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| Karla Mosley as Maya Avant |
[Wednesday episode spoilers below]
Confronted by her little sister, Nicole (Reign Edwards), viewers seemed headed for one of the typical, and overused, soap "secret" staples: Maya used to be a prostitute or Maya was actually Nicole's mother instead of her sister. But neither thing happened. B&B went somewhere new.
"You're not my sister, Maya. You're not Maya at all," an emotional Nicole said. "You're Myron, my brother."
Myron? Maya used to be a man? When did she transition? And how did she have a child that died? There are so many questions but fans will have an extra long wait to find out. B&B is pre-empted the next two days for CBS NCAA Tournament basketball coverage.
Bradley Bell, executive producer and head writer, tells USA Today the story the soap is telling is about love and tolerance.
"It is about people respecting other people's differences and their uniqueness," he says in a statement. "In the end, we all want to be loved, and in order to love someone else you first have to love yourself. If you are transgender, gay, straight, it doesn't matter. It's about finding love in life. This is a love story."
GLAAD, the leading advocate for lesbians, gays, bisexual and transgender people in the media, is happy about Maya.
"Scripted gay, lesbian, and bisexual characters have become more common on television, but transgender characters continue to lag behind," says spokesman Nick Adams.
GLAAD says as many as 90% of Americans know someone who is gay, but only 8% know someone who's transgender.
Watch the big reveal below:
UPDATE:
Karla Mosley tweeted in response to viewers feeling this is a rewrite of Maya's history:
"I realize the main question is about the child Dayzee helped Maya have adopted," Mosley wrote. "She will speak about this on Monday, but we haven't rewritten history. We (myself included) have wanted to know about Maya's past. This has given me insight & connected dots."
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