Coming Out on Y&R

I thought all of Tuesday's soaps had been pre-empted by the coverage of the Michael Jackson memorial service, but I just discovered that my local CBS station did air The Young and the Restless. Luckily for me, they aired it during As The World Turns' regular time slot, so my Tivo recorded it.

Tuesday was a pretty big day on the show: another character came out of the closet as gay, bringing the grand total of current LGBT roles on daytime soaps to an all time high of eight characters spread out over four soaps. This doesn't include Y&R's Adam, who may or may not be bisexual, even if he is sleeping with Rafe. When Forbes March debuts on ATWT, the number will go up to nine, though of course we'll be losing Guiding Light's Olivia and Natalia in September.

The latest gay character is none other than Philip Chancellor III, played by openly gay actor Thom Bierdz, and on Tuesday's show he came out to his 'widow', Nina.

First, some background. Back in the late 80's, Philip was a wealthy young alcoholic who'd been more or less trapped into marriage by Nina, whom he'd gotten pregnant while he was drunk. He was also facing all the pressures of being an heir to the Chancellor fortune while dealing with his personal demons.

Then, twenty years ago, Philip lost his life in a drunk driving accident, leaving behind a grieving family that included his wife and his young son, Philip Chancellor IV.

Flash forward to a few years ago, when Philip's family learned that there had been a baby switch. The Philip they'd known, loved and lost hadn't been the real Philip Chancellor III. It turned out that a man named Cane, who'd been raised in Australia, was the real Philip. In the years since, he's been living in Genoa City with his long lost family.

Recently, though, Philip's widow Nina returned to town and began asking questions and digging into Cane's story. Before long, Nina was having Philip's grave exhumed and it turned out that his coffin was filled with sandbags. Testing soon proved that there had never even been a body in the coffin to begin with.

Cane ended up taking another DNA test to prove that he was the real Philip, but he switched his fresh vial of blood with one he'd taken from a freezer. The test proved that the blood was from the son of Philip's mother Jill, but further testing revealed that the blood had been frozen.

In true soap fashion, this all lead to a confrontation on last Friday's episode. Nina got Cane to finally admit in front of everyone that he wasn't Jill's son and when Katherine Chancellor demanded to know how he could do this to people who'd shown him nothing but kindness, a voice from off camera called out that Cane hadn't done it- "I did." It was, of course, Philip Chancellor III speaking, in one of those over the top but delicious Friday cliffhanger moments.

On Monday, Philip explained to his family how the 'accident' he'd been in twenty years ago was no accident at all: he'd tried to kill himself. When it hadn't worked, he'd used his fortune to fake his death so that he could escape the life he felt so trapped in and had started over again in Australia.

Feeling guilty years later, he'd tried to heal the family he left behind by concocting the baby switch story and sending them Cane, a good man who could be the Philip Chancellor he himself was never able to be.

Tuesday's show saw Nina and Philip having it out, with Nina demanding to know how Philip could just leave her and their son behind to suffer, to go on believing he was dead. Philip told Nina that if he'd loved her and their child less, he could have stayed, but as it was he just couldn't bear to stay and see them be so let down by him.

Nina: ... What was so awful that you couldn't talk to us about it?

Philip: Back then, I couldn't have been honest with you.

Nina: Why?

Philip: I felt ashamed.

Nina: And you thought that I wouldn't understand shame?

Philip: Not mine.

Nina: Because of the drinking?

Philip: No, the drinking, that was just a symptom. That wasn't the cause of it.

Nina: Well then what? You said that you felt like you were letting us down, but you weren't.

Philip: Oh, I knew what was expected of me. I did what was expected, but I was acting a part.

Nina: You felt trapped?

Philip: Yeah.

Nina: In the marriage?

Philip: In my own skin. That's what you guys have to understand. Before anything else, this is not about you, it's not about Mom, it's not about Katherine, this is about me. It's about the truth that I've been hiding all this time.

Nina: What truth?

Philip: I'm gay. I've always been gay.

That's where we left things, with Nina's mouth hanging open in shock. I can't wait to see how she deals with the news, and how the rest of Philip's family deals with this revelation on top of having him turn up alive after twenty years.

It will also be very interesting to see how the son he doesn't really know, Philip IV (soon to be played by John Driscoll), takes the news. Philip IV is currently in the military and it will be fascinating to see a parent come out to their child on daytime TV for a change! I've wished for such a story before, with an older gay character instead of a teen or twenty something. It makes it even more interesting to have it be a character that the audience knew twenty years ago.

Where will things go for Philip from here? Will he stick around, find a love interest? The rumor that he'll be paired with Rafe certainly seems more likely now than it did before he came out.

Most of all, I love this sudden explosion of gay characters on the soaps! I think we owe it all to the popularity of Luke & Noah with fans. I think it really showed the powers that be that daytime audiences would be very open to LGBT stories and romances.

Of course, it didn't fully start with Luke and Noah, either. There would have been no Luke without All My Children's Bianca paving the way, and there were several minor gay characters on the soaps over the years leading up to her, the first major LGBT character from a core family. It has been a long process, but we're finally seeing it start to pay off in a big way.

I just wish Days of Our Lives and The Bold and the Beautiful would get with it! They remain the only two soaps that have never had a major gay character, while General Hospital and All My Children have but are currently LGBT free.