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.

Rest in Peace, Molly Ivins

I just got home from work and saw the bad news. Molly Ivins, a columnist who has become a hero to me ever since I first became politically aware, is gone. I knew she was battling breast cancer again, but somehow I never doubted that she'd beat it. All you had to do was read her columns to know that this woman was a fighter. In fact, she'd already beaten the disease twice before.

Her monthly columns in The Progressive were always the first thing I turned to when the magazine arrived. She was wise, passionate, and so very, very funny. She stood up for true progressive values and spoke the truth to power on a daily basis.

I really don't feel like I have adequate words to express how tragic this loss feels. At 62, it was far too early for her to leave us. The loss of her voice will leave a huge void to be filled.

If you've never read Molly's writing, do yourself a favor and go check out her books. I'd recommend Who Let the Dogs In or Bushwhacked.

Rest in peace, Molly Ivins. You were one of a kind.

Developments!

Okay, so I haven't finished that post I've been working on this week and which I'd hoped to post last night. Right now I'm between classes, but I had to log on and post the news. After months of no development, it seems like there may finally be some movement in the Luke storyline on ATWT!

In yesterday's episode, they actually mentioned for the first time since last fall that Luke is gay. Not only that, they actually based a story around it! It wasn't much, but it was a start. It was great to see Luke on our screens again, and it got even better when Lily actually asked her son how school was going. Luke's response was that she's got to stop asking that question like she expects him to say that he was 'gay bashed between fourth and fifth periods'.

Finally a mention of how things are going at school for Luke, though not a very revealing one. Still, some foreshadowing of a story to come, perhaps? We'll see.

The real action of the day was when Holden's newly returned cousin Brad Snyder came over for dinner. Brad noticed that the place looked different and Holden explained that they'd had a fire and had to redecorate.

Brad: Did you do it yourself? Or did you get some queer type to do it?

Uh, oh. At that point, Luke wasn't in the room yet, but he walked in just in time to hear Lily beg Brad's pardon and Brad respond by using a fake effeminate voice and a limp wristed gesture:

Brad: Well, I mean, no insult, the place, it looks great. I just figured that you maybe got someone who was, you know -- Fabulous with fabrics and colors.

Luke seemed calm (does this indicate the sort of thing he's dealing with on a daily basis at school?) but Lily was livid. She told Brad that what he'd said was offensive and if he was going to talk like that, he could leave her home. She also demanded an apology.

Brad: Okay, sure, yeah. If you want. But, I mean, what did I say that was so bad? I mean, do you have something against gay decorators?

At that point, Brad's brother Jack grabbed him and drug him outside while Lily looked like she was about to go nuclear on him. Outside, Jack filled Brad in.

Brad: Luke is gay? Why didn't somebody tell me?

Jack: Well it just never occurred to me that you would start spouting off like some kind of homophobe in the middle of a party.

Brad: I'm not a homophobe. I mean some of my best friends are gay. I just didn't know. Wow, cousin Holden, he's got a son who's light in the loafers.

Jack: Brad, please!

Brad: You know what, now that you mention it, I should have seen it right off.

Jack: Would just shut -- stop, shut your mouth!

Back inside, Luke tried to calm his mother down.

Luke: People say things. And sometimes they think about it first and sometimes they don't. But I have to learn to handle that. Mom, you're not always going to be there to run interference.

Lily: Did you expect me to just stand there and take that, from that bigot?

Holden: Lily, there's a happy medium between shutting the guy down and going off on him.

Lily: He insulted our son!

Holden: He didn't know that Luke is gay.

Lily: So that makes it right?

Holden: He wasn't trying to be malicious.

Lily: I don't want him here. No, never again.

Luke: Mom, mom we really don't have to go there. I mean the guy's willing to apologize.

Holden: Brad, he can be rude, but his heart's is in the right place. He loves his family.

Lily: Did that sound like love to you, Holden?

The show wrote it as an overreaction on Lily's part (she's been taking diet pills in secret to lose post-pregnancy, post-coma weight and they're messing with her moods apparently) and I suppose it was one, to some extent. I just would have preferred it to be an overreaction based on her own strong feelings, though, rather than diet pills. I happened to like the way Lily reacted to encountering homophobia for the first time since she accepted Luke for who he was, especially since she was encountering it in her own living room. I think it shows the fierce love she has for her son and her own lingering guilt for her treatment of him after he came out. I was cheering her on, to be honest.

At any rate, that's where the show left things yesterday. Hopefully more will happen today. It's nice to see the show dealing with an issue like this sort of casual negativity towards gays that many encounter within their own families and among their friends both before and after coming out. Not to mention in society and in the movies, television, and music.

Things could be looking up for Luke, especially since according to AfterElton.Com, the powers that be at the Network have confirmed to them that Luke will have increasing visibility over the next months as he helps his family deal with their problems (Lily's diet pills, his little sister's newly developed eating disorder that stems for Lily's reaction to her own weight gain) and that it's all leading up to Luke GETTING A BOYFRIEND this spring! Yes, the powers that be actually confirmed that Luke is getting a boyfriend, and that the storyline is 'being written now'. Check out the article here.

As if all this wasn't enough, Passions, the worst soap on TV (which won't be on much longer, since it's been canceled and will finish it's eight year run this summer) is actually taking a storyline chance that daytime has never done before. If the writing on the show wasn't so spectacularly awful (thanks, James E. Reilly!) I'd be more happy about this development, but I'll share it with you anyway. For months, viewers have been in on the fact that main character Chad, who is one half of Chad & Whitney, a couple fans have rooted for years for and who are finally together & married, is having an affair with a mystery person.

Well, at the end of this week, viewers will learn that Chad's lover is another man! It won't be until the end of February that viewers find out who the man is, but Chad (who is African American) has apparently been 'on the down low' with another man for months. Is this daytime's first truly bisexual male character, then? If so, that's huge.

Well, the actor who plays Chad claims that the storyline was a surprise but "Chad loves his wife, so in his heart this isn't a deception. He is not in love with this other guy. He's addicted to sex."

Oh! I see. So straight sex addicts seek out gay sex with long term secret lovers? This may just be the actor's own reaction to the story, but with James E. Reilly writing the storyline, God only knows what the end result will be. This is the man who punished a female character on Days of Our Lives for having an abortion by having her lose everything- her man, her ability to have children- and then had her forgiven by a vision of the Virgin Mary!

I somehow doubt, given Reilly's track record, that this will be a positive storyline for the glbt community. But we'll see. Like I said, I'd be more excited by this storyline if the person writing it was less of a hack mired in 1950's morality, at least where female characters are concerned. But maybe he'll surprise us on this one and go out with some dignity?

I'm so late for class!

Vote: Let Luke Find Love!

I just wanted to do a quick post to let you know that if you're interested in helping As the World Turn's Luke find love, you can click on this link which will take you to a CBS Daytime fan panel for ATWT. One of their current questions is as follows:

5)	Do you think Luke should have a boyfriend?
	Yes. I like the character of Luke and think it would be interesting to see him meet someone.
	Maybe. I miss him not having a story and if part of that includes finding a boyfriend then it might be worth tuning in.
	No. This is not a topic I am interested and I don’t really care for the character and will likely tune out.

I think it's a potentially hopeful sign that they're putting this question to the viewers, since it shows that they're actually considering going there. But on the other hand, if too many people vote no it could hurt our chances of seeing a real storyline develop for Luke. So, please take the time to vote if you can. You do have to register first, but it's just your name, e-mail, and gender. You can skip the rest of the questions and just vote on Luke's storyline if you don't follow the show, or voice your opinions on other storylines & characters if you do.

And of course, you can always voice your opinion on how the Luke storyline is going by contacting the show via snail mail or e-mail. Here's the contact info:

As the World Turns
1268 East 14th Street
Brooklyn, NY 11230.
atwt@cbs.com

Oh, and another quick note: Van Hansis has been pre-nominated for a Daytime Emmy for Best Younger Actor. Now, each show gets to pre-nominate two actors/actresses per category, and those actors choose two episodes of their work to send in. A panel then viewers all the selections and nominates five actors/actresses in each of the categories.

They'd be a fool not to nominate Van for the incredible work he's done during Luke's coming out storyline. I think the hardest part will be for Van to choose just two episodes to send in when there were so many amazing scenes spread out over months worth of shows!

So, congrats to Van on this first step to the Emmy he so richly deserves to win!

Tomorrow I hope to be able to post a piece I've been working on this week when I've been able to grab a few minutes here and there.

Catching Up

It has been five months since I last took pen in hand (metaphorically speaking, of course) to update this blog. When I started Seth in the City, I intended it to be a daily blog if possible, but certainly I intended to update at least three or four times a week.

Life gets in the way, but it also comes down to forgetfulness on my part. I'm just not in the habit of blogging on a regular basis and unless I get myself into the habit, this blog will probably just wither away, if it hasn't already. Use it or lose it, right?

Its been a busy five months for me, but when I think of all the things I could have found the time to blog about, I could kick myself.

But, no point in crying over spilt milk, right? So I'm going to treat this as a new start for Seth in the City. I don't mean to imply that Ill be blogging each and every day, but I do want to try and blog at least a few times a week.

I can't promise I'll be interesting, but I will do my best to get something up.

Lets start where we left off, shall we? That would be with Luke on As the World Turns.

I'm sorry to say that things have gone downhill very fast with that groundbreaking storyline. Around Labor Day, things finally came to a head between Luke & his best friend (and secret crush) Kevin.

Things between the two of them had been bad ever since Luke skipped out on the double date that Kevin had set up for them, and Luke finally decided it was time to tell Kevin the truth about himself. He followed Kevin up to a lake where a group of teens had gathered for an end of the summer trip and managed to get Kevin to agree to hear what he had to say.

It was another of those powerful scenes that As the World Turns was doing so very well with the Luke storyline at that point. Alone in a cabin, Luke finally confessed to Kevin that the reason he'd been acting so weird lately was that he'd been hiding a secret and he wasn't sure what to do about it. Kevin melted instantly and told Luke that he himself was no altar boy and Luke could tell him anything.

Relieved, Luke finally said the words he'd been so afraid to say to his best friend: I'm Gay.

Kevin's reaction wasn't exactly what Luke had hoped for. He fled the cabin without saying another word, but Luke followed him and confronted him.

Luke: I trust you with, like, the biggest deal of my life, and you turn around and say nothing?

Kevin: What do you want from me?

Luke: Nothing. I'm just so sick of pretending to be someone that I'm not. And you're my friend, so I wanted you to know who I really am.

Kevin: Yeah, well, now I know.

Luke: And we're okay?

Kevin: You know, I always knew there was something wrong with you. And now I know why. You're a freak.

From there, it got worse as Luke on-again-off-again-on again cousin Jade (yes, now she really IS his cousin; don't ask) emerged and rushed to her own defense of Luke, revealing another secret in the process:

Jade (to Kevin): I can't believe he ever tried to be straightforward and honest with a jerk like you.

Kevin: I don't think you can use the word straight.

Jade: Oh, can I use the word pig? Because what I don't understand, is how a pig like you thinks he has the right to judge anybody.

Luke: Jade, please, this really isn't helping --

Jade: Luke is kind and smart and strong, and he's more of a man than you could ever dream of being.

Kevin: He just said he's not a man.

Jade (to Kevin): Did you really just say that?

Luke: Look, Jade, Jade, just go away. Please, go away.

Jade (to Luke): How? How could you ever love someone like that?

Kevin: What did you just say?

Luke: Jade --

Jade (to Kevin): He defends you, do you know that? You act like a pig and he tells me I don't know what you're like!

Kevin: I'm not like that!

Luke: Jade, just shut your mouth and listen to me. You told me that I need to come out here and handle this myself. So please let me.

Jade: You can't let him talk to you like that.

Luke: And you can't fight my battles for me.

Jade: He's not worth it.

Luke: You can't decide that either. Jade, look, I'm so glad you're in my corner. But you have got to go. Please, you have to.

Jade: You don't deserve to be his friend. (Jade exits)

Kevin: Don't worry, I'm not! Look, don't come near me, don't even come close --

Luke: Kevin, Kevin, we need to talk about this.

Kevin: You expect me to stay here alone with you? After what she just said --

Luke: I think you should just --

Kevin: I think you're out of your mind.

Luke: Kevin, we need to talk --

Kevin: Look, if I stay here longer, I'm gonna beat the crap out of you.

Kevin's reaction to the news that Luke was gay and had feelings for him was about what viewers were expecting, given what we'd seen of the character. Van Hansis as Luke, though, truly made the scenes into something heartbreaking and powerful. He conveyed Luke's hurt and, more importantly, his sense of inner strength during these scenes, making them even more poignant. Luke's refusal to back down and let Kevin just walk away after hearing that he was gay was a big step forward for the character.

After telling Luke he'd beat the crap out of him if he stayed any longer, Kevin rushed off to rejoin his girlfriend and other friends and proceeded to get drunk (fueling a lot of fan speculation that Kevin was trying to drown out feelings of his own that Luke's confession had brought forward) and then out Luke to everyone and drop the F-bomb while he was at it. Catching sight of Luke across the lake, Kevin raised his beer can in a toast:

Kevin: Look who it is, our friend Luke. Ladies and gentlemen, I want to give a toast to a great guy -- a liar -- and a faggot!

Thanks to ATWT's writing and Van Hansis's portrayal of the character, the audience at this point had come to identify with Luke so strongly and to root for him so much that it made the F word carry more power than it may otherwise have for some. I think for many people who don't know anyone who is gay, seeing a stranger treated that way has less of an impact than seeing someone they do know and care about treated that way. And that's what Luke had become, in the best soap character sense: someone you know and care about. I'd like to think that a lot of eyes may have been opened among viewers regarding the use of hateful words.

What came next was just as important, especially following the storyline with his biological father, in which Luke seemed to be slotted into the 'damsel in distress' role. As the World Turns made Luke a hero when he saved the life of the person who had just outed him to half the student body and called him the F-word to boot.

Drunken Kevin and his girlfriend took a boat out onto the lake and the girlfirend ended up accidentally whacking Kevin in the head with an oar and sending him under. Luke, who saw this from the shoreline, dove in and swam Kevin back to shore, where he performed mouth to mouth and saved Kevin's life.

When Kevin woke up in the hospital and realized Luke had performed mouth to mouth on him, Luke naturally expected a bad reaction.

Luke: Look, Kevin -- I don't know what you expected me to do, but I didn't really have a choice, okay? Someone I care about -- like a friend -- I couldn't stand by and watch you drown. No matter how much you hate me for who I am.

Kevin: Thank you.

Luke: What?

Kevin: Thank you. For saving my life. After I did everything to trash yours.

Luke: Yeah, you acted like a jerk. But that doesn't mean you deserved to die.

Kevin: I was worse than a jerk. Saying I knew that there was always something wrong with you. And calling you a -- a faggot. It was wrong.

Luke: Yeah.

Kevin: I'm sorry. I take it back.

Luke: Liv must have done a number on your head.

Kevin: I'm not saying I'm cool with what you laid on me. It's just -- the way I reacted, I crossed the line. I mean, you saved my life after I made fun of you. I mean, who does that? Look, anyway, thank you.

Luke was under no illusions, though, about just where things stood between him and Kevin and about the sort of school year he was facing, being the outed gay kid. When Holden arrived at the hospital, he and his son had a heart to heart.

Luke: Kevin totally freaked when I told him I was gay. He said stuff.

Holden: What stuff?

Luke: You don't want to know. So, yeah, he's all happy now that I saved his life. He apologized for that he said, and thanked me. But as far as us being friends? That's over.
You should have seen Liv's face when I was giving Kevin mouth-to-mouth. She was acting all hysterical and she can't talk tonight. But back at school? She's going to make it very clear to everyone that I'm gay.

Holden: And you don't want that?

Luke: No, I do want that. I'm sick of hiding, but I don't want Kevin and Liv putting their spin on it.

Holden: What spin is that? Maybe you're wrong about what Kevin's feeling. He said that you saved him and maybe you're reading him wrong.

Luke: Dad, he -- he called me a faggot, dad. He said he was going to beat me up.

Holden: But he just said that --

Luke: Yeah, but he was talking to you. My dad. In a hospital in the middle of nowhere, and he's all happy that I just saved his life. But when we get back to school -- and he's hanging out with the other guys, and they start making fun of him because he got kissed by the gay guy --

Holden: It was CPR. You saved his life.

Luke: But I'm not like them.

Holden: Luke --

Luke: And that's all that matters.

Holden: Luke --

Luke: Dad, come on. You know what high school's like. So don't tell me that it's going to be easy. Or they'll get over it. Because you know that's not how it works.

Holden: I do know that, but --

Luke: All this time, I thought I was going to have such a good time being a senior. The best year of my life. Not anymore.

All of which seems to be setting up some important storylines with Luke dealing with his senior year as a potential outcast, right? Remember, this was happening at the beginning of September, right as school was about to start.

With Luke finally being out to everyone and Lily finally coming out of her coma and accepting Luke, apologizing to him for the way she'd reacted to his coming out, that portion of the storyline was over. There was no doubt that ATWT had done the coming out storyline better than anyone else ever had in daytime. It was truly groundbreaking, and now they were clearly setting the stage for more groundbreaking storylines with Luke.

Right? Wrong.

As I said, that was early September. It was also the end of Luke as a front burner character. In the nearly five months since then, Luke has only been on to be a confidant to Jade or to be in the background at family events and the big New Year's Eve Party.

How is that senior year going for Luke? What's it like being an out gay teen in high school in Oakdale? We've got no clue, because Luke's senior year is more than halfway over and it's not been mentioned once. Kevin hasn't been seen or mentioned since those hospital scenes and Luke sightings have become increasingly rare in the last couple of months.

Is Luke going the way of traditional gay soap characters after all? Come out and then vanish? Rumors are flying that he'll finally have a storyline later this winter, but what sort of storyline? Will he get a love interest? One rumor out there says that he'll make over a female character, a la Queer Eye, and then she'll fall for him. Considering that, in coming out to his cousin Lucy last summer, Luke demonstrated that he has no stereotypical gay fashion sense ("Fashion? I like stripes.") lets hope this one is just a ludicrous rumor and not where they're actually going with this amazing character. But more and more, I fear that performing mouth to mouth on Kevin may be as close as Luke ever gets to a kiss on this show, let alone a love interest.

As the World Turns was recently nominated for a Writer's Guild Award, based upon episodes they submitted. What episodes did they choose to submit? Luke coming out to his parents, and Luke coming out to Kevin. They know these are powerful episodes, and yet they've more or less dropped the character rather than delving further into his experiences as a gay high school senior, or having him find love. They're more than willing to use the Luke story to try and get awards, but they're unwilling to show that there's anything more to being gay than just coming out! It's cowardly and unworthy of the story that came before it.

The viewers deserve better than this, and so does Van Hansis, a talented actor reduced to serving punch in the background just because his character is gay on a soap opera. This unwillingness to follow through, to tell important stories with real meaning, is a big part of why soap ratings are in the toilet, and why ATWT's ratings in particular have been dismal lately. They were up nicely the week Luke came out to Kevin, but now they're lower than ever. Coincidence? Hardly. Hopefully these fools will wake up before it's too late, if it's not already.

The Saga Continues

So, it's been about a month and a half since we last checked in on the gay soap character front, and Luke Snyder, As The World Turns' gay teen character, in particular. Any soap fan knows that a month and a half on a soap can be filled with more action and drama than most real people's whole lives.

First up, let's all give a sarcastic thanks to General Hospital for truly going the traditional route with their gay character, shall we? They don't need to be modern or groud breaking over at GH, the classic route is good enough for them, damn it! They introduced a gay storyline just long enough to have the character come out and then get bashed, and then? Crickets began chirping.

Lucas Jones was seen so rarely in recent months that his portrayer, Ben Hogestyn, who'd never been elevated beyond recurring status, just signed a contract to play a (presumably straight) character over on Bold & the Beautiful. No word yet if GH will even bother recasting Lucas, but if I were you I wouldn't place any bets on the character ever being mentioned again.

Some good news, though, over on All My Children. The pioneering character of Bianca Montgomery (who, as I explained in my Gaytime TV post, was daytime's first gay character from a core family) is returning to the show this October, reportedly for a long term stay. The character hasn't been on the show regularly since 2005.

On the off chance you were wondering, no new gay, lesbian, or bisexual characters have been introduced in daytime since last we checked in.

With those updates noted, lets turn our attention back to Luke Snyder on As the World Turns. This storyline continues to impress me, even with some detours that do distract from the core of the story, which is Luke's sexuality.

When we last looked in on Luke, his mother had fallen into a coma after a tumble down the stairs and his biological father was pretending to accept him while secretly scheming to send him to a 'Scared Straight' camp and drive a wedge between Luke and his much more accepting father, Holden.

Well, Lily is still in that pesky coma (and Martha Byrne, her portrayer, is still on maternity leave), but last week was a big one for Luke. For weeks, Damian continued to manipulate Luke to keep him from reconnecting with his father and it worked right up until doctors performed a c-section on Lily to bring her and Holden's new baby son into the world.

The birth of the new baby brought Luke closer to his family than ever and he was on the verge of returning home when he found out 'by accident' that Damian was dying. Damian 'reluctantly' admitted that he'd just wanted to spend his last days getting to know his son and urged Luke to return to Malta with him.

Luke didn't want to leave his family, especially with his mother's life still hanging in the balance, but Damian was all alone in the world. How could he deny his last request? Van Hansis, Luke's portrayer, did an amazing job conveying both Luke's reluctance to leave and his belief that it was the right thing to do.

Meanwhile, as Luke's father, grandmother Lucinda, and cousin Lucy, all worked to prove that Damian wasn't really dying, the audience learned that a shady Mafioso type was forcing Damian to bring his son to Malta.

Now, none of this really has much to do with Luke being gay, so many people felt (and justifiably so) that the story had gone off track. I'd argue, though, that it continues to be a ground breaking daytime story. Why? Luke is still front and center. He hasn't vanished like Lucas Jones or all the other gay characters before him. He's not just hanging out to give advice to female friends.

A major storyline is revolving around him, and that's something you haven't seen for gay characters before now, with the exception of Bianca Montgomery. Not only is Luke front and center, but he's been made into a character that the audience truly cares about and roots for. A lot of that has to do with the vulnerability that Van Hansis brings to the role. You can't watch him as Luke without wanting to protect him from the bad guys. You just want this kid to find happiness and love. And that's what classic soap characters are all about, really. You're supposed to watch them week after week, year after year, and root for them. As the World Turns hasn't just created a gay character in Luke, they've created a classic soap character in the best sense of the term.

Luke hasn't forgotten that he's gay. He finally brought himself to tell his best friend/ secret crush Kevin that he "wasn't interested in girls" after Kevin asked him to go on a double date with Kevin & his girlfriend and a friend of hers. Unfortunately, Kevin took Luke's confession to mean that Luke preferred women over high school girls and Luke allowed himself to be talked into going on the date.

How many gay teens out there have felt forced into going on dates with the opposite sex, either to prove something to themselves or to their friends? This was an incredibly believable scenario that played out just like you'd imagine. Luke wanted to spend time with Kevin, but his crush wanted alone time with his own girlfriend and Luke was left alone with the other girl, who was coming on strong, and a bottle of Vodka.

Feeling frustrated and upset, Luke ended up ditching the girl and hitting the bottle, leading to an angry confrontation with Kevin that left Luke feeling more alone than ever and played a part in his decision to leave town with Damian.

Last week, things with Damian came to a sudden conclusion and the show once again shined while putting Luke's sexuality front and center. Damian, it turned out, needed Luke to sign some papers waiving his inheritance so that Damian could use it to pay off his own enemies. This all came out at the airport when Holden and his cousin Jack, who is a cop, showed up to stop Damian and his shady friend from leaving the country.

It all ended with a bit of gun play at the airport, followed by a phenomenal confrontation between Damian and Luke. I'm going to quote a few of my favorite lines from the episode, but I really cannot do them the justice they deserve. Just writing them on the screen doesn't convey the hurt, anger, and sadness that Van Hansis brought to the table as Luke in these scenes.

Luke finally realized the extent of Damian's lies: not only was his biological father not dying, he also didn't accept Luke being gay. This came out when an angry Damian lashed out at Holden, telling him that he wanted to get Luke away to undo the damage Holden had done, and that if he'd have raised Luke, the boy would have turned out to be a 'true man'.

After hearing this, Luke confronted Damian himself, using bitter sarcasm as he asked his biological father what he meant by a 'son to be proud of':

Luke: Because you accept me as is, right? So then it would have been cool for me to bring guys home, hang out, maybe even get into a long term relationship?

Damian: Or discover that's not how you want to live.

Luke: And start to like girls? Maybe date, get married, have kids, the right way?

Damian: Luke, you should have children.

Luke: And maybe I will. In case you didn't know, Damian, science has caught up to freaks like me.

As Damian prattled on about it taking a young man a long time to find out who he is, a light bulb went off in Luke's head and he realized that Damian was sounding an awful lot like Ross Kreeger, the director of the 'conversion' camp for gay teens. Putting two and two together, Luke realized that Damian had been behind the plan to send him to the camp, not Lily.

Damian admitted as much, and tried to tell Luke that he felt the camp was what his son needed. Luke summed up the camp's methods:

Luke: Deprogramming in a resort setting. Enjoy the Olympic sized pool while a staff of trained professionals messes with your head, tries to unscrew something that wasn't screwed up to begin with!

The airport confrontation ended with Luke signing over his inheritance to Damian and telling him that he's always been a Snyder and that's all he'll ever want to be. And so ends the Damian chapter of our story, at least for now. The show left it open for a Damian return somewhere down the road, and if that happens, I'd like to see Damian struggling to accept Luke. One thing was made clear through both the writing and the acting of the character by Paolo Seganti: Damian does love his son. He truly believed that he was trying to help Luke (other than that whole inheritance thing, of course, which he just viewed as an unfortunate necessity). I'd like to see Damian return someday, hopefully when Luke is in a relationship, and see him deal with the reality of who his son is.

Luke being gay was a big factor in the story when Damian first arrived, and it turned out to be a big factor in the story at the end, but the main body of the story revolved around Damian lying and manipulating Luke to keep him away from Holden and the Snyder family.

But, that's okay. As I said, Luke was front and center in the story, and that alone is a step forward. And of course, not EVERY story about Luke has to be about him being gay. However, we still have a long way to go. Now that Damian is out of the picture, it's time for the story to focus back on Luke himself. He still hasn't come out to very many people, and in particular he needs to come out to Kevin. Rumor has it that this is coming in the next few weeks, and I for one am sitting on the edge of my seat in true soap fan fashion!

No matter what happens with Luke outing himself to Kevin, the next step is a relationship for Luke. They don't necessarily have to rush into this right away (although it should be noted that they didn't hesitate to rush the straight teens on the show into relationships in the past year), but they need to begin to build up to it. If they're going to keep the momentum of this storyline going, it can't end with Luke coming out. They're not shying away from Luke being gay, and they're not sidelining him as a character, so dare we hope that they actually will take the next step? Will Luke find love?

as the world turns
van hansis
luke snyder

As The Closet Opens

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

Family Tradition

I'm once again hurrying between classes, but I wanted to highlight this article from the Washington Post about gay and lesbian families planning to attend the traditional White House Easter Egg Roll this year. It's the perfect way to demonstrate to the Bush Administration and to America in general that gay and lesbian families are just as real and as loving as any other family in this country. An event like this should be representative of every sort of family in America. Hopefully, this will become an annual tradition for many gay and lesbian families.

washington post

The Watchers

I'm hurrying between classes at the moment, but check out this story about the Pentagon spying on gay groups who oppose Don't Ask Don't Tell.

Some Highlights

Well, Spring Break has come and come, and I'm finding myself back in the same old cycle where I never quite manage to find time to blog, no matter how much I mean to.

Well, that's not 100% true. I made time last weekend and I worked on a post for a few hours, but I just couldn't quite get it together, somehow. There was just something off about it. I'm far too much of a perfectionist and the result is that where some people can just jump on and blog frequently, I find myself putting in an unconscionable amount of time on each post. I've tried to break that habit and do quick posts, but it never works. Once I'm on and blogging, it becomes an event.

So, there are a few things I want to do tonight. One is a belated cry of joy at the resignation of Tom DeLay! I was doing a happy dance here when I first saw the news. How sweet it is! But, remember, he's really just the tip of the iceberg. It would be all too easy to rejoice at his downfall and forget that the culture of corruption is barely scathed by this. We've got a loooooong way to go. Still, it was a sweet, sweet moment, no?

Over at The Sharp Side, Ellis has an excellent piece on the character assassination in the British press of left wing figures George Galloway, Noam Chomsky, and the sort of left Simon Hughes, who is as left as they get when it comes to candidates running to head the center-left Liberal Democrat Party in the UK. Check it out. I'm ever fascinated by British politics.

I'd like to thank those who wrote in response to my last two posts. I appreciated those who took the time to let me know they liked what I had to say. It was a bit scary to out myself as a soap fan, given the stereotypes and, let's face it, the wretched state of the genre overall. To hear from a few fellow soap fans who want to see the shows start having real social value again was great.

Of course, I also had one e-mail complaining about me taking the time to watch soaps at all, let alone blog about them, when there is so much else going on in the world.

To that, I can only say that as far as watching soaps go, they're a form of escape. We can't all be on and tuned in to serious matters 24/7. We'd go insane if we didn't have our brief little avenues of respite. For me, those are books and soaps, the latter in moderation.

As for blogging about them, I think there's just as much social merit in discussing how soaps are dealing with a woman's right to choose and with gay and lesbian issues as there is in anything else. The writer of the e-mail used my own words from a previous post, in which I lamented my Aunt discussing Nick Lachey & Jessica Simpson's break up at Thanksgiving dinner as if it were 'news' to point out that I was 'pretty much doing the same thing'.

I disagree. I'm discussing soaps from the perspective of the left, examining how they're depicting our society. I'm not writing about the hook ups and break ups of the characters as if that in and of itself were news. If Luke Snyder is allowed to have a serious boyfriend on As The World Turns, I will blog about it, because it will be a groundbreaking moment in daytime. And I will be writing (in a future post) about the way women are depicted on many of these shows, and that will include some discussion of relationships as they pertain to that issue.

If you think that's a waste of your time, I won't be hurt if you don't read it.

There's more to say, but I've got class early in the morning and some reading to finish before I get some sleep.

I'm going away for the weekend to attend a family celebration, but my plan is to post again late Sunday night/early Monday morning.