AE: What
is your reaction to those on the religious right who view this
character and this storyline as immoral? Just this morning I read about
a bunch of them being upset by the Public Service Announcement.
VH:
Yeah, I read about that, too, and I think I want to bite my tongue.
(Laughs) The thing that the PSA is saying is to be an ally and a
friend. I think that if these people are having such a big deal with
having a gay character on a show that has adulterous people on
continuously...I mean, they have lying, cheating, and you never hear
anything about that. You never hear people saying this is immoral
behavior. But when you have these parents trying to get this kid to
love himself for who he is, and people say these things, it's
ridiculous. The PSA's not asking for anything more. It seems sad they
can't even go that far. Another thing—why do they care? Why do
they care about how someone else lives their life?
AE: We could have a long discussion about that.
VH: It's interesting because I don't see why they care. It's not their business.
AE:
I agree. On another topic, obviously soaps have all sorts of
relationships between the characters—especially romantic ones. Do
you expect Luke to fall in love at some point? Would you be
disappointed if he doesn't?
VH:
I signed a contract so there is the potential I'm sticking around for a
long time. So I feel like that actually it would make sense that Luke
would meet somebody. I don't know with being a soap how far they would
be willing to go with that. I think it would be kinda cool to play. I
don't know if there has ever been a gay guy with a boyfriend on a soap
opera. I don't think there has. It would be cool to be a trailblazer. I
can tell you that much.
AE: Lucas over on GH,
played by Ben Hogestyn, is also gay but seems to have disappeared
somewhat. Are you grateful you're on this show and part of such a
prominent family?
VH:
Yeah, I am. It would be very easy to tell this story for shock value
and to put that feather in their cap that we have a gay character on
the show and then not use them. I've never seen GH, but they just won an Emmy for best show, so they must be doing something right. But I'm very, very grateful to be on ATWT.
And to be working with such a great group of actors and the writers
have been writing my character so well. The producers have been nothing
but positive and supportive. Everybody has been so cool.
AE: So talk about how Luke's parents react to his coming out.
VH: Lily has a hard time of it. Holden is much more accepting.
AE: I like that. Not the usual thing we expect.
VH:
Martha Byrnes—who plays Lily—and I talked about it because
she doesn't feel that Lily is a homophobic character. It's just that
she feels very betrayed by Luke that he would lie to her about Jade and
that he would trust Jade over [his] family. So she feels the fact he
felt she would hate him for this makes her feel like she doesn't know
him the way she thought she did.
AE: Which I think is a very common and very believable reaction. Fits quite well with those characters.
VH:
And that's what we we're going for. Trying to make it as believable
and—well, it is a soap opera so there has to be some bombastic
stuff—but we're trying to make it as much of a true life story.
AE: Holden,
your dad, seems very real in that he's a parent who is going to love
his kid no matter what, but it really does seem like he was hoping for
your character is going to be straight. That's why he's been willing to
let Jade (Elena Goode) hang around. How does your character feel about
that fact?
VH: Well, we
shoot about a month in advance. So I have to go back to what we're
airing right now. I think Luke's one problem is that he tells his
parents [he's gay] and expects them to automatically not have any
issues with it. It's a shock to them, especially to Lily, and I think
that is where her issues are coming from. Luke is seeing that as her
not accepting him and instead of sitting down and talking to her, he
starts fighting her immediately.
With
Holden, Holden is the one who comes right out and says we still love
you, we want you to be happy, it doesn't matter who you love. So I
think Luke is very grateful toward Holden and Holden's acceptance.
Whereas I think he sees himself and Holden, and even Lucinda, his
grandmother (Liz Hubbard) he sees the three of them against Lily. So he
is trying to rally everyone to his side again, because in his mind, he
and Lily are in a bigger fight than they are.
