Matty Barton (Ash Palmisciano) and Amy Wyatt (Natalie Ann Jamieson)’s wedding plans were recently thrown up in the air on Emmerdale due to the transphobic attitude of one of their fellow villagers, Claudette Anderson (Flo Wilson).
Amy and Matty have been together for several years and their relationship has endured through various ups and downs.
They almost split up last year in the wake of Amy’s son Kyle (Huey Quinn) admitting to shooting Al Chapman (Michael Wildman) and there was another rocky patch when they disagreed when Amy kept her sister Chloe (Jessie Elland)’s whereabouts secret from Matty’s uncle Mackenzie (Lawrence Robb).
They always get back together, however, and they’ve decided to cement their relationship by getting married.
But when Claudette discovered that Matty is trans, she decided that it was against her Christian beliefs and, as a result, said that it wouldn’t be right for the couple to get married in the village hall as it was church property.
In the aftermath of Claudette’s hurtful comments, the disappointed couple decided they had no choice but to scale down their plans. Matty wanted a quiet family ceremony rather than try to make a stand against Claudette’s bigotry and be what he saw as other people’s trans role model.
Someone who will always have Matty’s back is his mum, Moira (Natalie J. Robb).
After her initial shock when Matty returned to the village after some time away and explained that he was now living his life as a man, Moira eventually came to understand how he felt and accepted that she now had a son rather than a daughter. Emmerdale received a lot of praise for its handling of the storyline.
So when Moira gets wind of what Claudette has said, she goes into battle mode as she always does when one of her family is hurt – and particularly as she knows how much Claudette’s bigoted attitude could hurt her son. Raging, Moira makes her feelings quite clear.
Elsewhere, Claudette sheepishly tells her grandson Ethan (Emile John) what she said to Matty, and he’s horrified.
He helps her to see that her attitude was misguided and the most important aspect of being a Christian is to love each other.
Claudette is grateful that Ethan takes the time to explain things to her rather than condemn her outright and she seeks out Matty to offer him a sincere apology.
Will it be enough?
