Broadmindedness under the rainbow

In the midst of the observation of the 40^th anniversary of the Stonewall uprisings in New York, as well as the ongoing national discussion over same sex marriage and President Obama's seeming reluctance to champion issues of interest to gays comes an interesting storyline from, of all places, soap operas.

From Soap Central.com comes a story that actress Patricia Mauceri, who has been a member of the cast of One Life To Live for 14 years, was bounced last month because of her objection to how her character, Carlotta Vega, was to be portrayed.

Specifically, according to Soap Central, the longtime soap is planning to romantically pair two male characters in an upcoming storyline. Mauceri believed her character, who is Hispanic, would not endorse the pairing, though OLTL's writers are going to write her that way.

The piece goes on to say that Mauceri, who was recently seen in an episode of the new hit USA Network drama Royal Pains, had been dissatisfied with another OLTL storyline and that this new plot development was the last straw for both sides.

What makes this so fascinating is that soaps, though considered low on the television food chain, have traditionally been in the forefront of storylines that addressed controversial topics way before they were taken up in prime-time.

The soaps handled abortion, domestic violence, homosexuality and discrimination well in advance of anything seen at night. Indeed, it was OLTL that introduced a groundbreaking story in the late 1960's about a light-skinned Black woman who attempted to pass as White. The topic was so hot that, according to a history of the show, a station in Texas dropped the show for a time.

I've always found it amusing when actors are asked to comment on what they believe the characters they play would do or feel, as if the characters are real people. However, if the to-date anecdotal stories from California that majorities of Blacks and Hispanics voted to outlaw Prop 8 are accurate, Mauceri might be onto something.

On the surface, it would seem that Mauceri badly overplayed her hand, and got fired because of it. But that doesn't mean that we all shouldn't remember that true tolerance should be extended in all directions.