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| Part of the new batch of gay soap characters with integral plotlines, Luke Snyder (Van Hansis, right) on ‘As the World Turns’ spins on a dramatic axis as he struggles with a crush on his straight friend Kevin (Karl Girolama). (Photo by Lorenzo Bevilaqua courtesy PGP) |
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HOME > ENTERTAINMENT > FEATURE
By: ZACK HUDSON COMMENTS
 
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“One Life to Live” in the 1990s when the character Billy Douglas (played by soon-to-be-movie-star Ryan Phillipe), another troubled gay teen, came out to his priest and inadvertently sparked a massive wave of homophobia in fictional Llanview, where “One Life to Live” is set.
Even his priest, who was supportive of his coming out, became the target of an anti-gay witchhunt. Billy’s most significant connection to anyone in Llanview was to the teenage son of the show’s main character. When the story tapered off, so did Billy’s presence in Llanview.
“At that point, I don’t think there would have been any question of making the son of the central couple gay,” Passanante says. “It gives you an idea of how much better things are now.”
Damon Romine, media entertainment director for the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, says that the newest batch of gay characters make soaps worth tuning in.
“It is significant that the soaps are including these characters, and I hope these shows continue to explore their lives and all the interesting stories that can be told,” Romine says. “When a daytime character comes out, it’s still news because it’s so rare, and it’s historic that three soaps on three different networks each feature a gay character, and that these characters are part of the soap’s core families.”
Since soaps are all about telling stories, the gay kids get into their share of hijinks. On CBS’ “As the World Turns,” 17-year-old Luke Snyder (Van Hansis), scion of super couple Lily (Martha Byrne) and Holden Snyder (Jon Hensley), is grappling with a crush on his straight best friend, being blackmailed for being gay, coming out to his parents, avoiding the sticky tentacles of a stream of “ex-gay” counselors ready to whisk him off to aversion therapy camps and just being a teenager.
“The ‘world turns’ around Luke’s sexuality,” laughs Coleridge. “It’s ‘When am I going to get over this crush on this boy who isn’t interested in me?’ He isn’t a PSA ad, he’s a real person.”
That said, Hansis appeared alongside soap legend Byrne, who plays his mother, in a Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation Public Service Announcement that aired immediately after an “As the World Turns” episode in May.
Dwindling controversy
The PSA itself caused some minor turbulence with the Traditional Values Coalition, a conservative national political lobby, which asked its members to boycott the episode and fire off letters to the show’s producers.
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