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US Sitcom to Feature Transgender Child

by VOA News

   A popular U.S. television show is breaking ground by featuring the
   first openly transgender child as a cast member.

   On Wednesday's episode of Modern Family, 8-year-old Jackson Millarker
   will play a transgender character who is a friend of Lily, played by
   Aubrey Anderson-Emmons.

   Openly transgender people have acted on TV before, notably in Orange Is
   The New Black and Nashville, but Modern Family will be the first to
   include an acting role for a transgender child.

   The mockumentary-style situation comedy's plot revolves around three
   family types, nuclear, stepfamilies and same-sex families.

   The episode, called "A Stereotypical Day," centers on Lily wanting to
   bring her friend Tom over for a play date. At first, Lily's parents are
   proud of their daughter's open-mindedness, but things reportedly become
   more complicated as the show progresses.

   The Modern Family episode airs as many celebrities call for more roles
   for transgender people.

   At this year's Emmy's, actor Jeffrey Tambor, who plays a transgender
   woman on the show Transparent, called for more roles for trans people
   in television and movies.