“As the World Turns” tried to be daring by adding a gay couple, but got cold feet about actually showing them kissed. Which has upset fans.

It all started last Christmas, when Luke and Noah, the young gay couple on “As The World Turns,” were about to kiss. Though fans had seen them kiss before, this time the camera panned up to the mistletoe.

Over the next few months, while heterosexual couples were kissing, Nuke (as fans call the couple) was restricted to holding hands, playing with one another’s neck scarves and sharing meaningful looks.

Ensuing complaints of discrimination to CBS and the show’s producer and sponsor, Procter & Gamble, had no effect. And the last straw apparently arrived on Valentine’s Day, when every other couple but Nuke shared a kiss. They hugged instead.

Online fans began a nationwide media blitz on Feb. 20 to bring attention to the show, which has been twice nominated for an award from the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD).


More in-depth coverage, and even the show’s straight supercouple is calling foul:
Austin Peck (Brad) and Terri Colombino (Katie)—whose steamy, straight sex scenes are by far the most racy on the show—don’t mince words when asked about the Nuke cool-down. “ATWT got scared off because there were two men,” Peck tells Out. Colombino says there’s one simple reason her character’s sex life won’t suffer the same fate: “I have a vagina.”