(1) All My Children, the soap opera is going to feature a transgendered character.

The show will feature a character making the transition from male to female. The last time a transgered character was featured on a soap oper was in 1996 on the short lived show the City, a spinoff of Loving. All My Children claims they aren’t just grabbing this storyline for shock value appeal to gain viewership.

The show wasn’t interested in doing something just to be sensational…GLAAD and some transgenders were brought in as consultants in shaping the character, teaching the producers when it is appropriate to call a character “she” even before surgery….from article

Hopefully, All My Children will stand by its word and deliver a thoughtful storyline just as they did a few years earlier with the “coming out of the closet” storyline with the character Bianca.

(2) Lesbian jailed for “crying rape”. The most astonishing aspect of this article is the use of language from the title “Fake rape lesbian” to the comparison to crying wolf.

This BBC article offers a much more straightforward telling.

However, both articles find it necessary to identify the woman as a lesbian which sets her a part from the mainstream heterosexual population. It is another example of a woman’s sexuality being placed in the spotlight.

(3) Polygamist wives speak out in defense of polygamy.