Outlook Grim

Well, things still aren't looking up much since the last post.

In Tuesday's episode of Passions, Chad's secret lover was finally revealed. Just as I'd predicted at the beginning of the month, it was Vincent, the African American tabloid reporter. Like I said at the time, though, Reilly's writing is so awful that it was blatantly obvious who the mystery lover would be.

Anyway, Chad received a DVD from his scorned lover today that showed the two of them in bed together (no kiss, but two shirtless men rolling around in bed together is a first of its own on daytime, I suppose, and it did look like Vincent moved in for a kiss and Chad pulled away, which could be in character for him). Vincent feels that Chad is in love with him and lying to himself about it, so he's planning on showing Chad's wife the proof of their affair so she'll set him free and Chad will come back to him.

Which makes the kind of sense that doesn't, but that's Reilly for you. And of course, they waited to make the big reveal AFTER Chad had dumped Vincent, so that there was no risk of us seeing them having any kind of intimate scene together, beyond today's brief DVD view.

We'll have to see where this story goes, but my expectations remain very low.

Meanwhile, over on As The World Turns, there still hasn't been any development with the Luke storyline. He was on last Friday's episode, but just to lend an ear to his cousin Jade. They did briefly talk about how he's never had anyone in his life, romantically speaking. Hopefully that's foreshadowing something to come soon, but when Jade told him that he'd meet someone he said "Not in high school." Since he's still in high school on the show through next June, I really hope he's wrong about that!

Luke hasn't had a story of his own since the beginning of September, which means it's already been six long months. To make him- and us- wait at least another three is ridiculous. The powers that be told AfterElton.Com that Luke would be getting a boyfriend this spring, but it's almost March and there has been no announcement on the casting of this potential boyfriend. Unless they plan to get Luke involved with someone already on the show, it looks like the wait will continue.

It's incredibly irritating when you think about the fact that all of the straight characters in Luke's age group were quickly given love interests. The head writer, Jean Passanante, explains away Luke's lack of story by saying that these things are cyclical and that characters move back and forth from the front burner to the back burner. Yeah, they should, but guess what? They don't. Once upon a time, soaps knew how to balance their characters so they could tell several stories involving multiple characters all at once. They'd have A stories and B stories happening simultaneously and characters really did spend time on both burners. But that's just not true any longer.

Passanante is full of it if she really thinks we'll buy that cyclical excuse. I've been watching ATWT regularly since July of 2005 and not once have the characters of Paul, Emily, Dusty, Meg, Katie, Will, Gwen, Jack, Carly (until recently when the actress left for maternity leave), Casey or Maddie been on the back burner during that time. Not once. They move from one story (or relationship) straight into the next. The end result is that we quickly get sick of seeing these sames characters day after day after day while other characters, like Luke and anyone who's been with the show for more than a decade, languish on the sidelines with no story of their own.

It's ridiculous and it's a big part of what is killing soaps today. So, Passanante can try and sell her 'cyclical' line as soon as she backburners Paul or Emily for six months to give Luke a storyline.

As the World Turns is in dire need of a new blood in the writing department, folks. I fear a change could eliminate any possibility for a positive Luke storyline, but then again, what has Passanante done for the character since he came out? Nothing. And while she's been doing nothing, the quality of the show has gone vastly downhill. It's a very boring show at the moment, which is a pity because they have an incredibly strong cast.

Now for All My Children. Remember my last post, when I was sickened by J.R.'s reaction to finding a badly beaten Zoe in the cemetery? I figured the show would try and play it off as J.R. not realizing that Zoe was beaten but just thinking she was drunk.

Well, I was wrong. They didn't try and play it off, instead they wrote J.R. as fully aware of what he'd done and completely unapologetic about it. Which, in my opinion, makes the character of J.R. completely irredeemable.

Bianca found Zoe in the cemetery the morning after, luckily still alive, and got her to a hospital, where Derek, the Chief of Police, dismissed the attack as 'just' a hate crime, since Zoe was wearing a dress at the time of the attack, and refused to take seriously the idea that Zoe had been attacked by the serial killer.

This lead to a pretty good scene between Derek, who is African American, and Bianca:

Bianca: "Some random beating"? Derek, how can you possibly be so blasé about this? I -- I mean, you must know what it feels like to be targeted because of who you are? Your nephew, Terrence, was viciously attacked because of the color of his skin. Why are you not jumping at the chance to fight this kind of discrimination?

Derek: I will always fight against discrimination, but I was born black. My ancestors were born black. Zoe chose to put on a dress and flaunt her sexual issues to the world.

Bianca: I did not choose to be gay any more than you chose to be black any more than Zoe chose to be transgendered.

Derek: Well, in both cases, you can choose not to show everybody.

Bianca: Oh, I see. So you're saying that Zoe should pass as a big, butch guy, and I should pass as straight, and the law shouldn't be expected to protect people from going out into the world as themselves?

Derek: No, of course not.

Bianca: Zoe has been hiding who she is for her whole life. She's finally starting to embrace it. Yes, yes, she was wearing a dress last night, because that's what feels right to her.

Derek: Well, your rock star friend should've known that putting on a dress and strolling through a cemetery late at night was going to make --

Bianca: Was going to what -- provoke a beating?

Derek: No -- make her a target.

Bianca: Are you saying she asked for it? Did I ask to be raped?

Derek: I will look into Zoe's attack.

What I especially liked about this scene is that it tackled a very real view that does exist among many African Americans today, that glbt rights shouldn't be equated with the African American civil rights movement because they didn't 'choose' to be black like we 'chose' to be gay or transgendered.

It also touched upon the belief that somehow victims of hate crimes are 'asking for it' simply by being who they are, which is different from 'the norm'. There seem to be far too many people who are of the opinion that it's fine to be 'different' in private, but that if you 'flaunt' your lifestyle in public, you're fair game. Sadly, many of them are in positions of power when it comes to investigating or prosecuting hate crimes, and I thought this scene touched on all of that very nicely.

Once Bianca found out that J.R. had found Zoe the night before and done nothing to help her, she rushed off to confront him. Oddly enough, no one mentioned anything about J.R. being in trouble with the authorities for his failure to act. Isn't failing to call for help or report a crime in and of itself a crime? I'm not sure of the legalities here, but it seems to me that the police wouldn't just look the other way in that situation. Yet, of course, they did because this is a soap opera and no one but Bianca seems to think J.R. did anything that bad!

Both J.R. and his father Adam were true to form when Bianca showed up to confront J.R. over his actions. Both, assuming the attack was a hate crime, blame Zoe.

J.R.: Zoe was drunk, and if she hit on some straight guy looking like that, got herself pounded, it's not my fault.

Adam: A man has to learn to take care of himself, especially if he's wearing lipstick.

Bianca: She was lying on the ground bleeding, and you ditched her.

Adam: Why do you care so much about Zoe?

Bianca: This isn't about me, ok?

Adam: Zoe got herself into this mess.

Bianca: Are you saying that she was asking for it? Are you actually going to say that to me? You know, whatever you think of Zoe, Babe really cared about her.

J.R.: That doesn't mean that I have to save the guy if he does something stupid.

It really sickens me to hear this. I'm glad that Bianca is outraged and went to confront the asshole on this, but is that it? Is that how it stands? On the one hand, I'm glad AMC is showing the kind of attitudes that exist, but I really think they took it a step too far here with this situation.

I can't help but think of Andrew Athos, the 72 year old man who was beaten to death last week because he was gay, and of countless others who have been attacked and killed for being different. By letting J.R. get away with what he said and did with no further repercussions than an angry visit from Bianca, it feels like they're validating his point of view, which is that Zoe was asking for it.

This is coming from a leading character on the show that viewers are supposed to care about and root for, even though he's written as a troubled bad boy.

I really am disturbed by this. I think it's an insult to the victims of actual hate crimes. Perhaps AMC thinks it's okay since Zoe wasn't really a hate crime victim, but if they do they're sorely mistaken. J.R.'s actions and statements after the fact came from his belief that the crime had been a result of Zoe's transgendered status.

I'm interested in following Zoe's story, but I honestly don't know that I can after this. I'm hoping against hope that more will come of J.R.'s actions, but I feel physically disgusted by what I saw on this show last week and it's hard to get beyond that and keep tuning in.

Disgusted

Today was an upsetting day in the world of glbt soap characters. First off, Luke hasn't been seen since his wonderful scenes with Lucinda last week, though rumor has it he'll be back onscreen at the end of this week.

More awful, though, is what's going on All My Children and Passions.

I'll start with Passions. I haven't actually followed the show closely since the reveal that Chad was sleeping with another man. Knowing Reilly's writing style, I knew there would be no reason to tune in every day between then and February 27th, the day they reveal who the other man is, because there'd be no plot development in the weeks between.

Now, though, one of the show's two lesbian characters has been murdered. You may recall me noting last year that Passions had daytime's first African American lesbian character from a core family, Simone Russell. I also noted Reilly had written it so that Simone realized she was a lesbian only after the show's resident bad guy, Alistair Crane, hired another woman to 'turn her' into one.

In spite of that, Simone and this other woman, Rae, fell in love. I don't think they've had much to do since then, though, and now Rae has been murdered. Typical that they'd kill off one half of the only lesbian couple in town rather than one half of the several straight couples.

The show has been showing how grief stricken and distraught Simone is by this, which is what I'd hope for in this situation. But they've also used to it reiterate Chad's feelings about same sex couples. He broke up with his lover (yet again, this will continue forever with Reilly writing) over the phone with a hint of what was to come later in the episode:

Look, what we had was amazing but I'm not gay. I love Whitney. That's the only love I know, love between a man and a woman.

Now, Reilly is writing about a character 'on the down low', i.e. someone who has sex with other men but feels he's completely straight. Okay, fine. But it got a lot worse later. Chad happens to be married to Whitney, who is Simone's sister and who was trying to comfort her nearly suicidal sibling over the death of her partner.

Chad just didn't get it.

Whitney: Simone is completely beside herself over losing Rae, and I want to help her. I just -- I don't know how. Thank you for being here.

Chad: Yeah, well, I don't think there's anything either of us can do for her. I mean, it's hard losing someone you're close to.

Whitney: "Close to"? Chad, they were deeply in love.

Chad: Yeah, I don't think I'd call what they had love, Whitney.

Whitney: Well, what exactly would you call it? I mean, they adored each other. Of course they were in love. Simone's whole world is devastated because Rae is gone.

Chad: No, baby, I get that Simone is sad, ok, but couples of the same sex can't be in love with each other.

Whitney: Since when did you become so homophobic, Chad?

Chad: I'm not, baby. I'm just saying that they call them same-sex couples for a reason. It's all about sex. They can't be in love with each other.

Whitney: Wow, I, uh -- I guess I just can't believe what I'm hearing right now.

Chad: Well, baby, maybe I'm not being clear. Ok, I do think a man or a woman can love having sex with another man or woman. They just can't be in love with each other.

Whitney: Chad, you are so wrong. All you have to do is look at Simone and see that that she just lost her life, not someone that just needs to go bar-hopping find a new partner. If you ask me, Simone and Rae are a perfect example of a couple of the same sex loving each other very deeply. How can you see things differently?

Chad: Because -- never mind. (Thinking to himself) You wouldn't understand. If I loved the guy I was having sex with, that would make me gay, and I'm not. I just like being with a man.

Okay, so I get that we're supposed to be seeing Chad's conflict here. I really do. And it's valid for his character to feel this way. He's invested in denying to himself that anything can exist between two men but meaningless sex.

I just wish they'd found a better way to tell this part of story. It's really upsetting to see a character saying that someone who has just lost their partner couldn't have been in love with that person, but rather must have just loved the sex! It's insulting and even if we later see Chad accept his sexuality and admit he's in love with another man (I won't hold my breath), it still won't change the fact that those views were right there along side Simone grieving. Too many people out there already believe that being gay is just about sex.

I'm glad that they have Whitney presenting the counter point and are showing that Simone is truly grieving and was in love with Rae. But it's still frustrating to hear such things given a voice when so many people out there actually believe it to be true. It's a shame that Reilly cannot write with any subtly because it would have been nice to see Chad struggling to deal with how he felt without the heavy handed dialogue and the sacrificing of Rae to get to it. It would have been nice to see Chad express his feelings about same sex love in a context that didn't involve one partner grieving for another. How much better would it have been if it was Rae's death and Simone's reaction to it that opened Chad's eyes for the first time, really made him see that such love was real? Or, better yet, if just seeing the two women interact, without death involved, opened his eyes?

But, that's not Reilly's style.

If I had any confidence that this storyline might actually go to a place that would open people's eyes to the fact that love betweens same sex couples is just as real and valid as love between opposite sex couples, I wouldn't feel quite as irritated by this. But on Passions, there's nothing to be confident about. Hope for the best, but expect the worst with Reilly.

Now on to All My Children, where one of the very few non-straight characters on daytime met with violence this week. If I never see another glbt character beaten, it will be too soon! Granted, the actual assault had nothing to do with the character's glbt status, but what happened afterwards very much did.

I'm talking about All My Children's Zoe. In today's episode, she was viciously attacked in a graveyard after inadvertently stumbling across the local serial killer. Zoe returned to the cemetery after the funeral of her friend Babe, the killer's latest victim (who isn't actually dead, but that's another story and not a very good one either), to say a private good bye. The only problem was, the killer was there as well and Zoe was severely beaten and left for dead.

Now, that was incredibly painful to watch in and of itself, and as I said, it had nothing to do with Zoe being transgendered. It could have been any character who'd stumbled into the wrong place at the wrong time.

But what happened next made me so sick to my stomach that I had to turn off the TV.

Babe's grieving 'widower' J.R. came back to the cemetery to sob on a bench next to the graves (it was a double funeral, actually, for his wife and his mother, yikes!) and Zoe managed to grab on to his ankle to make her presence known as she lay battered in the bushes next to the bench.

After J.R. realized that it was Zoe laying on the ground, her face bloodied and bruised, barely able to speak, he had this to say to her:

J.R.: What? What is your problem? Huh? What the hell? What, did you get loaded, huh? What, did some -- some bad man hurt your feelings at the bar, big girl? Did you come on to the wrong guy? You kept playing him until he found out you were a she-male? What do you expect, you're not a woman, you freak! You don't have the right equipment. And no amount of booze will ever change that. You just had to bring your gender-bending game into Pine Valley, right? You couldn't just leave us alone.... Pathetic. You don't belong here... You tell me why a freak show like you should be able to walk this earth when so many people, so many good people, have already died. Answer me!

He concluded with this, before walking off and leaving her without help:

Want to know who you look like? The same sick, ugly, drunken trash you are.

I really couldn't believe what I was hearing. They wrote and played the scene as if J.R. was mistakenly thinking that Zoe was just drunk, especially since his final comment was 'Sleep it off', but how could he have not noticed she'd been beaten? Are we really supposed to buy that? And making it sound as though she'd deserved to be beaten if she'd been hitting on a guy in a bar! Oh my God.

Never mind that Zoe is into women, not men. J.R.'s assumptions are well within character. But the fact that he seemed to feel what had happened to her was justified.... ! Of course, if you read/listen closely, they seem to want us to think that he believes she got drunk after being rejected. But, let me tell you, watching the scene, that's not how it played. There's no way he couldn't have seen the visible marks of the beating, and the words seem to say he feels it justified.

It literally made me sick to my stomach. To see this person lying there, beaten, and hear those words spoken to her face brought to mind the far too many real life victims of hate crimes. If there were any depth to this storyline, it would be one thing. But there's not. They're clearly excusing J.R.'s actions because he was grieving his wife and mother. But there is no excuse. Were I a regular viewer of the show with any past liking for the character, it would have been destroyed by this disgusting scene.

It was just too much. J.R. and other characters have voiced disgust at Zoe in the past that has worked within the storyline to show the lack of acceptance she faces, but to see someone turn their back on a beaten person and have them assume that she deserved it because she's transgendered just goes way past the line of what is acceptable. It was just disturbing on so many levels, especially since they clearly are going to let J.R. off the hook with the whole 'I thought she was drunk' thing.

This wasn't a story about a hate crime, so why did they feel it necessary to include this dialogue from a leading character? And where do they go from here with this character that I'd sooner see dead than ever root for after what he said?

Things like this make me wonder why I even bother with soap operas, as much as I love the genre, or rather love what the genre could be in the right hands.

Luke Wins for ATWT

Just taking a quick moment to note that As the World Turns just won a Writer's Guild award for best writing in a Daytime Serial. As I'd noted awhile back, the show was allowed to submit three episodes to be judged and the ones they submitted all revolved around Luke coming out of the closet. So, congrats to the show for, first of all, writing that excellent storyline and secondly for recognizing that it was the only good writing that this show has seen in the last year!

Hopefully their win means that they'll start writing more for Luke. As I wrote last night, things are looking up in that respect.

Luke Takes on Stereotypes; The Kiss that Wasn't

I meant to write yesterday, since theoretically I have more time to do so on Sundays, but it didn't end up happening. The upside of writing today is that there were some fantastic Luke scenes on today's As the World Turns that I can write about now.

After his involvement last week in the storyline about his younger sister's eating disorder, Luke had scenes today that tackled gay stereotypes from well meaning individuals and finally touched on what Luke's life at school is like.

They were exactly the type of quiet, conversational scenes that this show can do so well when it tries. They began with Luke in a diner, saying good bye to his basketball teammates before he was joined by his grandmother.

The conversation turned to how Luke's teammates had taken the news that he was gay:

Luke: Well, the good thing is that the team knows and everybody's cool with it.

Lucinda: Oh, you were afraid that they wouldn't be?

Luke: Oh, hell yeah. I was more afraid of telling the guys on the team than anybody at school. But, as long as I work hard, and act the same way on the court as I always did, they treat me just the same.

Lucinda: I think that says a lot for you and a lot for them. High school is not the most tolerant place.

Luke: Yeah, well, I mean, I still get some looks. But, mostly it's from people that I wouldn't want to be friends with anyways. So I think, yeah, for the most part, I'm pretty much comfortable with everybody.

Luke then confessed that he was a bit uncomfortable with the fact that one well meaning teacher had made certain assumptions about him:

Luke: She tried to get me to join the drama club. Because I'm so sensitive and she can tell that I have talent.

Lucinda: Oh, dear.

Luke: Yeah, yeah. Just because I'm gay, I've got to be artistic, right? It's like, in the by-laws or something.

Lucinda: Oh, people, darling, people and assumptions. Oh --

Luke: Yeah, I just wish they wouldn't do it.

And then came my favorite part, where Lucinda herself demonstrated that even the most loving, supportive people can unwittingly make assumptions.

Lucinda: Maybe you should have.

Luke: Are you kidding me? I can't act. I hate it when we even have to like, read aloud in lit class.

Lucinda: Oh, you don't have to do that, you can do something else. You can be a stage manager. You can work on sets. You can --

Luke: Why?

Lucinda: Well, that's so you would -- you would have your sports friends, and then you, also on the other hand, you have --

Luke: Oh, now, you're doing it, too.

Lucinda: What?

Luke: You think that, you know, I have a much better chance of meeting a nice boy like me if I get involved with one of the plays. But, for all you know -- for all you know, there could be more gay guys involved in sports than in the drama club, and the show choir combined.

Lucinda: Touche. You're absolutely right. You're absolutely -- I'm stereotyping -- honey, I don't want you to do anything you don't want to do. All I want is for you to be happy.

In a genre where, sadly enough, the only storylines gay characters ever seem to have is coming out and getting gay bashed, these scenes really stand out. I'm really proud that ATWT took the time to include scenes that establish the fact that gay people come in many different varieties, with interests just as varied as those of straight people. There are tons of gays and lesbians in the sports world, though of course most of them remain closeted. And they do so precisely because of assumptions like this, the idea that sports are part of the straight world.

Just this weekend, former NBA player John Amaechi came out of the closet, joining the small but growing ranks of professional athletes who feel they can only come out once they've retired. Hopefully one day soon we'll see pro athletes come out while still playing and help break down the doors for the many other gay and lesbian athletes out there.

So, bravo to As the World Turn's for today's scenes with Luke. They were made all the better, of course, by the talent of the two actors involved. Elizabeth Hubbard as Lucinda is always amazing, and it says a lot about the talent of Van Hansis that he can not only hold his own in his scenes with her, but give back in a way that creates real magic between the two of them. I love when those two get to have scenes together.

I was especially glad to finally get a glimpse into how things are going for Luke at school. I still feel this was a great storyline opportunity that they passed by, of course. We should have been able to see Luke at school, see him dealing with his teammates and teachers. But with Luke's increased presence in the last few weeks and these wonderful scenes today, it feels like things are starting to look up.

The coming out storyline is over, and Luke himself is happier than ever, as he told Lucinda today:

You know what? I am happy. I mean, yeah, things could be better, but compared to last year, when I was walking around and hiding, just terrified of who I was. Well, compared to that, I'm on top of the world.

What remains, then, is to move forward and let Luke find a love interest. Relationships are the largest part of what soaps are about, after all.

Meanwhile, the much talked about (in certain online enclaves, at least) kiss between Zoe and J.R. Chandler took place last Thursday on All My Children. If you can say it took place at all, that is. Remember way back in the early 90's when Melrose Place did that slow motion lean in between gay character Matt and another man, only to cut away to straight Billy's shocked face as he saw what we couldn't?

This was sort of like that. In a way, I'm relieved. As I said before the kiss aired, I want daytime's first kiss between two men to be between two characters who are attracted to each other. In this case, Zoe is a transgendered woman who is attracted to other women and J.R. is a straight male who has demonstrated on several occasions the disgust he feels for Zoe. So, I wasn't thrilled to see people talking about this first 'gay kiss', because it wasn't a gay kiss in any sense of the word.

As it turned out, it was barely even a kiss in any sense of the word, either!

First let me note that just a few episodes earlier in the week, the show had lesbian characters Bianca and Maggie kissing. They broke down that barrier ages ago on AMC and have kept it down. Watching that, I expected the show to have no problems showing two male actors kissing.

The set up was convoluted, of course. Babe & J.R. are about to embark upon a custody battle over their young son and J.R. has a cell phone photo that he took of Babe & Zoe sharing a bed (they're best friends, nothing sexual involved). To combat this photo, Babe & Zoe set J.R. up. While he and Babe were in the middle of a 'discussion' over the coming custody battle, Zoe knocked on the door and when J.R. opened it, she kissed him and Babe snapped a cell phone photo of her own.

We viewers saw Zoe move in for the kiss, but then the scene shifted to Babe raising her cell phone and snapping a picture. We did see a small, black and white image of the kiss, through the cell phone, but that was it. The scene then cut back to J.R. pushing Zoe away and voicing his disgust, etc, etc.

So, much ado about nothing. I was both disappointed that the show didn't have the courage to actually show this kiss and glad that the first real man to man kiss can still be between two characters that are attracted to each other. I'm hoping one of them will be Luke on As The World Turns.

Still, I do give All My Children credit for the Zoe storyline in general. It was especially interesting last week to see the reaction of Bianca's mother, Erica Kane, to the news that there was an attraction between Bianca & Zoe. At first, Erica was horrified that her daughter was interested in a 'transgender lesbian rock star murder suspect', but once she met Zoe, who is still clearly physically a man at this point, Erica was thrilled:

Erica: Bianca is attracted to a man.

Bianca: Oh, my God -- stop, right there. Stop, Mom, or else, I -- I can't be responsible for --

Erica: No, no, honey, I just want you to stop and ask yourself, what does this mean? Because -- well, this -- this man who's been standing here talking to me, kissing me -- I mean, this is a man. And despite all your protests, you are drawn to him.

Bianca: If she starts to say that this means I'm not gay --

Erica: Bianca, you've misunderstood. I completely support your -- your exploring with Zoe.

Bianca: Mom, why don't you just say what you really want? You want Zoe to turn back into Zarf, and you want him to turn me straight.

Erica: Bianca, please, I know you're a lesbian. I know you're gay. Ok? I accept that. But I was just thinking that there are plenty of people who happily go both ways. Look, when you go out with -- with her -- I mean, no one would know that she's a lesbian. All they're going to see is this successful musician out with a gorgeous young -- woman.

Since Erica wasn't exactly accepting of Bianca when she first came out, I thought this was completely within character for her to be so excited at the idea that her daughter might be less of a lesbian than she'd thought. I think it does speak to a feeling many parents must have deep down, even after they've accepted their children's sexual identities, that something could change. Society so ingrains in us the idea that to be normal is to be straight that it can be hard for many people to break away from that idea.

I loved the fact that as soon as Erica spoke the above words, Zoe came out of the bedroom dressed in women's clothing en route to her plan to set J.R. up with Babe. It made it perfectly clear that no matter what Erica may have hoped, Bianca is who she is and that's not changing.

A friend pointed out this week that I should be more specific as to how I'm using the term 'trans' since it can mean more than one thing. With regards to Zoe and to the previously mentioned Azure C on The City, I'm referring to transgendered characters. Azure C was the first on daytime, but was post-op when she debuted. Zoe is the first pre-op transgendered character on daytime.

This same friend pointed out that General Hospital had the first transvestite character on daytime years ago, back in the days when Luke & Laura were on the run. I wasn't aware of this particular milestone, but there was a hit man who was after them and who dressed in drag. There was debate over whether or not this character was in drag just to get to them, or whether he was actually a transvestite, but this character also hit on Luke.

Well, that's all I have time for tonight. I swear, one of these days I'm going to do a post that isn't just about soaps.

Checking In

Well, I've more or less abandoned the post I was working on. The longer it took me to finish it, the less I thought it worth posting at all.

I will be posting about something other than gay soap opera characters on this blog, for those who are wondering. I have many interests outside of this particular topic. With that said, this post is going to be about... gay soap characters.

So, things do seem to be looking up a bit for Luke on As The World Turns. He still doesn't have his own storyline, but for the first time since last fall, he's at least getting involved in other storylines. On Friday's episode, Luke seemed to put the pieces together and realize that his younger sister, Faith, is developing an eating disorder. It was great to see Luke in scenes with his sisters and to see Van Hansis have something to do besides stand in the background. It looks like his involvement will continue into next week, at least, and as I posted the other day, he should have a love interest of his own by spring!

Meanwhile, I haven't commented yet on All My Children's groundbreaking new character. Zarf is a male rock star who has accepted the fact that he is a woman trapped in a man's body. She is now going by the name Zoe and finding varying degrees of acceptance and rejection all over town. While daytime has had a trans character before (the defunct soap The City had the honor of daytime's first trans character, Azure C), this is the first pre-op trans character and really a far more groundbreaking storyline in that sense.

I'm not a usual AMC follower, but I have started taping it recently to see how they're doing both with the Zoe storyline and with the newly returned character of Bianca, daytime's first lesbian character from a core family.

Now, I came late to this storyline, so I don't have all the facts at my fingertips just yet, but from what I have seen so far, Zoe seems to have found true acceptance from Babe, a leading character on the show, while also finding it in varying degrees from other female characters like Colby (a teenage character who this last week said she was "totally down with the whole trans thing"). Some of the male characters seem to be trying to remember to say Zoe instead of Zarf and she instead of he, though only one, Joshua, seems truly comfortable with it. Others, most notably Adam Chandler, refer to Zoe with disgust as 'It', 'that deviant', 'that freak', etc, etc, and Adam and his son J.R. seem intent on using Babe's friendship with Zoe as grounds for her being an unfit mother to J.R. and Babe's son.

It doesn't help that there is a serial killer knocking off the women of Pine Valley and Zoe is a leading suspect, of course. When I first tuned into this story, Zoe was in a prison cell. But there seemed to be quite a bit of animosity towards her from male characters who believed she was guilty, and yet a lot of their feelings were expressed in ways that seemed based on her being a person who is preparing to undergo gender reassignment, as if that makes her such a freak that of course being a serial killer of women would only be one step away!

Another twist to this story is that Zoe is in love with Bianca, the show's lesbian character. Since transgendered people aren't necessarily gay or lesbian, I think the show is making a strong point with the fact that even though Zoe was born in the body of man, she's attracted to women. Many would assume that because Zarf 'wants to be a woman', he's attracted to other men. I think the show is making a strong point here that that's not necessarily the case and that gender and sexuality are two separate issues.

Bianca recently returned to Pine Valley after her lover, Maggie, cheated on her. Maggie has returned as well to win Bianca back and there was an interesting confrontation this last week between Maggie and Zoe in which the character of Maggie demonstrated that bias can exist even within the glbt community, especially towards people who are transgendered.

Maggie: Bianca couldn't love you. I know all about you. Zarf, Zoe, gay, straight -- whatever. The media is very clear about your disorder.

Zoe: It's not a disorder.

Maggie: Ok, well, I'm a med student, and it's in my psych manual. Gender dysphoria.

I waited for Zoe to point out that not so long ago being gay or lesbian was considered to be a mental disorder according to those same textbooks, but she didn't. Still, I thought it was a good scene that demonstrated that prejudice does exist within the glbt community just as it does anywhere else. I think in general, the show is doing a good job of not backing down showing the sort of prejudice that comes from all sides for transgendered people.

It will be interesting to see where this storyline goes, if the show has the guts to stick with it. There is a lot of hype that in the coming week, AMC will feature daytime's first man on man kiss, between Zoe and J.R. Chandler. I take issue with this. First of all, though played by a male actor, the character of Zoe is essentially a female. Second of all, J.R. Chandler is a straight male character. Thirdly, Zoe is in love with Bianca and J.R. is married to Babe. So, whatever the circumstances behind this kiss, I don't accept it as daytime's first gay kiss, though I guess it will be the first time two men kiss on screen. Groundbreaking in its own way, but still not quite what I'm looking forward to, which is two male characters who are attracted to each other kissing.

I forced myself to record Passions on Friday for the big reveal that the character Chad is sleeping with another man. Before I get into that, I should note that James E. Reilly was fired as Head Writer of Days of Our Lives last year and in the months since the show has turned around so completely that I'd honestly forgotten (blocked out?) just how bad Reilly truly is. The slow moving plot lines filled with the same dialogue repeated by the same characters day after day after day, the constant use of flashbacks as filler, the nonsensical motivations and plot devices that litter the canvas. It's literally painful to watch, especially when you see some of the actors and actresses really trying to do the best they can with what little they've been given. I'm so glad that era is over for Days of Our Lives.

As much as I detest Reilly and what he's done to the genre of Soap Operas, I still wouldn't have wished Passions canceled outright, unless it was going to be replaced by a new soap. Sadly, it is being replaced by a fourth hour of the Today show and Days will become NBC's only soap. It really is a sad state of affairs for fans of the genre. But, as I've said, until soaps are willing to tell stories that really have some meaning, stories that are new and not the same old crap again and again, the genre is on life support and may flatline at any moment.

We need to see stories that are based, first of all, on characters and not plots. On a soap, we live with these characters on a daily basis for decades and that's what we like. We know when a character is being sacrificed for a plot, made to act in a way that character would never act. We also want to see stories about all sorts of characters, not just the 20-something straight, white characters that make up 99% of the stories we see today. Soaps have multi-generational casts for a reason, but these days any character over 45 is barely used. Gay characters barely exist, and if you're not a white character, your chances of having a storyline are vastly diminished on most soaps.

This is a genre locked into a different age and ratings are reflecting that. It doesn't have to be that way. Soaps need to get real and start telling stories that have an impact. And networks need to let them do so, which is a big part of the problem. Networks don't want to take any risks in daytime and frequently shoot down any innovative storyline that gets proposed.

It's a sad state of affairs. Soaps could still compete in a major way if given a chance to be bold and topical. Why not write storylines about the war in Iraq instead of yet another baby switch? It worked beautifully for AMC during the Vietnam era. Why not write a storyline about gay marriage instead of yet another heterosexual love triangle?

There are so many possibilities for this genre, but if they keep going down this road, there won't be any daytime soaps left on the air.

With that digression out of the way, let's get back to Chad. In Friday's episode, Chad discussed his affair with Jared, who apparently knows about it (but not, presumably, about the gender of Chad's lover), and informed him that it was just sex, that he loves his wife. Shortly afterward, Chad received a phone call from the mystery lover. Chad reminded him that it was over, but apparently Mystery Lover was laying on the dirty talk because before you could say "Closet Case", Chad was turned on and agreeing to meet 'one last time'.

The big 'reveal' came as Chad arrived at a sleazy motel with a box of condoms and a bottle of booze and waited on the bed, knocking back a drink and taking off his shirt. When the door opened and Chad greeted his lover with "Better late than never", we viewers saw a clearly male body from the neck down wearing gloves so that no skin at all was shown.

My reaction: eh. I wasn't impressed. If they manage to tell a storyline about Chad actually struggling with his sexuality, I will be shocked. Plus, when Reilly is writing you can see every twist coming a mile away because the man has no subtlety. Case in point: on Days of Our Lives, he wrote a storyline in which Hope & Bo's toddler son, Zach, was hit by a car and killed. This would have been a shocking twist if he hadn't had Hope suddenly start talking dramatically about how she'd never be able to go on if she lost a child, etc, etc, about three weeks before the accident. Yes, he's that bad of a writer.

So, I think I already know who the mystery lover must be. Earlier in the episode, Chad came to the rescue of Ethan, who was being confronted by a tabloid reporter. After the reporter, a handsome African American man, left them alone, Chad told Ethan not to worry, that he'd take care of it by 'giving him something else to chew on'. Ethan responded: "What are you going to do, throw him a bone?" I don't need to wait until February 27th, when mystery lover is revealed, to know where Reilly is headed with dialogue like that. Plus, Reilly seems to be intent on telling a 'down low' storyline, so I'm sure in his mind both characters have to African American men. As far as I'm aware, Chad is the only African American male cast member other than his father-in-law and I don't think Reilly would go there.

I want to like this storyline, I want it to be well done. But I know from experience that Reilly doesn't work that way. When finally forced to tell storylines on Days that were more realistic, he came up with stories that should have been decent, stories about the aftermath of losing a leg, about post-partum depression, about the loss of a child. And yet, they turned out to be just as badly written and unbelievable as the most outlandish storylines he'd ever done. I have a feeling this Chad storyline on Passions will go much the same way.