TVSquad

It was big news when As the World Turns, CBS and Procter & Gamble's 52-year-old daytime drama, presented a gay love story between two men. When Luke Snyder (Van Hansis) admitted to Noah Mayer (Jake Silbermann) that he loved him, it was a major step forward for the soap opera genre. However, fans of the show are upset. No, they're okay with them being gay. They just want them to be more affectionate. They're protesting!

In an AP story about the As the World Turns protest, Roger Newcomb, a die-hard fan, said, "We totally support this show and applaud the show for doing this story line. We just don't understand why they [Luke and Noah] have to be censored or treated differently."




Luke and Noah are in love and sexually involved, but on screen they've shared only one kiss. Just one, and that was way back in September. Newcomb has posted an online petition and encouraged a letter-writing campaign among fans, asking them to urge the producers to give Luke and Noah some on screen kissing. Newcomb created a web site with a clock counting the days, hours, minutes and seconds since the couple last kissed on camera.

To underscore his point, Newcomb points out that at Christmas time, when Luke and Noah had the chance for a kiss under the mistletoe, nothing was shown. Then, for the Valentine's Day episode, when all the soap's couples were given romantic moments to share, Luke and Noah exchanged a hug.

Is the show censoring the love story as Newcomb suggests? "There's no kissing ban," said Jeannie Tharrington, spokeswoman for Procter & Gamble Productions. The choice to show the Christmas kiss off-camera, she said, was a "creative decision."

For a long-running, Emmy-award winning drama like As the World Turns, this is a tough line to toe. They have always espoused traditionally values, the strong family ties found in the Hughes, Stewart and Snyder clans, for example. But they've also been on the forefront of social issues, like having the first gay man come out of the closet on a soap in 1988. Clearly, they feel that they are taking bold steps by presenting a young gay couple in a committed relationship. The producers have to be stunned by this protest. Obviously, they don't want to alienate their established audience, but would men smooching be a turn off to them? Other gay couples on TV, like Kevin and Scottie on Brothers and Sisters, are shown kissing -- but that's primetime. Daytime is more tricky. "It's always hard to please a diverse audience,'' Tharrington said, adding, "We have a diverse audience." Time will tell; we'll keep an eye on Newcomb's web site and the ticking clock.