautiful playing Sonya, a friend of Maya Avant's who will also be featured in a fashion show that is being headlined by Maya.

If you're asking who's Maya Avant, she's a major character in the B&B universe that was recently revealed to be trans and is played by Karla Mosley.

Carmen Carrera will also pop up in one of the fashion show episodes as well.

Looking forward to seeing Isis on The Bold and the Beautiful, and I hope they make the Sonya character a recurring role for her.

The ESPY Awards are also on later tonight starting at 7 PM CDT, and they will feature Caitlyn Jenner receiving the Arthur Ashe Courage Award. 

There has been some criticism of ESPN for giving the award to the recently out as trans Jenner, with Bob Costas questioning their motivation for doing so.  

But as I've told people who have asked for my opinion about it, it's ESPN's call on who gets that award, and anything that humanizes us and shows a transperson doing something positive is a good thing for the community at large.

I'll also be interested in seeing Ms. Jenner, seeing the crowd reaction in the hall from her sporting peers to it and hearing what she has to say about it during her acceptance speech for it.

Then at 9 PM CDT is the long awaited debut of I Am Jazz on TLC.

The reality show features our fave transteen Jazz Jennings and her family as the cameras follow her now 14 year old self as she navigates the world around her.

Jazz is one of the sweetest people you'll ever want to meet along with her mom Jeanette, and I've been looking forward to the debut of this show ever since it was announced that it was going to happen.. I believe once America gets to see the amazing Jennings family onscreen they'll fall in love with Jazz and them.  

So if you can't watch any of those shows, you may wish to set your DVD's and check them out later.


TransGriot Note:  In the interest of journalistic integrity, need to note that Isis and I both share as of yesterday the same celebrity publicist

Isis King To Appear On 'The Bold And The Beautiful'

Y'all know how much I love my little sis Isis King and enjoyed hanging out with her and the cast of the Hello Forever movie when it debuted at WorldFest here in H-town.

Well, my sis is going to be back on the small screen to do a guest appearance on the CBS soap opera The Bold and the Beautiful.

As you know The Bold and the Beautiful has an ongoing and evolving trans lead character in Maya Avant played by Karla Mosley. 

Maya is the lead model for Forrester Creations, and starting on Wednesday there will be a fashion show featuring Maya and Isis as one of the models.

I also noted this photo of Isis, Karla and possibly Carmen Carrera on a website that tracks soap opera news, so can I presume based on that photo this particular soon to be broadcast Forrester fashion show in question has all trans models? 

The B&B episodes featuring Isis will start on Wednesday and run through Friday, and I'm pleased and excited for her . I'm looking forward with heightened interest to watching those upcoming Bold and the Beautiful episodes and see how they transpire.

As for my sis Isis, she's becoming more visible these days, and I hope this leads to more amazing opportunities and acting work for this hard working lady.

The Maya Avant 'Bold And The Beautiful' Storyline Is Groundbreaking TV

I've been saying for a few months now the evolving Maya Avant trans storyline on the CBS soap The Bold and the Beautiful has the potential to be a groundbreaking, evolutionary and important one, and so far I haven't been disappointed.

Coming up this week on B&B is a fashion show episode that will air on July 16 featuring Isis King and Carmen Carrera.

But back to talking about this groundbreaking trans character played by Karla Mosley.   While some folks in Trans World are disappointed this character isn't being played by a transfeminine actress, that's mitigated in my eyes by the fact Maya Avant is a major character on the show and is a woman of color..   

This is also groundbreaking on multiple levels. It has been rare to see fictional African-American  trans feminine characters on television, and rarer still for them to be a major show character.   It's why I was thrilled to see this happen, gave the side eye to some peeps who were grousing about the fact the character wasn't played by a trans woman, and I'm hoping this ongoing storyline starts driving a positive discussion about trans issues in the Black community. 

FYI, to underscore how serious the B&B producers are about this storyline, transmasculine actor Scott Turner Schofield pops up on the show as Maya's best friend and mentor Nick.

Last week we got another major peek into Maya's backstory when her parents Julius and Vivienne Avant, played by veteran actors Anna Maria Horsford and Obba Babatunde show up in LA.

They are on a mission to bring little sis Nicole back to Illinois with them so she isn't in her father's mind 'under the influence of Maya.'

Dude, Nicole is an adult woman who loves her big sis.  Get a life and a clue that trans people exist and aren't going away. 

Julius has major problems with Maya's transition, and refuses to wrap his head around the fact he has another daughter and Maya was never comfortable in her skin until after her transition.

Like myself, Anna Maria Horsford is also hoping this storyline jump starts a much needed conversation about trans and SGL subjects in our community and across the country.

"Gay and transgender subjects are not comfortably discussed in the African-American community," Horsford says. "We might see that our children are different but we don't tell anybody about it. We all know that church choir director who never got married and his mother still insists it's because he never met the right girl. We may want to say, 'Oh, Mama, c'mon, we know!' But we keep it polite. I love that this story on The Bold and the Beautiful is ultimately about truth and integrity and acceptance. It's going to stir up a lot of positive talk in our community—and hopefully in all communities."

Another subject in which I hope this Maya Avant trans storyline on B&B will help foster a needed discussion about is blowing up the misguided notion that trans women aren't viable life partners for cis men.

Trans women are women, and many of us have no problem attracting masculine attention because we are quality human beings just looking for love like everybody else on this planet.

The other lie that also needs to be expeditiously shut down is the one bandied about that a cis man attracted to a trans woman is 'less than a man'  for doing so.   Umm no.  Society needs to stop denigrating the men who genuinely seek us out for long term relationships.

I know trans women who are in relationships with, engaged to or happily married to cis men, and it's past time society stop beating up on the men who love us or being shocked that trans women got it going on like that.. 

It's also past time for trans women to get over our internalized issues and believe that we are worthy of being loved by any man, cis or transgender.

And if a soap opera storyline can make all those needed conversations happen, I'm all for that.

Can The Rick and Maya B&B Relationship Lead To An Enlightened Attitude Toward Trans Relationships?

Yesterday Maya Avant told her boyfriend Rick Forrester on the CBS soap 'The Bold and the Beautiful that she is trans.

Rick didn't take the news well initially, but when Maya was about to walk out of the door of that Big Bear cabin and out of his life forever with her heart breaking in the process, Rick once again declared his love for her.

We'll see how the rest of their relationship transpires, especially as media mogul Bill Spencer is about to blast Maya's trans business all over the tabloids in upcoming episodes along with the various reactions of the B&B characters to that news..

But the happy tears I was shedding as this episode transpired led to me doing some hard solid thinking in the wake of it.   I know that many relationships in which a cis man dates a trans woman don't survive her telling her partner, and in far too many instances, the trans woman faces the risk of intimate partner violence when she does disclose her status.

But the other question I pondered in the wake of this broadcast is will the broadcast of the Maya and Rick romance finally lead to a honest discussion about the stigma and attacks on their masculinity that cis men like Rick endure for dating a trans woman they love and the attacks on the femininity of the trans women that are the objects of their affection?

While we have instances in our community in which you have couples like Myles and Precious who are trans masculine and trans feminine people who love each other enough they are engaged to be married, far more prevalent are hetero normative relationships in which a trans man is coupled with a cis feminine partner and a cis man is coupled with a trans feminine partner.

It's been happening ever since Christine Jorgensen stepped off the airplane from Denmark in 1953 and Cupid's arrows stared targeting their hearts.  

Pioneering French trans woman Jacqueline Charlotte Dufresnoy married her first husband at Paris' Notre Dame Cathedral in 1960.

But that was in an era before the TERF's started attacking the femininity of trans women in the early 70's, and the rise of the gay rights movement led to a social conservative backlash and attack on the human rights of LGBT people.

The bottom line is that trans men are MEN, and trans women are WOMEN, but for far too long cis men who love us enough to pursue us and put a ring on our fingers have had their masculinity questioned.  

Some of those cis men have even experienced the discrimination their trans partners get as the trans women, especially if their trans partner was low or no disclosure until yanked into the spotlight.   And as Mister Cee discovered, your masculinity, especially when it is revealed that you like trans women, is rigidly and at times viciously policed.

That scrutiny and hostility is magnified if you are a cis man who admits that you like and prefer dating trans women as my brother Troy has pointed out to me in numerous conversations over the years.

Even Hollywood has demonized trans women and the men who love us.  The movie Ted 2 has a scene in which derogatory comments are made by the teddy bear when he finds out his friend has trans porn on his computer.

We need to have an ongoing conversation about our relationships in which the baseline for having it is that our femininity as trans women is not erased and the cis men who prefer us as their partners are not demonized for doing so. 

The cis men who love us are going to have to step up and meet us trans women halfway.  They are going to have to come out of the shadows and say in no uncertain terms they love us, we are the women they want to marry, and to kiss their behinds if you don't like it.  

If a soap opera storyline can lead to an enlightened conversation about a real world issue, then by all means lets get that conversation started.

The Bold And Beautiful Maya Watch-Week Of April 6-10

Since the reveal of supermodel and fashion executive Maya Avant as the first major trans character on a network soap last month, I've been watching this  The Bold And The  Beautiful storyline unfold with keen interest as one of the peeps that Karla Mosley is playing.

As a TransGriot public service, I'm going to do a weekly recap of all things Maya related during the week on The Bold and the Beautiful.   For those of you who haven't gotten your B&B fix, this post will contain spoilers.

***

The week started with Maya and Nicole getting into another argument as she attempted to use her knowledge of Maya's trans status to extort her way into a modeling shoot.   Maya's ex fiance Carter overheard the conversation, and after Nicole left the office, angrily confronted her about what he overheard as he flashes back to memories of their two year relationship.  

He is pushing Maya to tell current boyfriend and Forrester Creations CEO Rick to tell him, which Maya doesn't want to do until she is ready to do so.   Rick walks into the office during their argument, but Carter decided not to spill her trans status to Rick and walks out.

Carter tries once again to get Maya to tell Rick that she's trans, pointing out that it's not just her personal business, but because Rick needs to know and it could affect Forrester Creations.   She replies to Carter that she'll tell him after she get engaged to him.

Carter confronts Nicole about extorting her way to a modeling shoot, and points out Maya is scared of what might happen if she reveals she's trans.

Rick notices that Maya is agitated about the confrontations and asks her what is wrong, but she tries to play it off and declines to tell him.   He professes his love to her and tells her he admires her integrity as she professes her love to him.

Maya later defends Rick with his mother Brooke at her side as Ridge once again throws barbs at him because in his mind Rick is unqualified to be Forrester Creations CEO.   Maya's defense of Rick impresses Brooke, who has resumed working for Forrester.

As Rick and Maya once more profess their love for each other, as she walks into the office she fails to realize she dropped the  package that contains her estrogen tablets. 


Rick finds the bottle on the floor, reads it and asks her the question why she would need to be taking conjugated estrogen.

Tune in Monday to find out the answer.

ET Interview With Karla Mosley

For some of y'all who aren't soap fans, the long running CBS soap The Bold and the Beautiful has been running a storyline with a major and historic twist in which Maya Avant, played by actress Karla Mosley is revealed to be a trans woman.

It's historic and vitally important because for the first time we have a major character on a network soap who is a trans woman of color.

Entertainment Tonight recently interviewed Ms. Mosley about her groundbreaking character.

Why Maya Avant Is More Important Than You Think

On Wednesday morning while I was rolling toward Austin to fight some anti-trans bills at the Pink Dome, the CBS soap opera Bold and The Beautiful was dropping a cliffhanger that would light up the Twitterverse for several hours in terms of the Maya Avant character, played by actress Karla Mosley, being revealed to be a trans woman. 

Seven years ago I wrote about the importance of Rebecca Romijn playing Alexis Meade on the ABC show Ugly Betty.   I compared it at the time to Nichelle Nichols playing Lt. Uhura on Star Trek in terms of the groundbreaking nature of it.

Now for the first time ever, we have a soap with a trans African-American character.   You know I not only have wanted to see a regular trans character that reflects my ethnic background for years now, I have also expressed my frustration at the ignorance level of elements of my people when it comes to trans issues.

The Maya Avant character has the potential if handled correctly by Bold and the Beautiful writers, to finally bust some myths about what a trans person of African descent is like, and educate about many of the issues we deal with.

And while we African-American trans women have had amazing possibility models in Janet Mock and Laverne Cox capture the country's and the world's attention, and are an immense source of pride in our ranks, we now have a fictional character gracing the nation's television screens and the TV screens of the 100 nations where this soap is broadcast.

So when Bold and the Beautiful returns following the weekend's March Madness games, we'll see what happens with this unfolding storyline that suddenly has a lot of people inside and outside the trans community talking and  paying attention to the exploits of Maya Avant..

CBS' Bold And The Beautiful Soap Reveals A Trans Feminine Character

African-American trans characters on TV shows are a rare phenomenon. 

The last time a CBS broadcast television series had a serious African-American trans feminine character that wasn't a stereotype, you have to go all the way back to 1977 and Edith Stokes on The Jeffersons 'Just A Friend' episode to find her.

Now that Orange Is the New Black and Transparent have proven it's okay to put trans characters on TV and surprise surprise, if you do them right get ratings and Emmy nominations for the actors that portray them, it seems as though the networks are finally coming to the trans character party late as usual.

Seems as though CBS has decided to continue to break ground when it comes to creating African-American trans characters.   Laverne Cox will debut as the lead character in a legal drama slated to air this fall called Doubt, and now comes word that yesterday the CBS soap opera The Bold and The Beautiful shocked its viewers with an unexpected cliff hanger that involves a trans character.

Actress Karla Mosley has played model Maya Avant on the soap for the last two year.s   Yesterday the bomb was dropped by Nicole Avant (played by Reign Edwards) that Maya was once her brother with the dead name Myron.

“You’re not my sister, Maya. You’re not Maya at all,” said Nicole (Reign Edwards) during an emotional argument. “You’re Myron, my brother.”




That bombshell lit up the Twitterverse as a trending topic for several hours, and now has me scrambling to catch up on some back Bold and The Beautiful episodes, since I've been on a soap hiatus ever since ABC took my beloved All My Children off the air.

“My first reaction was surprise, because 10 or 20 years ago, this is not a story we would be telling, and not in a way that’s truthful and not sensational,” said Mosley in a USA Today interview about her trans feminine character. “My second reaction was, ‘Thank you.’ It’s a gift. It’s a privilege,” she told the newspaper. “It’s a real opportunity to educate our viewers here and all over the world.”

“It is about people respecting other people’s differences and their uniqueness,” said Bradley Bell, executive producer and head writer for B&B in a statement obtained by USA Today. “In the end, we all want to be loved, and in order to love someone else you first have to love yourself,” Bell added. “If you are transgender, gay, straight, it doesn’t matter. It’s about finding love in life. This is a love story.”

And this is going to be a long term B&B storyline according to Mosley that unfolds over a long period of time, and the characters on the show will gradually find out about Maya's past.

"Everyone has a different reaction," she said. "So even if the audience can't necessarily be on board with Maya, or if they have [certain] feelings about Maya's experience now, hopefully they'll be able to see themselves in the reactions of the people around her and we can all sort of process it together."

Until yesterday, Bold and the Beautiful wasn't in my soap opera watching rotation.  Now it is Must See TV as I watch this historic television storyline unfold.

All My Children Being Canceled....NOOOOOO!

Damn, another piece of my childhood and my life is going bye bye. 

Heard the shocking news that All My Children, the long running Emmy Award winning ABC soap that has been on the air since January 5, 1970, that I wrapped my college schedule around back in the day, enjoyed watching Angie and Jesse become a supercouple in the early 80's, and introduced me to the denizens of Pine Valley, PA has been canceled by ABC and is going off the air in September.



It's also unique among soaps in that it has an audience that is about 30% male and is partly responsible for why some of you girls are running around on this planet with the name Erica. 

I was a huge AMC fan back when it was battling Y&R for the bragging rights as daytime television's Number One show.  I remember Sliza Colby (oops Liza) was a bad girl tormenting Jenny Gardner, Tad 'the Cad' Martin was bedding 'errbody' and Liza's mama and the feud was blowing up between Palmer (Pete Cooney) Courtlandt and Adam Chandler. 

And like every other AMC fan, cried when Jesse died, and when he and Angie were reunited after 20 years. 

And yes, love me some Erica Kane.   Quick, name every man Erica was married to in Pine Valley.   Bonus points if you can name the guys she dated

Jeff Martin, Phil Brent, Tom Cudahy, Mike Roy, Travis Montgomery, Jackson Montgomery, Adam Chandler, Dimitri Marick.

Shoot, the only man she didn't sleep with or wasn't married to in Pine Valley was Jesse Hubbard.   .

Speaking of marriages, AMC had some groundbreaking television moments on the show.   In addition to Bianca coming out and later getting married,  AMC has a long history of focusing on topical social issues.  It broadcast the first legal abortion on TV (Erica Kane) weeks after the Roe v Wade decision.

It was the first show to mirror the divisive debate in the early 1970's about the Vietnam War.  AMC had the first character with HIV/AIDS.   It had a character undergo a facelift.

And y'all remember the trans character Zoe?

Well, have a few months left before they replace AMC with a fracking talk show about cooking.  If ABC doesn't come to their senses and keep it on, so long All My Children and thanks for 41 years of great groundbreaking storylines and memories.

And one question.  Will Erica finally find one man to make her happy enough to stay married to him?