In a story
unusual even for a soap opera and believed to be a U.S.
television first, ABC's All My Children this
week will introduce a transgender character who is beginning
to make the transition from a man to a woman. The
character, a flamboyant rock star known as Zarf,
kisses lesbian character Bianca, and much drama ensues.
The story line begins with Thursday's episode of the daytime drama.
There have been a handful of postsurgical
transgender characters in television shows, including
a college professor in the 2001 prime-time CBS series
The Education of Max Bickford and a model
in the short-lived ABC soap opera The City in
1996, according to the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against
Defamation. Showtime's The L Word currently
features a character transitioning from female to male.
All My Children was looking for something new
and knows its audience is always interested in anything to
do with sexuality, said Julie Hanan Carruthers, the
show's executive producer. ''After 36 years, you start
rehashing,'' she said. ''It's inevitable. We didn't
want to fall back on the baby-switch story again.''
The show's creative team wasn't interested
in doing something just to be sensational, she said.
GLAAD and several transgender people were brought
in as consultants in shaping the character, teaching
the producers when it is appropriate to call a character
''she'' even before surgery, she said.
Damon Romine, a spokesman for GLAAD, said he
hasn't seen the show yet but feels that the people
involved were genuinely interested in telling the
story with dignity. Emotions are so close to the surface in
soap operas, and this story can serve a purpose by
showing what transgender people go through, he said.
''I think it's groundbreaking and breakthrough
television for daytime to put a spotlight on
transgender people and tell their story,'' he said.
All My Children could use some attention.
Mirroring the decline of daytime dramas in general, its
average audience has slipped from 8.2 million in
1991-1992 to 3.1 million last year, according
to Nielsen Media Research. Particularly last summer, All
My Children has tried several new characters,
said Carolyn Hinsey, editor of Soap OperaWeekly.
''They're trying really hard and they're
throwing a whole lot of desperate stuff against the
wall to see what sticks,'' she said.
Actor Jeffrey Carlson portrays Zarf, an American
who nonetheless speaks in an exaggerated British
accent. He was on the show for one day last summer and
was surprised to get a call pitching him the new story.
Carlson said it can be intimidating feeling that
he is representing the entire transgender populace.
''I worry about missing something, but I guess that
would be the same with any character,'' he said. ''I want
the All My Children audience to go along. It's
not for shock value. It's just another person whose story is
being told in Pine Valley.''
After Zarf establishes a bond with Bianca that
leads to the kiss, an angry Bianca tells him she's a
lesbian. It triggers something within Zarf about why
it made such sense to be falling in love with a lesbian.
It's not clear, Carruthers said, whether All
My Children will stick with the Zarf character
through any surgery; one suspects the reaction of the
soap's audience to the story will have a lot to do
with it.
''She talks about peace so much,'' Carlson said
of his character. ''I hope that she finds some
peace.'' (David Bauder, AP)
