A transgender superhero is coming to TV. Here's why that's huge.

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A transgender superhero is coming to TV. Here's why that's huge.

When "Supergirl" returns to television in fall 2018, the show's newest character will make history — and so will the woman playing her.

A new cast member to the show is Nicole Maines, a transgender actress and activist. And not only will she be portraying a transgender character — something that's been controversially left to cisgender (non-trans) actors in the past — but she'll also be TV's first-ever trans superhero. As Nia Nal, Maines will pull double duty as both an intrepid reporter and (reportedly) a caped crusader with precognitive abilities. And her character's gender identity will be an important part of her character arc.

Photo by Rich Polk/Getty Images for IMDb.

Not much is known about the character yet, but one thing's for certain: This is a huge win for LGBTQ representation on television.

According to a 2017 report by GLAAD, only 58 of the 901 regular characters appearing in scripted programming identified as members of the LGBTQ community. Of those, only 17 were transgender (although it's not clear how many were actually played by trans actors).

That number has more than doubled since 2016, and while broadcast television still has a way to go in terms of serving viewers a more diverse character lineup, the fact that more trans actors are playing trans characters is huge.

In an interview with Variety, Maines spoke about how important it is that the landscape is changing.

When she came out in the early 2000s, Maines noted, trans characters were almost exclusively played by cisgender men. Even more problematic? Those characters were almost always stereotyped as sex workers, substance users, and villains. With this move, that's changing.

"We can be whoever we want, we can do whatever we want, we can be superheroes because in many ways we are," Maines said. "We've had trans representation in television for a while but it hasn't been the right representation."

Maines also addressed the problem of cis actors playing trans characters — most recently Scarlett Johansson, who was set to play a trans man in the upcoming "Rub and Tug."

"With trans folks we have a lot of people accusing us of just playing dress up for whatever reasons and that's just not true. Having trans people play trans roles show that we are valid in our identities and we exist," Maines said.

Maines' casting is another ray of light for diversity in entertainment.

Representation in media matters more now than ever. And Maines giving "Supergirl's" audience an authentic character to relate to is bigger than just the storyline. It's a way to let LGBTQ fans see people just like them reflected back on their TV sets.

And that's a huge step forward.

Pfizer

#ScienceWillWin

We asked three people about how vaccines have impacted their lives. Here’s what they said.

Images courtesy of John Scully, Walden University, Ingrid Scully

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Since March of 2020, over 29 million Americans have been diagnosed with COVID-19, according to the CDC. Over 540,000 have died in the United States as this unprecedented pandemic has swept the globe. And yet, by the end of 2020, it looked like science was winning: vaccines had been developed.

In celebration of the power of science we spoke to three people: an individual, a medical provider, and a vaccine scientist about how vaccines have impacted them throughout their lives. Here are their answers:

John Scully, 79, resident of Florida

Photo courtesy of John Scully

When John Scully was born, America was in the midst of an epidemic: tens of thousands of children in the United States were falling ill with paralytic poliomyelitis — otherwise known as polio, a disease that attacks the central nervous system and often leaves its victims partially or fully paralyzed.

"As kids, we were all afraid of getting polio," he says, "because if you got polio, you could end up in the dreaded iron lung and we were all terrified of those." Iron lungs were respirators that enclosed most of a person's body; people with severe cases often would end up in these respirators as they fought for their lives.

John remembers going to see matinee showings of cowboy movies on Saturdays and, before the movie, shorts would run. "Usually they showed the news," he says, "but I just remember seeing this one clip warning us about polio and it just showed all these kids in iron lungs." If kids survived the iron lung, they'd often come back to school on crutches, in leg braces, or in wheelchairs.

"We all tried to be really careful in the summer — or, as we called it back then, 'polio season,''" John says. This was because every year around Memorial Day, major outbreaks would begin to emerge and they'd spike sometime around August. People weren't really sure how the disease spread at the time, but many believed it traveled through the water. There was no cure — and every child was susceptible to getting sick with it.

"We couldn't swim in hot weather," he remembers, "and the municipal outdoor pool would close down in August."

Then, in 1954 clinical trials began for Dr. Jonas Salk's vaccine against polio and within a year, his vaccine was announced safe. "I got that vaccine at school," John says. Within two years, U.S. polio cases had dropped 85-95 percent — even before a second vaccine was developed by Dr. Albert Sabin in the 1960s. "I remember how much better things got after the vaccines came out. They changed everything," John says.

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Culture

Fearless 6-year-old skater impresses, dropping into a 12-foot bowl in her pink party dress

It's one thing to see a little kid skateboarding. It's another to see a stereotype-defying little girl skateboarding. And it's entirely another to see Paige Tobin.

Paige is a 6-year-old skateboarding wonder from Australia. A recent video of her dropping into a 12-foot bowl on her has gone viral, both for the feat itself and for the style with which she does it. Decked out in a pink party dress, a leopard-print helmet, and rainbow socks, she looks nothing like you'd expect a skater dropping into a 12-foot bowl to look. And yet, here she is, blowing people's minds all over the place.

For those who may not fully appreciate the impressiveness of this feat, here's some perspective. My adrenaline junkie brother, who has been skateboarding since childhood and who races down rugged mountain faces on a bike for fun, shared this video and commented, "If I dropped in to a bowl twice as deep as my age it would be my first and last time doing so...this fearless kid has a bright future!"

It's scarier than it looks, and it looks pretty darn scary.

Paige doesn't always dress like a princess when she skates, not that it matters. Her talent and skill with the board are what gets people's attention. (The rainbow socks are kind of her signature, however.)

Her Instagram feed is filled with photos and videos of her skateboarding and surfing, and the body coordination she's gained at such a young age is truly something.

Here she was at three years old:

And here she is at age four:

So, if she dropped into a 6-foot bowl at age three and a 12-foot bowl at age six—is there such a thing as an 18-foot bowl for her to tackle when she's nine?

Paige clearly enjoys skating and has high ambitions in the skating world. "I want to go to the Olympics, and I want to be a pro skater," she told Power of Positivity when she was five. She already seems to be well on her way toward that goal.

How did she get so good? Well, Paige's mom gave her a skateboard when she wasn't even preschool age yet, and she loved it. Her mom got her lessons, and she's spent the past three years skating almost daily. She practices at local skate parks and competes in local competitions.

She also naturally has her fair share of spills, some of which you can see on her Instagram channel. Falling is part of the sport—you can't learn if you don't fall. Conquering the fear of falling is the key, and the thing that's hardest for most people to get over.

Perhaps Paige started too young to let fear override her desire to skate. Perhaps she's been taught to manage her fears, or maybe she's just naturally less afraid than other people. Or maybe there's something magical about the rainbow socks. Whatever it is, it's clear that this girl doesn't let fear get in the way of her doing what she wants to do. An admirable quality in anyone, but particularly striking to see in someone so young.

Way to go, Paige. Your perseverance and courage are inspiring, as is your unique fashion sense. Can't wait to see what you do next.

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