Okay, it's been awhile since I've blogged, but that's life. Days go by and then weeks and finally months, and nary a word written, in spite of good intentions.
It has been over three months since my Gaytime TV post, and tonight I'm writing this as a follow up on the Luke-is-gay storyline over on As the World Turns. Don't bother asking what has happened with the other gay guy, Lucas on General Hospital. From what I understand, he's gone the traditional route for gay characters and faded away, except for when a female friend needs a confidant. Ugh!
But things have been different with Luke. He's remained front and center in the past few months, and the actor playing him (the very talented Van Hansis) was even signed to a three year contract.
When we last left Luke, his father Holden suspected he was gay and had been trying to get his son to be honest with him about it, all the while hoping he was wrong about his son's sexuality. Then, along came Jade, Luke's supposed long lost cousin who turned out to be a fraud and more or less blackmailed Luke into pretending to be sleeping with her.
So, long story short, the Luke/Jade deception went on for far too long before Luke finally had enough and, in a series of well written, beautifully acted, and very believable scenes, came out to his parents.
ATWT turned the more stereotypical parental reactions upside down. Father Holden, who, because of his suspicions, had more time to come to terms with the idea of Luke being gay, accepted Luke immediately and let him know that he was loved, no matter who he was, but mother Lily took the news very badly.
Completely unprepared for what her son was telling her, Lily ran the gauntlet of parent-in-denial reactions: Luke was too young to know for sure he was gay; Luke had had a very difficult year and was just confused. She also wondered what, exactly, she had done wrong as a mother.
In the weeks that followed, Lily continued to struggle with accepting her son, even consulting Dr. Bob Hughes about Luke's 'confusion'. The good doctor, however, merely advised that LILY see a counselor to help her deal with the news, rather than suggesting that Luke seek help.
Meanwhile Luke found allies elsewhere, such as his friend Will Munson. Luke came out to Will before he'd even told his parents, and though Will was shocked, he was there when Luke needed to talk and advised him to come out to his parents and end the deception with Jade.
Luke also found other strong allies within his own family, like his maternal grandmother, Lucinda, who didn't bat an eye when she found out the news from her daughter, informing the worrying Lily that Luke being gay was no more her 'fault' than his hair and eye color were her fault. Lucinda also pointed out to her daughter that it had taken a lot of courage for Luke to come out.
When asked by Luke why she wasn't upset, Lucinda responded with a question of her own: "Can I change it?" When Luke said no, Lucinda replied simply, "Then I accept it" before going on to tell him that she loved him just as he was.
Cousin Lucy was also very accepting, and Luke's coming out to her marked just how much Luke was beginning to feel more comfortable with his sexuality. Instead of a dramatic coming out conversation, Luke outed himself to his cousin a bit more directly one day a few weeks ago when they ran into his best friend/secret crush Kevin at the club.
When Lucy asked Luke if Kevin was a friend of his, Luke simply said "I used to love the guy." Lucy, much like their grandmother Lucinda, barely batted an eye before asking if their break up had been 'over-coffee-friendly or breaking-furniture-messy?'
Of course, Luke has yet to out himself to Kevin (who has been onscreen only twice in recent months as the story has moved away from Luke's crush on him to Luke coming out to his parents), let alone be in a relationship with him or anyone else.
I'm hopeful that ATWT will take the next step and move the storyline in the direction of Luke experiencing a relationship, either with Kevin or with someone else.
While it's admirable that the show has kept Luke's storyline front and center all year long and made the character of Luke someone that the audience roots for and can love, they are currently taking the story in a direction that has little to do with him finding himself as a gay man and more with the over the top reactions of his mother and biological father.
Which is not to say that there haven't been excellent moments, even within that storyline.
Luke's biological father, Damian, an Italian Mafioso type who had been in hiding from his enemies since Luke was a small child, returned to town unexpectedly, hoping to reunite with Luke and be a part of his life. Unlike Holden, Damian did not take the news that his son was gay very well. His immediate response was "My son would never be gay." He also immediately blamed Holden, believing that it was his failures as a father that resulted in Luke's 'confusion'.
Ah, yes, there's that macho, narrow minded, masculinity-threatened-by-a-gay-son, father figure that was missing from the story!
Only, Damian pretended to accept Luke to get on his good side while playing up Lily's doubts and fears as she continued to believe that Luke was 'just confused'.
Damian introduced Lily to Ross Kreeger, a man who's family foundation runs a special summer camp for 'confused teens' like Luke. Damian convinced Lily to let Luke meet with Ross, making her believe that the camp just helped kids sort out their confusion, figure out who they are.
Of course, in typical soap fashion, Lily waited until the camp director was alone in her house trying to convince Luke to come to his camp, before going to the library to look the camp up on the internet. Only then did she discover that the camp' s actual specialty was 'gender realignment', aka turning gay kids straight.
When Lily confronted Damian about his deception and heard his narrow minded views articulated for the first time, she realized how she herself must have been sounding to Luke since he'd come out and declared to Damian that she loves Luke as he is, gay or straight.
This being a soap opera, Lily realized this too late to prevent further drama. She rushed home and kicked Ross Kreeger out, but a terrified Luke refused to believe that it wasn't all a ploy to get him to go to the camp. When his mother tried to reach out to him, he knocked her hand away and sent her tumbling down the stairs and straight into a coma while the actress playing Lily (Martha Byrne) goes on maternity leave!
It's all a bit over the top, as any good soap is, but the scenes at the top of the stairs were all too believable because many children have been forced into such 'scared straight' camps and had their lives destroyed because their parents won't accept who they are and believe they can be changed. Watching the scenes of Luke and Kreeger, I could easily feel Luke's growing fear as he began to realize what was going on and to believe that his own mother was behind it.
Van Hansis completely shined in these scenes, making Luke's terror and his anguish very believable as he half-yelled, half-sobbed to his mother "He said you wanted to fix me!"
All in all, ATWT is still doing a wonderful job with this storyline. Hopefully, they're opening the eyes of viewers to the struggles gay teenagers go through and to the ridiculousness of the idea that any gay person can be 'cured' or 'fixed', or even that being gay is a choice someone makes. They're showing that gay people aren't some alien race, but rather the boy or girl next door, the kid you've watched grow up, the son of your favorite soap supercouple, Lily and Holden Snyder. And maybe, just maybe, your own child.
I'd like to see Luke come out to Kevin and begin a relationship at least as realistic as those of his straight contemporaries on the show, straight teens Maddie & Casey and straight teen newlyweds Will & Gwen. That's the next barrier that needs to be broken down. We've yet to see two gay male characters on daytime television have a realistic (or as realistic as any soap can be!) relationship or even kiss onscreen.
Hopefully that will come. For now, we're seeing Luke deal with his guilt and his sorrow over his role in his mother's fall down the stairs and subsequent coma. We're also seeing him fall more and more into the clutches of his biological father, since Luke is still clueless about Damian's role in the camp fiasco and Lily is too comatose to warn him. Damian is using Lily's fall to drive a wedge between Holden and Luke and seems convinced that, somehow with his help, Luke will eventually be the straight son he 'should' be.
We've seen some really wonderfully written, wonderfully acted scenes in recent months and I hope this continues. Even Damian, who I now love to hate, is being played by an actor (Paolo Seganti) who manages to show us Damian's love for his son, even as he tries to change him. Hopefully, Damian, like Lily finally, will come to realize that true love means accepting your child as they are, even if it's not who you expected them to be.
If you want to see some of the key moments for yourself, check out vanhansis.net. They have several videos from the storyline, including the coming out scenes.
as the world turns
van hansis
luke snyder
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