Maya's B&B secret revealed -- and no one saw it coming

Jaws are hurting across America after millions hit the floor following the reveal of Maya's big secret on The Bold and the Beautiful. The storyline is part of what the show's head writer has called "a love story."

The Bold and the Beautiful sent shock waves through the soap opera community and beyond today, Wednesday, March 18, when Maya Avant's (Karla Mosley) big secret was finally revealed: "You're not Maya at all," the character's little sister, Nicole (Reign Edwards) declared. "You're Myron, my brother."

It's a cliffhanger that will go down in history, and viewers will have to wait until Monday, March 23 (the show's 28th anniversary) to see the fallout of the moment that Maya, a model who's dating Rick Forrester (Jacob Young), was revealed to have transitioned from a man into a woman at a young age.

Bradley P. Bell, the soap's head writer and executive producer, told USA Today that the show is telling a story that's about love and tolerance.

"It is about people respecting other people's differences and their uniqueness," he explains. "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 a transgender, gay, straight, it doesn't matter. It's about finding love in life. This is a love story."

GLAAD, the leading advocate for gays, lesbians, and transgender people in the media, has come forward in support of the groundbreaking storyline that's been trending on Twitter. "Scripted gay, lesbian and bisexual characters have become more common on television, but transgender characters continue to lag behind," says Nick Adams, spokesperson for GLAAD.

Perhaps that's because, as GLADD points out, about 90 percent of Americans know someone who is gay, compared to a mere eight percent who know a transgendered individual.

Mosley's first reaction upon hearing of her alter ego's true identity was complete 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," she explains, adding that she's extremely grateful for the privilege of playing this plot twist. "It's a real opportunity to educate our viewers here and all over the world."

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As soap fans may recall, Maya (or Myron) is not the genre's first transgender character. ABC's The City featured a transgender fashion model named Azure (Carlotta Chang), and the network's All My Children featured glam-rocker Zarf (Jeffrey Carlson), who came out as a trans woman, changed her name to Zoe, and fell in love with Erica's lesbian daughter, Bianca (Eden Riegel).

How do you feel about the reveal that Maya is really Myron? Are you happy that B&B introduced a transgender character into the mix? We want to hear from you -- so drop your comments in the Comments section below, tweet about it on Twitter, share it on Facebook, or chat about it on our Message Boards.

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