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.