Steven Capsuto - Alt. Channels<p>TODAY IN QUEER TV HISTORY</p><p>AS THE WORLD TURNS - 1/23/1989, CBS</p><p>Eighties daytime soaps had very few queer regular characters or AIDS storylines, so this well-meant, likeable, underused, and kind of bland gay male regular, Hank Eliot (Brian Starcher), was a baby-step in the right direction. </p><p>Hank's partner was hospitalized, long term, with AIDS complications, which let the writers work in information about an epidemic that had the public terrified and panicked. In this episode, Hank is awaiting the results of a follow-up HIV test. </p><p>Hank was mostly there as a complication and learning opportunity for his presumably straight neighbors, and their conversations about him generally got more screen time than he did. I've written an essay about Hank in the Notes on the video's YouTube page.</p><p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qSuFAqqodtM" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" translate="no" target="_blank"><span class="invisible">https://www.</span><span class="ellipsis">youtube.com/watch?v=qSuFAqqodt</span><span class="invisible">M</span></a></p><p><a href="https://techhub.social/tags/LGBTQ" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>LGBTQ</span></a> <a href="https://techhub.social/tags/gay" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>gay</span></a> <a href="https://techhub.social/tags/queer" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>queer</span></a> <a href="https://techhub.social/tags/HIV" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>HIV</span></a> <a href="https://techhub.social/tags/AIDS" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>AIDS</span></a> <a href="https://techhub.social/tags/SoapOperas" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>SoapOperas</span></a> <a href="https://techhub.social/tags/soaps" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>soaps</span></a> <a href="https://techhub.social/tags/atwt" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>atwt</span></a></p>