The Most Controversial Moments from ‘Modern Family’

8. Openly Transgender Child Actor

Modern Family introduced an openly transgender child actor in an episode entitled, “A Stereotypical Day.” This was reportedly the first time a trans child actor would appear on network television, and the series had a huge responsibility to approach the topic gently. Eight-year-old trans actor Jackson Millarker, played the character Tom who befriended Lily (Aubrey Anderson-Emmons). When her parents Mitchell (Jesse Tyler Ferguson) and Cameron (Eric Stonestreet) overhear her call Tom a “weirdo,” it throws them for a loop and prompts them to teach her a lesson about tolerance and acceptance of others. In the end, producers and writers handled the scene with kitten gloves, and it humanized the young faces of children who have struggled with their own gender identities.