Did "The Young and the Restless" Just De-Gay?

Have our Genoa City gays run out of gas, or get run off the road?

Genoa City has denied a permit for a Gay Pride parade it seems. Or at least that's what a reported quote from Scott Hammer, co-head writer of The Young and The Restless says. Daytime Royalty is reporting that in the latest Soap Opera Weekly the lesser-known writer for Y&R says:

“At this point, we are not doing a gay story, and we never actually were doing a gay story. What we were playing with Rafe was the lengths to which Adam will go to accomplish his goals. And what we were really seeing was that he would stop at nothing. And, at this point, I don't see a future for Rafe and Adam."

Do we need to lower the rainbow flag to half-mast?

Now that’s pretty much a direct contradiction to his partner’s interview on May 27 with soap oracle Nelson Branco. Maria Arena Bell, heir to the show’s creator William Bell, had an extensive interview in which she stated not only her plans for hoisting the rainbow flag in Genoa City, but also her support for actors being out and proud. Bell said:

“But — we do have a gay storyline in the works. Perhaps more than one. And more than one gay character. More importantly, the gay storyline we’re planning on telling will reflect real life. I couldn’t be happier.”

Maria Arena Bell is soap opera royalty, but did she stretch too far?

At this point it’s unclear how the show views these competing quotes, given less than three months apart, by the people at the creative helm of TVs top rated soap. I’d buy that maybe Adam’s story wasn’t really a “gay story” per se – even when being interviewed by AfterElton, Michael Muhney said:

“I think primarily what makes him tick is self-preservation, so yes, first and foremost, the initial reasoning for doing anything is "How am I going to get out of this scot-free?"

It looked like a duck, walked like a duck, and quacked like a duck, but was it a...playtpus?

So while Rafe was a necessary plot device to test Adam’s limits, it wasn’t necessarily a gay storyline. There was no romance to what happened, and it happened off-screen. One could argue that it was closer to a rape storyline, because it was about power and control. Nor was Rafe’s “outing” on the show a gay storyline, according to Bell:

“I disagree that Rafe announcing to his friend that he’s gay was our first gay storyline because it was just a fact of his life. It’s like, “yeah, so what — what do you want for lunch?””

OK, so Rafe wasn't a People magazine moment.

Rafe’s a recurring character – he’s not contract, and he’s not core. That doesn’t mean he’s done on the show, or that he doesn’t become part of a romance later, but without some deep connection, it’s not surprising that he’s not a central storyline.

But what about Phillip III? The return of the prodigal son, the Chancellor heir, it had to happen for a reason, right? We, and most of the entertainment world, grabbed on to the character’s resurrection, and the return of the out Thom Bierdz to the show. Bell practically crowed about sneaking his return in under-the-radar, but since then, he’s hit every possible interview. As recently as this week, he was in the Huffington Post.

Admittedly Thom has said acting isn't his top priority.

What do we know is that in an interview he gave to Q-notes, Beirdz said the show was being very flexible with his time, and allowing him to shoot around his art exhibitions. We also know that his commitment to the show is open ended. And we know his return wasn’t all that well received. Even the fans took some time to warm to Bierdz’ stretching and warming up his long-unused acting muscles onscreen.

This doesn’t necessarily mean that Y&R is de-gaying itself. It just means that it doesn’t have a gay storyline. It does have gay characters now. It could be said that it doesn’t have room for a gay storyline right now, with Mary Jane, Chance, and Ashley taking up all the oxygen in the show. You could say that the show doesn’t have a “teen storyline” right now, but it has teen characters.  

It's a huge cast - not every character can have a storyline all the time.

We are looking into the reports, and will bring you more as we get it.

So I ask you: Should we be up in arms? Or did we just put too much hope on a very conservative show?

t/y to reader Joseph for the heads up.