Damon Rochefort, one of the Coronation Street scriptwriters, says he's proud that the show has created characters like Hayley Cropper, who became the first transsexual character to appear in a British soap in 1998.Damon told the Independent: "Julie does an amazing job and gets a lot of support from the transgender community – lots of quite moving letters," he says. He was also pleased by the decision last year to portray Ted Page, Gail Platt's dad, as a gay man who had left his wife and never seen his own grandchildren.
The interview forms part of an article about stereotyping of gay culture and will be discussed at the Screenwriters' Festival this week.
