‘The Bold and the Beautiful’ News: Transgender Maya Was Myron, How Will Fans React – Watch Bradley P. Bell, Karla Mosely Interview

Maya Avant [Karla Mosley] has won the heart of Rick Forrester [Jacob Young], but will fans continue to love her now that B&B writers are breaking boundaries and have revealed that Maya was born Myron and a man to boot? Maya’s big secret was revealed by her sister Nicole Avant [Reign Edwards]. This transgender twist turned into the soap opera surprise heard round the world. Fan reaction on social media has been a whirlwind.

But there are some important questions to be answered here. Or at least asked… First, while some Bold and the Beautiful fans may embrace this trendy topic, will older or more conservative fans be turned off. Second, will CBS face the loss of advertisers if enough fans revolt against the controversial storyline? Third, how will it sit with the LGBT that B&B has introduced a transgender character that’s not portrayed by a transgender actor?

It will also be interesting to see how the other characters on B&B react. Will Rick have no issues and say ‘love is love’? Or will he do what’s more realistic and break it off with her for lying – aside from any issues he may (or may not) have with her being transgender. Even if Rick does break it off with Maya, they likely won’t be apart for long since show runner Bradley Bell has said this storyline is “important because it’s about tolerance.”

There are definitely some questions raised here like whether Myron was really the father (rather than the mother) of the daughter that Maya came looking for that Dayzee Leigh Forrester [Kristolyn Lloyd] helped adopt when Maya was headed to jail back in the day. Here’s something to think about – since Maya could not have birthed a baby but could have fathered one, is there a chance that Dayzee could have been the mother and they agreed to have their daughter adopted since Myron had turned into Maya?

CBS is proudly stating that they are the only current show on network on broadcast TV or cable to include a transgender character as part of the regular cast. They made sure to quantify that with the modifier “current.” In fact, ABC shocked everyone eight years ago when they introduced the character of Carmelita on their nighttime soapy drama Dirty Sexy Money. Carmelita was portrayed by transgender Candis Cayne. She had a number of racy scenes with actor Billy Baldwin who played her married politico love interest.

And, more recently, FX’s huge hit biker drama Sons of Anarchy featured a pre-op transgender character Venus Van Dam played by the estimable actor Walton Goggins. This was a real shocker since the SOA wasn’t known for tolerance of alternate lifestyles but accepted Venus’ romance with Tig (played by Kim Coates). Their love story played out slowly but it was, eventually, full fledged love both romantic and physical and that show has only been off the air for a New York minute.

The storyline has been a shocker not only to fans but to some of the alumni cast as well. Here’s a quick look at some other LGBT roles in the daytime soaps past and present:

• • All My Children (ABC) put the first ever gay female character on daytime TV with Lynn Carson in 1982 but never showed her love life.
  • One Life to Live (ABC) had Billy Douglas, Daniel Colson and Nick Chavez among other gay characters.
  • Passions (NBC) featured a Chad Harris and Simone Russell as gay and lesbian characters.
  • Bold & the Beautiful had Karen closeted then outed lesbian character Karen Spencer.
  • Santa Barbara (NBC) featured a gay couple back in the 80s when this was much more taboo – that was Channing Capwell and Lindsay Smith.
  • Young & the Restless (CBS) had Rafe, Philip Chancellor and Kay as gay characters.
  • Days of Our Lives (NBC) have Will Horton and Sonny Kiriakis as a soap super-couple.
  • General Hospital (ABC) had minor gay characters but came out big with Lucas Jones, Felix DuBois and Brad Cooper as major love triangle gay characters.
  • As The World Turns (CBS) aired the first ever male gay character with Hank Eliot back in the 80s with an AIDS storyline that won a GLAAD award.
  • Guiding Light (CBS) featured lesbian couple Olivia Spencer and Natalie Rivera as the first major lesbian couple on daytime TV that figured prominently in plot lines.

It will be interesting to see how B&B producers go back and rewrite history to legitimize this storyline shift and take care of the baby issue. And also, was Maya a dude or a lady when she went to prison? And remember that Bill Spencer had dug into Maya’s past and found out there was a restraining order against her by Jesse Graves, the father of her baby. So could Jesse be a woman? That is a name that is pretty androgynous. But if journalist Bill didn’t find a dangling chad in Maya’s past, seems like his investigative skills are rusty.

What do you think of the Bold & Beautiful’s bold new transgender storyline? Are you on board? Outraged? Unsure? Share your thoughts in the comments below.