Best. Gay. Week. Ever. (April 4, 2008)

DEUTSCHLAND IST AUCH ZIEMLICH SCHWUL
If I got that translation right (a big if, I grant you) then it says Germay is pretty gay, too, at least when it comes to soaps. I've written several times over the past weeks about the German show Forbidden Love and its ongoing storyline with Olli and Christian. It turns out that wasn't Olli's first same-sex relationship. Back in 2001/202 he was seeing another fellow named Tom.

You can see the second clip here.

Jo Weil, the actor who plays Olli left the show for a number of years and only recently returned to the show, recently gave an email interview to the blog The Gays of Daytime. One of their first questions was whether or not Jo himself is gay. Says Jo:

I’ve played a lot of straight characters – and I’ve never been asked whether I’m straight in real life. That’s how this question, which is asked almost always, makes it seem like playing gay/bisexual is something abnormal. And that’s why I choose not to answer it anymore :-). The character is into both men and women, but right now he’s got a major crush on Christian.

Aw, no fair! Here is the most recently subtitled clip of the show I could find, though The Gays of Daytime is also doing the show. Now if only we could get someone to liveblog it!

Before you become completely convinced European shows (which aren't exactly like our daytime soaps, as many air in the early evening) are completely a gay Nirvana, BobbyBaby pointed in last week's BEST.GAY.WEEK.EVER comments that a number of these storylines — John Paul/Craig on Hollyoaks, Roman/Deniz on All That Matters — have wound up having one of the guys decide he's not really gay after all, but just in love with this one guy.

I don't know about you, but I don't particularly want my gay storylines to be about a straight guy dabbling, and if As the World Turns pulled that, I'd come down on them like a ton of bricks.

Speaking of ATWT and American soap operas, for those of you who have given up on the show, AfterElton.com reader Cal is starting a campaign to get The Young and the Restless to add a gay character. And Cal even knows which one it should be — Adam, played by Chris Engen (pictured left).

Cal says Adam (or Victor Newman Jr. as I've also seem him referred to) would be perfect. I'm not sure why, other than the fact he is really hot, but perhaps because he is Victor Sr.'s long lost son, his past is a complete mystery and there is no conflicting backstory. I have to say, I don't think it's a half-bad idea. If you'd like to help Cal with his campaign, you can email the Y&R directly here, and you can also join Cal's Facebook group Make Adam Gay where you can help brainstorm ideas to make this happen.