Some here may find this interesting.
Did you know that the British soap opera Coronation Street has had a transsexual character for over 16 years? Hayley Cropper was a major character and had large roles in a number of the soap's story lines.
Coronation Street ("Corrie" to fans) involves the activities of the residents of a Manchester neighborhood. Like most soap operas Corrie had plenty of adultery, double crosses and the usual range of unlikely relationships.
Shortly after Hayley Cropper (played by Julie Hesmondhalgh) was introduced she and Roy Cropper fell in love. They married and remained very much in love for the whole time the character was on the show. Last year Hayley was diagnosed with incurable pancreatic cancer. Early this month Hayley, unable to go on, died by assisted suicide.
Its well worth digging up episodes from January 20th through early February. Very sad, but beautifully acted. They brought on tears.
If you think this might be interesting to see there are many partial episodes on YouTube and whole episodes can be found on Torrent sites such as PirateBay (which is where I discovered it). The show has never (to my knowledge) been shown in the USA and is not available from either the show or network website.
As a Brit I am familiar with the character Hayley Cropper in Corrie. I am not a soap fan, so I haven't followed the storyline as such. However, I did watch the series for a while when she joined the cast. I was a bit worried because they had cast a woman in the role rather than a trans actress, but on reflection I think it was a good choice.
Julie Hesmondhalgh was not a well-known actress at the time which helped. The character of Hayley was not open about her history in the soap but it wasn't long before some busybody had started to spread rumours about her.
So poor Hayley had to deal with all of that, and one or two characters were typically trying to provoke her. But gradually the novelty of Hayley being trans faded in the minds of the characters in The Street and she was just accepted. The TV audience warmed to her, too, thanks to Julie's portrayal of her.
As I said, I did not follow the series, but every so often would have a look to see how she was getting on, expecially around the time when Hayley and Roy were talking about getting married.
I thought the producers handled the whole Hayley thing very well, and Hayley has long been a Coronation Street favourite with viewers.
Incidentally, over the years, actress Julie Hesmondhalgh has become a regular campaigner for gay and transgender issues as a result of the role she played.
Julie did a great deal of research, much of it among the Trans community in Britain before she accepted the role and is very sympathetic to 'the cause'.
I have been following The Street since she first came on but don't watch it regularly. The character Hayley will not be on the show much longer I fear.
In fact, as Patty_M said, the character Hayley committed suicide earlier this month.
:(