The Gays of Our Lives
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The ATWT character is Luke Grimaldi, played by Van Hansis. On the show, he's the son of Lily and Holden Snyder, played by Martha Byrnes and Jon Hensley, award-winning actors who have been on the show for decades.

While I don't watch the show, Hansis has videos of his storyline on his website which allowed me to catch up. I was actually impressed with the acting and writing. Let's face it, while many respected actors and actresses got their start on daytime television, soaps aren't known for their acting. The writers and directors at ATWT, though, couldn't have chosen a better bunch for this storyline. Byrnes, Hensley, and Hansis are all strong actors. It's not even Hansis' first time playing gay. He portrayed Matthew Shepherd in The Laramie Project.

I was especially impressed with the way the writers handled the story with respect and honesty. His coming out has been gradual and filled with many of the pitfalls real gay teens face: falling for your best friend, hiding it from your family, dating girls as a cover, etc. Of course, in typical soap style, there's plenty of melodrama, too. Luke is also a transplant recipient, and the girl he dated turned out to be a con artist who tried to use his fear of coming out to manipulate him. Still, even with those somewhat improbable twists, the story has been surprisingly grounded and realistic.

On May 9th, Luke came out to his parents, and their reactions were also touchingly true-to-life. While his father was accepting, saying he was their son and they'd love him no matter what, his mother had a harder time -- not so much because he was gay, but more because she felt betrayed that he had lied to them. The coming out clip brought tears to my eyes.

The show continues to focus on the family as it moves forward and seems committed to Luke's story. In fact, CBS is so committed to a fair and honest portrayal that they even teamed with GLAAD (Gays and Lesbians Alliance Against Defamation, a media watchdog that promotes positive representation of LGBT people) to create a Public Service Announcement encouraging viewers to be a friend and ally to gay people. The PSA (along with the coming out clip) can be viewed at www.GLAAD.org.
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