Maya tells boyfriend Rick that she is transgender after he proposes on “The Bold and the Beautiful”

The character of Maya on the CBS soap The Bold and the Beautiful was recently revealed to viewers to be a transgender woman.

On Monday’s episode of the show, her boyfriend found out too.

The setting was a mountain cabin where Rick Forrester (Jacob Young) had taken Maya (Karla Mosley) to propose marriage.

Although Rick had been in the dark, several people had already found out about Maya after her sister confided the news to the wrong person.

Maya had decided that she wouldn’t disclose the news to Rick until she was sure he was serious about having a future with her.

She found out he was when Rick proposed marriage.

Rick was hurt that Maya had not confided in him sooner but in the end reassures her that he loves her.

‘I’m glad you told me,’ he says. ‘That’s what the woman I know would do. So what does it change? […] I just know that I love you and I want to spend my life with you. So please don’t walk away from me.’

While the couple are finding their way, there’s a more sinister part of the storyline going on as a media tycoon and tabloid publisher named Bill Spencer is preparing to out Maya to the rest of the world.

Spencer wants to create a scandal by creating sensationalistic headlines about Maya and Rick’s relationship with the hopes of damaging Rick professionally.

This leads to one of Spencer’s staff members saying: ‘What am I missing? Transgender people exist. This is not news.’

The staffer ends of quitting and says: ‘Maybe I’d like to work for an actual human being.’

The episode provided a teachable moment when the male transgender character of Nick (played by trans actor Scott Turner Schofield) explains to Rick’s brother Ridge that Maya has never lied about who she is.

‘Coming out is for when you’re hiding something,’ Nick says. ‘Politicians, people leading double lives, they tell the truth about themselves and come out from behind the mask. Maya shows her true face every day. She’s not in any closet.

‘This one fact of her medical history, in the wrong hands, distorts everything about her, just like it did when she was a kid. Coming out can help gay people feel whole, but disclosure can make [people like] us feel broken.’

GLAAD points out that outing someone as transgender against their will is inappropriate, unethical and dangerous.

‘Transgender people live in a world that is very intolerant of gender difference,’ they write. ‘Trans people can lose jobs, housing, friends, or even their lives upon revelation of their trans status.’

The episode is available for viewing HERE.