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A queer “Degrassi” primer

Last season on Degrassi, there was a two-part episode called “My Body Is a Cage,” featuring new character Adam Torres. Although he was introduced as an average guy, just like all the others, he is actually a remarkable character: Adam is the first scripted transgender teen character in television history.

Degrassi is a long-running Canadian teen drama that has never shied away from controversial topics and storylines. I had never watched the show before Adam (played by female-bodied actor Jordan Todosey) came along, but, because I have an all-consuming compulsion to follow almost any television storyline I hear about that features a young LGBTQ character, I decided to keep an eye on his storyline as it developed.

Until midway through this season, no one at school (except for his older brother, Drew) knew that Adam was trans. However, after Adam’s crush, Bianca, discovered that he was female-bodied, some of the guys at school started harassing him.

At the same time, Part 1 of “My Body Is a Cage” featured Adam coming out to two of his friends, Eli and Clare, after one of them saw him spill tampons from his locker. Meanwhile, his mother kept suggesting how nice it would be if “Gracie,” instead of Adam, joined the family for dinner when his grandmother came to visit in Part 2 of the episode.

I was really, really nervous that Adam was going to go back to being Gracie. The previews suggested as much, the summaries suggested as much, and although I wanted to believe in Degrassi and in Adam, I was afraid of being let down.

But, of course, I had some hope. The show had signed Todosey to play this character for several years. They had introduced Adam as male and trans, and they had worked with GLAAD to make the portrayal realistic. So I crossed my fingers and hoped for the best in the second half of the episode.

Part 2 premiered the next day with Adam pretending to “be Gracie” again in order to ease the continued pressure from his family. When the pain of being Gracie became too much, though, Adam started to burn himself, a form of self-mutilation familiar to him. Clare found and stopped him, offering to find him clothes that suited him better. With her help and the renewed support of his family, the episode ended with Adam – dressed as himself again – burning Gracie’s clothes.

Yes, characters mixed up pronouns and slipped up by calling Adam “Gracie.” Yes, they focused too much on images of Adam as a young girl. And, in my opinion, the visiting grandmother was a plot device that largely served to make Adam show up as Gracie and satisfy audience curiosity as to what “she” looked like.

At the same time, the school’s principal was supportive and Adam’s friends were as well. Even when they didn’t understand him, his family supported him. I bet his grandmother would have, too, if Adam’s mother had given her half a chance.

But what I appreciated most was that the scriptwriters of Degrassi did not shy away from letting Adam tell his story. They showed an Adam uncomfortable in his body, coping with anger and frustration. They showed the strength he had to have to bear it all. They let him express himself in his own – eloquent, for an after-school-special type of show – words.

Granted, the whole show seems to have an after-school-special type vibe, so it would seem that the show normalizes trans issues by giving Adam’s story the same weight (and melodrama) as their other storylines – the mothers with cancer, the abusive boyfriends, the teen pregnancies, etc. After all, high school is emotional and dramatic. Some students cut and burn themselves, some swing between emotional extremes, and most try to discover who they really are – through trial and error, of course. Adam does all of those things.

Though I was nervous about a non-trans actor playing a trans character, Todosey is believable and relatable. Her Adam reminds me of what my trans friends (OK, and a beau or two) were like in high school. But her Adam reminds me of my non-trans friends, too – after all, teenagers usually share a penchant for drama. Adam is portrayed as a real high school student; I felt like he could have been one of my friends. I felt like I knew him.

And best of all, like the show’s other characters, Adam has started to get some action. In the final episodes of the fall, Adam and his brother Drew competed for the same girl, Fiona. She was drawn to Adam, but, knowing his brother liked her, Adam encouraged her to go on a date with Drew.

In turn, Drew realized that Fiona didn’t like him and encouraged her to seek out Adam instead. “He’s not like most guys,” he told her. However, instead of outing Adam to her (it’s unclear whether Fiona doesn’t know Adam is trans or is just playing dumb because she doesn’t mind), he just explained that Adam was “the best brother in the world.”

At the end of the fall finale, Adam decided to throw a party for Fiona, but she never showed up. She wasn’t at her apartment when Adam went looking, and she didn’t answer her phone. Fiona’s had some issues of her own this season, though, so her reasons for not answering may turn out to be unrelated to Adam. Take a look at this preview for tonight’s episode:

As new episodes of Degrassi kick off, I’ll be recapping Adam’s storyline. If you want to catch up and follow along, TeenNick has many of the most recent episodes available for streaming. And since I don’t know as much about the show pre-Adam, I’d love for all you Degrassi fans out there to chime in with your thoughts!

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