Fans of the CBS daytime soap "As The World Turns" have launched a campaign to convince the creaters of the series to give the soap's gay couple - Luke and Noah - more on screen smooch time.

The romance between the two gay characters, played by Van Hansis and Jake Silbermann, started in June last year and the couple first kissed in August, which is believed to be the first time two gay men kissed on a soap.

The couple kissed again in September, but after that there has been no more gay smooching.

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."

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.

Newcomb says that at Christmas time, when Luke and Noah went in for a kiss under the mistletoe, the camera zoomed in on the mistletoe instead of showing the actual kiss. 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.

The show's producer denies they are censoring out gay scenes. "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.

"As the World Turns," which premiered in 1956, had the first gay male character in daytime drama in 1988. The soap is owned, produced and written by Procter & Gamble Productions Inc., a subsidiary of the consumer giant.

See the first kiss between Luke and Noah below:

Last update: 03-04-2008 12:53