Every October, as people everywhere wear purple to show support, the soaps have turned their social media accounts purple in support of #SpiritDay – taking a stand against bullying and supporting lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender, young people.
This is done in conjunction with GLAAD, in attempt to help young people know they aren’t alone. Some of the soaps have put their money where their collective mouth is and penned storylines to show their support for the community.
Days of Our Lives (DOOL) has a powerful triangle (and one person we’re not even sure is alive at this moment) involving three young men – Sonny (Freddie Smith), Paul (Christopher Sean), and Will (Chandler Massey), as we watched Will grow up since birth and realize he’s gay.
On The Bold and the Beautiful (BB), fans watched as Rick (Jacob Young) fell in love with Maya (Karla Mosley), only to eventually learn that she was born a boy. The transgender story was handled with care and got the audience rooting for them in a beautiful love story.
The Young and the Restless (YR) hasn’t been as bold as its sister show, but they have just recently introduced the possibility of Mariah (Camryn Grimes) falling for her best friend, Tessa (Cait Fairbanks). Fan reaction hasn’t been as warm as other shows, but time will tell if the show sticks with it regardless.
General Hospital (GH) did show a character who also grew up before our eyes, Lucas (Ryan Carnes), fall in love and get married to Brad (Parry Shen), but rather than invest in them as a front-burner pair, their life takes place off screen with other characters giving updates. It would be nice to see the show bring them back and invest in story.
While these stories have gone a long way to help show young people they aren’t alone, it would be great to see a story involve bullying and how to deal with it and overcome That would go even further to fully embolden people facing similar circumstances and perhaps even give them tools to help.
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