Best. Gay. Week. Ever. (October 02, 2009)

IT'S ATWT VS OLTL VS ATM!
AfterElton.com reader Liz recently started a thread in the forum section titled "ATWT VS. OLTL! GO!" which is pretty self-explanatory. I haven't had much time to follow the soaps lately, but I did take some time to read the comments and catch up on some of the shows and thought I'd throw in my two cents worth.

While As The World Turns will always have a fond place in my heart for dragging the soap opera world into the 21st century regarding gay male representation, I have to say One Life To Live has zoomed so far past ATWT, I doubt Kish can see Nuke in their rearview mirror. 

I think how each show has handled the addition of a third gay character demonstrates the huge gap that now exists between them. While ATWT added Mason as Noah's professor and a potential complication in his relationship with Luke, they've really done nothing with that storyline as they have shied away from any sort of love triangle or anything else terribly interesting. 

Meanwhile, over on OLTL, we've got a great set up going on between Oliver, Kyle and Nick that not only doesn't feel salacious, but seems to have actual heart as Oliver deals with coming out as well as his unresolved feelings for Kyle who has moved on to Nick. Now that's a soap opera.

Oh, and I know there are some negative feelings about the show's upcoming gay storyline, but personally I don't have a problem with it. Rather than seeing the show handling gay issues less seriously with this "stunt", I see them treating the topic in the same sudsy way as most other issues tehy cover and I think they deserve kudos for that. These are soaps after all, where people marry each other five times, die, come back, and change identities faster than you can say "plot hole."

Finally, one commenter in the ATWT VS OLTL thread asked if they could vote for Germany's All That Matters and I second that emotion. It's been doing what OLTL is just starting to do for so long now that they are actually bringing one male same-sex couple back together after breaking them up (and in a steamy way we'll never see in the U.S.). All I can say to that is Danke! Danke!

But what say you? Here is a quick poll to see which soap you guys are feeling the most love for at the moment. (And for you Chrolli fans, I'm including Forbidden Love as well!)

Next page! Just who is the audience for this anyway?