Van Hansis Comes Out

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Van Hansis Comes Out

by snicks | May 5, 2014

We first fell in love with Van Hansis during his stint as the groundbreaking Luke Snyder on As The World Turns, and Luke’s relationship with dimbulb explosives expert Noah, and lovably crusty trainwreck Reid. Van garnered three Emmy nominations for the role, and he helped open the floodgates for gay characters on daytime drama.

Van moved to TV roles and a few indie films after ATWT, but came roaring back into our lives when he co-starred in the web series phenom Eastsiders, as Thom, one half of a troubled couple. Eastsiders will be back for Season Two, and the show’s creator (and Thom’s partner on the show), Kit Williamson sat down with Van to discuss the show and his career.

It’s a great interview, as Van talks about the impact that Luke had on Daytime TV, and the differences and similarities between Luke and Thom, and then this happens:

You were out in your personal life, but you didn’t speak out about your sexual orientation at the start of your career. What was your hesitation?
I guess it was a combination of a lot of things—It was my first job, it was a different time back then in regards to LGBT stories being told—I mean, the Luke story was groundbreaking at the time. Now, I think every remaining soap has a gay storyline. I was completely green, fresh out of college, and honestly, I was scared.

To my knowledge, this is the first time that Van has publicly acknowledged that he’s gay. It’s been fairly well known, and he has come close before, but this is the most definitive statement we’ve seen.

So congratulations Van, and keep breaking that new ground!