Thom Bierdz: “Being able to play gay on Y&R is the main reason I wanted to come back to the show”

Thom Bierdz is returning to The Young and the Restless as Phillip Chancellor III after a 20 year hiatus. Only now, the long-presumed-dead Phillip is openly gay like the actor who plays him. Phillip is about to admit that he faked his demise because he couldn’t stand to live a lie.

Bierdz, who is a successful artist and author, talked to TV Guide about the current surge in gay characters in daytime.

“What’s going on in soaps these days is a very cool reflection of how far mainstream America has come in accepting gays and lesbians,” says Bierdz. “Being able to play gay on Y&R is the main reason I wanted to come back to the show. Gay people are just like straight people, and that’s what I hope to show with Phillip. He’s not a cartoon, he’s not a stereotype. The guy certainly has issues. But being gay? That’s no big deal.”

No one in Genoa City thinks it’s a big deal, either — so far anyway. Says Bierdz: “In almost every script I use the word ‘gay’ and none of the characters has a problem with it, which is so funny because I totally thought somebody in town would be homophobic. [Head writer] Maria Bell just jumped over that, and that is a shock, man! But I see the thinking: If Mrs. Chancellor doesn’t have a problem with Phillip being gay, if Esther doesn’t have a problem with it, maybe the viewers won’t either.”

Adds Thom: “For years, the soaps have been afraid of the sponsors and the audience. It looks like those days are over.”