It's true. Sources confirm that Brooke Smith, who plays Dr. Erica Hahn (a doctor who recently realized she is gay), has been axed from Grey's Anatomy.

Even more, I'm told by those who work on the ABC series that the gay-themed storylines and gay characters are being downplayed and even erased from upcoming scripts.

And that goes for the series' latest newcomer, Melissa George of Alias, who joins the show this month...

"Melissa came on as a lesbian character," a reliable insider tells me, "but they changed the script and now she isn't. She starts off flirting with Callie but it never goes anywhere."

Grey's has included a prominent bisexual/lesbian storyline this season in the blossoming relationship between Hahn (Smith) and Callie (Sara Ramirez). I'm told that that storyline will end abruptly in this Thursday's episode, which will be Smith's last appearance on the series.

"They don't really give her a goodbye," an ABC source tells me. "It ends rather abruptly."

E.W.'s Michael Ausiello first broke the news of Brooke's dismissal today. "I was very excited when they told me that Erica and Callie were going to have this relationship," Brooke told E.W. "And I really hoped we were going to show what happens when two women fall in love and that they were going to treat it like any heterosexual couple on TV. And so I was surprised and disappointed when they just suddenly told me that they couldn't write for my character any more."


ABC also dismissed Rebecca Romijn—who plays transgender Alexis Meade—as a series regular from Ugly Betty at the end of last season. Could this be a new trend with the network, or just another unfortunate scandal Grey's will withstand?