Pgh Lesbian Correspondents

Trigger Warnings: Sexual Assault, Homophobia,

Days of Our Lives has had a marvelous unfolding of their gay supercouple “WilSon” over the past year. Sonny Kiriakis and Will Horton are both legacy characters, easy to like and coping with the good soapy stuff any heterosexual couple faces – including a custody battle. They even have a “big bad” in the form of Nick Fallon (also a legacy character) who is married to the mother of Will’s daughter and also happens to be Will’s cousin. Nick was released from prison last year and is being played as sort of a techie genius with a malicious streak that belies his heritage as part of the saintly Hortons.

Why is Nick homophobic? Well, that’s the two dollar question. The suggestion seems to be that he wasn’t raised that way by his Horton clan. For awhile, he had us convinced it was religious but Father Eric sort of put the kibosh on that one (Eric is Will’s uncle.)

And on the horizon we have the character of Vargas, Nick’s former cellmate. Vargas is out of prison and working with Father Eric on reentry. He also had made several “self-talk” comments about getting revenge on Nick. And we’ve been treated to a few flashback scenes where Vargas clearly had the physical upper-hand on Nick.

All signs point to Nick being raped by Vargas and displacing his reaction to hating gay people. It is a terrible meme in so many ways. I am hoping that they don’t go there. But DAYS tapes months ahead of time and we are reaching a denouement of both Nick’s homophobic actions and Vargas’ entry into Salem. I am willing to give DAYS a chance to tell the story with nuance and perhaps in a helpful manner.  General Hospital had a similar storyline for young Michael Corinthos, but his anger was turned on his family and himself – not gay people. Of course, there were no gay people in Port Charles at that time.

But the reaction of the fans is horrifying. Some fans of “WilSon” want Nick to have been raped as some sort of punishment for hurting their beloved couple. Others think it is the only reason Nick could be so homophobic. Both show a lack of understanding of some of the important facts 1) being raped doesn’t turn anyone gay and 2) rape is wrong. period. end of story. no one deserves it. Also 3) rape is not about sexual attraction.

Finally, Vargas himself does not appear to be gay. So if Vargas forced Nick to have anal or oral sex – that is not a gay storyline. And while Nick’s character may also ignorantly transfer his feelings of anger and violation (and shame) onto the perception that he was “gay-raped” DAYS has a responsibility to clarify that there is no such thing.

I’ll be watching the story unfold and here’s what I hope:

• Nick was not raped. Nick was blackmailed or some other non-violent crime at the hands of Vargas.
• Nick’s homophobia is explored in a realistic way – maybe his absent father taught him or some such thing.
• If they air a sexual assault, they provide a PSA with information on what to do if you are sexually assaulted.
• Someone clearly says “Being raped in prison is not about sexual orientation. It is about power. And no one deserves to be raped.”
• The actors who play Will, Sonny, Nick and Vargas appear together in a PSA.

I have dreaded this storyline for months, but the timing with the Steubenville verdicts could not be worse. DAYS can’t change the story, but they can alter the current scripts (probably June or July now) and they can certainly add ending segments to the soon-to-be-aired episodes.

Stay tuned.

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