Gays of our Lives (December 9, 2008)

Played by Bill Campbell (who went on to do other gay roles in the mini-series Tales of The City and its sequels), Luke was sweet, sensitive and impossibly beautiful. And try as he might, Steven Carrington couldn’t resist – and neither could I!

The rest of the Steven/Luke storyline was fairly well told by Dynasty standards (this was by far the show’s best year creatively). And to their credit, it was one of the major storylines on the show for that season and affected many of the cast outside Steven, Luke and his wife. Steven’s struggle was long (painfully long as he seemed to change his mind from scene to scene, not just episode to episode). And as likeable as Bill Campbell’s Luke was, he came off as a wimp for putting up with Steven’s annoying indecisiveness.

But the big problem, as with Steven and Ted, was a severe lack of chemistry between the two characters. None of their scenes were particularly romantic despite the pronouncements of love and devotion. The fact that they barely touched (though the show made it clear they were lovers) didn’t help.

Campbell did what he could with his role. While green, he was earnest and sincere (per usual for the gays, of course) as Luke. And some of his scenes were rather moving. You believed he truly loved Steven, but Coleman was visibly uncomfortable whenever required to be anywhere near Campbell and sometimes actually looked as if he were in pain. No doubt, he wished ABC still used the ruler from the Ted Dinard era.

And that ‘romantic’ hug was pretty much it for Steven and Luke. Shortly thereafter, Luke was a victim of the infamous Moldavian massacre (which many people believe was the show’s jump-the-shark moment, even though it ran another three seasons).

Dynasty's "Moldavian Massacre"

There are conflicting reports as to why Luke was killed off. Some have said that Billy Campbell wanted to leave the show and try other things. Or that the show’s new writers felt that the Steven/Luke story had gone as far as it could – as if there’s no story that could be gotten out of two openly gay men raising a child in the ‘80’s!

But a third scenario is probably the most likely. With AIDS making headlines across the country, ABC was even more nervous about having a sexually active, openly gay man as one of Dynasty’s most prominent characters, ergo Luke had to go. And he took Steven’s sex life with him. Steven remained gay, but was celibate and never had another romantic relationship, something the show never bothered to explain.

It was a shame that the show took this route. I believe the show’s creators were sincere in truly wanting to tell a relevant, progressive story about homosexuality and coming out. After all, they had nothing to gain in doing so and everything to lose by taking such a risk at the time. And I credit them for that. But after all that work of finally getting Steven to a place where he accepted himself as an out gay man, the show basically shoved him back in the closet by refusing to give him anything resembling a romantic life.

And by giving Steven a romantic life, even in the age of AIDS, the show would have sent a perfect message about how gay men could continue to love and be loved … safely. As much as I loved that ABC took the risk of this storyline, the way they let fear ultimately rule the day (just as some shows that shall remain nameless continue to do to this day) left a sour taste in many viewers’ mouths.