Everyone knows soap operas like outrageous plot twists: murder, blackmail, evil twins, and all the rest

This week, however, CBS' As The World Turns has been dealing with a more real-life drama: the revelation that a child is gay.

On Monday's episode, 17-year old Luke Grimaldi, played by Van Hansis, finally told his parents he is gay. On Tuesday, we witnessed the repercussions of that revelation: anger, betrayal, confusion, and hurt, all played in a surprisingly understated way, especially given this is a medium known for over-the-top acting and writing.

Naturally, Luke's coming out has been filled with some melodramatic twists and turns, most provided by Jade (Elena Goode), a con artist who used Luke 's fear of coming out to manipulate him and his parents (played by Martha Byrne and Jon Hensley). But melodramatic soap opera conventions aside, the show has done a laudable job with this storyline. Ironically, Luke may be one of the most believable, and realistic, gay characters currently on television.

This isn't the first time a soap opera has dealt with gay teenagers. All My Children introduced a teenage lesbian back in 2000. And both ATWT and General Hospital introduced male gay teenagers at almost the same time late last year. But while ATWT has made its gay storyline integral to the show, General Hospital's has been rather lacking of late.

Indeed, CBS is so committed to the show that they teamed with GLAAD to create a Public Service Announcement to encourage viewers “to be an ally and a friend” to gay people. Naturally, some on the right have reacted negatively to the venture.

Recently, AfterElton had the chance to speak with Van Hansis, the actor who joined ATWT just before Luke began his journey out of the closet.

AfterElton.com: You and the others on the show have done a terrific job with Luke's coming out. As a gay man, I've been very impressed with how it's unfolded.
Van Hansis: Thank you.

AE: How has the role of Luke Grimaldi affected your life?
VH: Well, being on a TV show, more than playing a gay character, has really changed my life. You get recognized, and all of a sudden you're put in a public medium you've never been in before. So that's been very interesting. As far as playing a gay character, it's nothing that I've ever had any negative feelings about. I love my character. In the end, I'm really glad they made my character gay. I'm able to do so much more than the average soap guy gets to do.

AE: Have you had a lot of reaction from gay teenagers?
VH: Yeah, I have. It's actually been very good to hear from people—teenagers, and even older men and women who are gay—who say I wish I had this storyline when I was a teenager. And I hear from teenagers who say they come back right after school because they have it DVR'ed.

AE: I can see that happening a lot.
VH: It's very flattering. The other thing that is really cool is that I've got a lot of mail from straight people, and also people who thought they wouldn't like the storyline because of whatever prejudices they held.