Hate the Kiss, Love the Kisser?

Allow me to point out something I noticed at an ATWT forum which seems to be run mostly by straight women. What I found in that forum, and ones like it, is that users who demand that these gay characters be treated equal are met with derision and even told to shut up. At the same time gay men who demonstrate that they are struggling with their orientation and seem to admit they're ashamed of themselves are touted as heros (and perhaps they are.)

That differentiation stems from a terrible disparagement, I believe. It's an epitaph that was invented for and is used against GLBT folks, "Hate the sin, love the sinner." What it means in this context is that when I demand that a gay character is represented as healthy and the same as a straight character, I am dismissed or censored. But when I express my shame then I'm perceived as having taken the high road toward mending all the differences between the gay world and the straight world; I deserve their love, because I realize I should be ashamed of my sin. God says I should be loved and condemned in equal measure. If I am proud, I'm not really playing the game and it's kinda hard to love that. Some say that we need to be really patient. For what? One day the Pope will say it's okay for me to kiss my lover, and then they won't need to feel shame for me? And all those gay radicals? Oh, they're just mucking things up and making it harder for the Pope and Proctor and Gamble to do their job.

My point is that the Luke and Noah story-line represents a negative posture, if you will, by reinforcing a kind of Don't Ask, Don't Tell philosophy which demands a belief in gay shame in order to justify it.

A great example of this happens after the second Nuke kiss and Noah's father attempts to murder Luke. To appease his actions (on the Nov. 20th episode) a Major from the Army walks on to confirm that Noah's father is indeed a hero, in case there was any doubt that the attempted murder of a gay man would in anyway tarnish his reputation in the eyes of the military. But that's a whole other story right there. This shame based telling of gay love is what Proctor and Gamble have been selling all along. We just weren't paying attention, or didn't want to notice.

There are other examples as Psionycx so succinctly pointed out,

"The two kisses were very necessary within the story context."

This is a schizophrenic story where we are expected to ignore the parts that profess a program of shame and embrace the parts that show a gay couple making goo-goo eyes at each other. P&G never intended to show this couple on equal footing with the other characters on the show. ATWT is a plot driven soap, any kissing done outside of the plot is completely arbitrary. That Luke and Noah are not afforded kisses and are given cheesy dialog is the choice of P&G and part of a larger vision that ultimately portrays being gay as shameful.


video 2
Nov 20, 2007 the second half of the program begins with a confrontation between Luke, Noah and his father.
Major Gerard MacLaine states: In spite of his private demons, "colonel mayer was a hero."
The message is: attempting to murder someone because he is gay it excusable for Green Berets.