"As the World Turns" Ends With a Gay Cliché and Leaves Fans Fuming

A remarkable gay storyline played out on U.S. television over the past several weeks. Viewers not only saw two gay men deeply in love express their devotion to one another, but they also saw both of those men behave in a heroic, even noble fashion.

Fans also watched as those who knew the two men expressed their admiration of them, extolling the virtues of their relationship and celebrating their love as not just something perfectly normal, but as something beautiful and admirable.

Quite frankly, it was unlike any other gay storyline seen on American television.

It also made many gay and straight viewers furious.

The show was As the World Turns, which ended its fifty-four year run last week. And as the show came to a close, wrapping up most storylines, the love story of one Luke Snyder (Van Hansis)and Dr. Reid Oliver (Eric Sheffer Stevens) was front and center for much of the time.

Unfortunately, theirs was a story that ended in tragedy when Reid was badly injured while he on a lifesaving errand for a co-worker. Knowing he was going to die, Reid insisted his heart be donated to that colleague who was waiting for a heart transplant.

Many of the final scenes between Luke and Reid were genuinely heartbreaking as Luke had to say goodbye to the man he had only recent come to love. Viewers watched as Luke grappled with the decision to follow Reid’s last wishes to donate his organs. They watched Luke’s devastation as he kissed Reid one final time before his body was taken away.

It’s hard imagining anyone watching these scenes, not only empathizing with Luke’s anguish, but possibly even seeing gay relationships differently. These weren’t two gay men, but two people, deeply in love with each other but facing unimaginable tragedy.

And it was yet another example of how ATWT was far and away the best American soap opera when it comes to gay male characters.

So why were so many gay viewers furious with the show? In part that anger stems from the fact that Reid Oliver is yet the latest in a long string of dead gay characters from the writers in Hollywood. Indeed, the past two years alone have seen dead gay or bi characters on Spartacus, Big Love, Torchwood, Battlestar Galactica, Damages, The Prisoner and Kings just to name some of the dead.

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Anger over the death of Reid on ATWT was also certainly stoked by the fact that almost everyone else in Oakdale had a happy ending – Carly and Jack got married; Chris, his heart transplant successful, proposed to Katie, and she accepted; Bob and Kim retired to Arizona; even Lily and Holden patched things up and are starting fresh.

Meanwhile, Reid is dead, and at best, Luke came to understand how fully he loved Reid and that despite Reid’s irascible nature, he was a genuinely good man who cared deeply about other people.

As for the show’s third gay character, Noah Mayer (Jake Silbermann), who recently regained his sight – he’s still in love with Luke but by the end of the series, he’s moved to Los Angeles to pursue his film career while Luke remains alone in Oakdale dealing with grief over Reid’s death.

While Reid’s final storyline featured some of the best writing the show has offered, and Hansis and Stevens did some of their best work, there was probably no way the story could have ended this way and not generated the furious backlash it did.

Not only are many gay viewers simply sick and tired of seeing gay/bi characters die, but Luke and Reid were one of the few gay couples on television, making their loss even more stinging.

Add to that the fact that while ATWT was truly groundbreaking in its depiction of gay characters, it also always treated those gay characters with a clear double standard – Luke and Noah went months without kissing and took far longer to have sex than any straight characters, while Luke and Reid never even got to have sex – and it’s no wonder viewers had little patience for Reid’s demise, no matter how heroic or well done.