Nuke vs. Housing Discrimination

As the World Turns kicked the week off the right way, with a Luke & Noah episode, and this time the boys were taking on anti-gay housing discrimination.

We started off with the guys at Java, where Noah was on the clock and Luke was on his laptop. Luke explained that he was brainstorming some Gay Rights issues for the Foundation that he was going to run by his mother later, and then made fun of himself for working with his Mommy, without mentioning that he actually still lives with her, too.

Luke commented on how far Lily has come since he came out to her, and Holden too for that matter (though Holden was always supportive), and mentioned that his biological father wasn't supportive and that using his money to fight for Gay Rights would drive him crazy. Ah, subtle foreshadowing! I love how soaps will go months or years without mentioning a former character and then quite suddenly, right before they return, they're mentioned all the time.

Noah brought up the awkwardness of his roommate, who apparently possesses the world's worst timing, coming back early and walking in on the two of them in the dorm the night before. While most of the audience proceeded to get lost in wishing and imagining that they were Noah's roommate at that moment, the boys continued their discussion about the lack of privacy in the dorm (and, it goes without saying, at the Snyder residence).

Noah had a solution, though: they should move in together.

I, of course, got ready to call them out on the complete 180 Noah has apparently done in the month since the last time they discussed moving in together, but the writers were apparently ready for that because Luke was as surprised as I am.

Noah explained that he had to move out of the dorm anyway in a few months and that he thinks they should sublet a place for the summer to try it out. Luke pointed out that Noah's change of heart might be because Luke himself is now a bit more stable than he was when they last talked about living together, and Noah more or less agreed that Luke getting his life together played a role in changing his mind.

They joked around about how it would just be a trial situation for the summer and that if either one had any bad habits that drove the other crazy, they'd be out the door. It was really a pretty cute scene.

Of course, it just set things up for the arrival of their potential landlord, Mr. Reese. Noah had already found the perfect place through a broker and even filled out the lease, knowing that Luke would love the place since it was similar to the one he'd liked a month ago. After the guys introduced themselves to Mr. Reese he told them that the apartment was only a one bedroom and Luke assured him that was all they needed.

Mr. Reese hovered in the background looked disgusted while Luke & Noah talked about the apartment, its working fireplace, and possibly staying longer than just the summer if things worked out. Before they could give him their references, though, Mr. Reese abruptly informed them that the apartment had already been rented and quickly departed Java, leaving Noah to wonder what had just happened.

Luke, though, saw the obvious, that they'd just been the victims of discrimination. He got back on his laptop and discovered that it was illegal in the state of Illinois to discriminate against LGBT people in housing and felt that they should try and get an investigation going against the landlord.

A random cute guy named Tyler, who is apparently one of Luke's many off screen gay friends, overheard their conversation and told them that he and his boyfriend had the same problem with Reese, that he refused to rent to them because they were a couple. Tyler gave them the card of a more gay friendly broker and then exited, never to be heard of or from again until the next time the writers want to throw together a 'light hearted' murder mystery in twenty seconds or less.

Noah seemed ready to just let things drop, to take the "What can we do about it?" approach while Luke, who has probably been watching his copy of Milk, wasn't so willing to back down in the face of discrimination.

The guys headed back to Luke's place, where they filled Holden & Lily in on their plans to move in together. Luke's parents were very happy and supportive, and subsequently outraged to an appropriate degree when they heard about Mr. Reese.

Lily suggested that they use the Luke Snyder Foundation to do something about the discrimination and Luke thought that was a fantastic idea. The guys returned to Java (where Noah is not only an employee, he's a customer!) so that Luke could do some research. They were shocked to see how many states don't offer any protection against discrimination towards the LGBT community in housing or employment.

Luke discussed his intentions to start bringing more visibility to the issue, to petition online and pressure politicians to do the right thing. Noah told Luke that he likes him when he's 'all charged up' and Luke suggested that Noah call the gay friendly broker to find them a place while he gets to work on the research.

I'd started to think that they idea of them living together would be dropped just to focus on the discrimination issue, so that last line made me pretty happy. I really want to see Luke & Noah in their own place, so it had better not be an off screen residence we only hear about!

I was really happy with this episode overall. While parts of it did feel a bit too Very Special Episode, I can't even begin to tell you how much I'd rather see the guys tackling real life issues, especially ones related to Gay Rights, than what we had to sit through during their most recent storyline.