Zoe, soap opera’s first trans character on “All My Children,” headed back to London this week (in time for actor Jeffrey Carlson to start rehearsing for his stage appearance in “Hamlet.”) Like a lot trans people, I was a bit skeptical initially given both the publicity-stunt manner in which the story line was introduced, and the choice of Zarf—a one-named David Bowie-esque flambouyant rock star—to be the character who transitioned. But like a lot of AMC fan, I was won over.

It was far from perfect, AMC wasted a lot of time setting up Zoe as a red herring suspect in their “Satin Slayer” serial killer story line, and then rushed through many aspects of Zoe’s transition. (For example, Zoe’s mother went from trying to convince Zoe she was delusional to accepting PLAG mom in a mere two episodes.) Would be it were that easy. Then AMC pissed off a good chunk of its lesbian audience by having a budding romance between Zoe and Bianca, AMC’s resident gold-star lesbian (more about that in a bit), and the “live and let live” message was a bit heavy-handed at times.

But on the whole, I think it did a tremendous amount of good. I’ve been hanging out at the message boards over at Soap Central and was pleasantly surprised at the warm reception that Zoe received from most people. Of course it probably helped that 1) Carlson is a hugely talented actor, who a lot of the hetro female viewers seemed to have a crush on, and 2) for long time viewers the story line was an interesting change of pace from the usual cheating lovers, stolen babies, amnesiacs, etc. The fans were far more unaccepting of poor writing than of Zoe.

Speaking of which, one of the major missteps was the budding romance between Zoe and Bianca—which Zoe put the brakes on, out of concerns that with her transition it wasn’t the right time to start a relationship (although seemingly the door was left open for something down the road). Which upset a number of lesbians who’d been supportive of Zoe previously. It’s hard know how widespread the discontent was, but those who were opposed to the relationship were pretty vocal

A bit part of the problem is that Bianca is apparently the only lesbian in Pine Valley—and one of the few gay or lesbian characters on any soap opera. So rather than being seen as a lesbian, she’s seen as the representative of the lesbian communities, so needless to say, people are quick to say “that’s not me!”. Whereas if there had been more lesbians on AMC, people might have been receptive to the idea that some lesbians do fall in love with transwomen—which in fact happens.

Now the lesbians critics did have some good points. Bianca’s only sexual experience with a man came when she was raped by one, so yes, it was less likely she’d be attracted to someone with a penis, even if Zoe saw herself as a woman. And this is where AMC’s shortcuts with the storyline showed. It would have been truer to Bianca’s character (and to real life) if Bianca had gone through a bit of “I never thought I’d be attracted to” soul-searching. But I doubt some of the lesbians would’ve accepted the romance under any circumstances: since Zoe had a penis, no “lesbian in good standing” could possibly be attracted to her. To which I think the male partner of a transwoman (featured on the MSNBC program called “Born in the Wrong Body”) had the best reply: “Say you like hamburgers but you don’t like fries, and someone offers you a happy meal—you’re not going to turn down the whole thing just because there’s one part of it you don’t like.”

Ironically, the hetro female fans didn’t have a problem with the relationship, in fact many of them were entranced by it. Part of it was that Carlson and Eden Riegel, the actress playing Bianca, had real chemistry. Part of the difference simply may have been the visuals. Although Carlson is on the androgynous side, the lesbians viewers seemingly were stuck on seeing a man in a dress and couldn’t get past it. Whereas the hetro female viewers may have been unconsciously attracted by the same thing.

It’s hard to say, but Zoe may have also helped paved the way for the warm reception given Mike Penner, a prominent sports columnist for the Los Angeles Times (whose columns are reprinted in a number other papers), who on Thursday announced to readers that she was a transsexual and would be returning in a few weeks as Christine Daniels with the full support of her editors. (Daniels apparently was just taking some time off, rather going for surgery, since follow-up articles indicated that she was just beginning hormones and cross-living.) The reaction: The highly personal column became one of the most heavily viewed stories in the last year, with about half a million page views. Nearly 1,000 readers commented on the LA Times’ website, the vast majority overwhelming positive. Daniels personally received 538 emails, only two of them negative.

In additional to continuing her sports column, Daniels will also be blogging about her transition for the Times. Daniels put it best: “I want to thank all of you for transforming a day I had feared for decades into a day that will carry me over the bumps and potholes that doubtlessly await as I move forward on this journey.”