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One Good Turn

The actors behind daytime television's cutest (and only) gay couple come clean for National Coming Out Day.
An Advocate.com exclusive posted October 10, 2007
One Good Turn

There have been queer characters on daytime TV before -- even cute blond ones, like One Life to Live's Billy Douglas (played by a very young Ryan Phillippe) -- but when Noah Mayer (Jake Silbermann) arrived in Oakdale last May and stole the heart of resident gay Luke Synder (Van Hansis), CBS's As the World Turns became the first soap to depict a fully realized romantic male couple as an integral part of the show. At first Noah seemed devoted to button-nosed Maddie (thereby maintaining his heterosexual veneer), but by the end of the summer, he and Luke were sharing confidences…and big juicy kisses. Just in time for National Coming Out Day on Thursday, October 11, Silbermann and Hansis spoke with The Advocate about the attention the story line has generated, their on- and offscreen relationship, and what deep, dark secrets they're ready to reveal.

Van, you've been playing Luke for almost two years. Is it nice to have him in a relationship instead of just being the angst-ridden gay kid?

Van Hansis: I'm totally psyched that we've been able to open the character up some more. But I think Luke was pretty fully realized all along. He hasn’t been this perfect angel -- he crashed his car; he pushed his mother down a flight of stairs when she was pregnant and put her in a coma.

Sounds like an angel to me. How have viewers reacted to Luke and Noah?

Jake Silbermann: The fan response has been really great to both the individual characters and where we're taking the relationship. Noah and Luke were voted top couple in a Soap Opera Digest poll. The funny thing is, a lot of people want them to be happy, but a lot want them to suffer heartache and tragedy -- because that's what couples on daytime TV do. It's a good sign, actually.

VH: They've been really supportive. I get tons of mail and almost all of it is positive. If it’s a negative letter or e-mail, it's usually people who can't see past their own limitations and prejudices. And they don’t have a very good grasp of grammar or punctuation. 

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Avery is an editor at Time Out New York.

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