'I'm Gay': It's Been 20 Years Sce Ellen Came Out on TV

ellen comes out as gay on tv show

Ellen DeGener starred as the first openly gay character on primetime TV" emprop="scriptn

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THE REAL REASON ELLEN DEGENER DECID TO COME OUT AS GAY ON TV

In the groundbreakg episo, DeGener beme the first lead character of a TV seri to announce that she was gay, and the edian faced backlash as a rult. * ellen comes out as gay on tv show *

When Ellen Man, the character Ellen DeGener played on her s Ellen, me out as gay on the show's April 30, 1997, episo, sent shockwav through the televisn dtry. Up to that pot, only a handful of gay characters had been seen on televisn, and none of the were seri leads. In addn to her character g out the episo, DeGener also publicly shared that she was gay.

'I'M GAY': IT'S BEEN 20 YEARS SCE ELLEN CAME OUT ON TV

Ellen revealed that the shownners were "livid" when they found out about her plan to e out as gay. * ellen comes out as gay on tv show *

The Tragedy Inspired DeGener' Career-Defg Stand-Up RouteAlmost a year of preparatn went to the episoPreparatns for the character of Ellen Man to e out as gay on the seri Ellen began May 1996, when DeGener, who played the role, discsed the potential storyle wh the show's wrers. In addn to beg a step that would let DeGener be hont about her own sexualy, there was hope that addrsg the fictnal Ellen's sexual preferenc might provi directn for the TV seri, and expla why the character lacked chemistry wh male romantic orr to bee the first TV seri to have a lead character announce she was gay, the work need to be agreement.

Reverend Jerry Falwell and televangelist Pat Robertson publicly mocked DeGener as "Ellen DeGenerate" and joed others signg a letter that cried the show as a "blatant attempt to promote homosexualy. Time magaze's April 14, 1997, ver featured a photo of DeGener wh the words, "Yep, I'm Gay. " DeGener also talked about g out as gay wh Diane Sawyer and on The Oprah Wey Show.

A woman plaed about havg to expla what "gay" was to her ten-year-old when they spotted the Time ver while shoppg. One man told DeGener his objectns to homosexualy were Biblil, statg, "It's s. Ellen returned the next year ready to tell stori about a gay woman — but the show was forced to add parental advisory warngs when Ellen Man had a same-sex kiss.

ELLEN DEGENER CAME OUT AS GAY ON TV 20 YEARS AGO

It’s 20 years on om the landmark work TV moment that saw Ellen DeGener tell 42 ln viewers that she’s gay, but progrs remas slow * ellen comes out as gay on tv show *

Acrdg to ABC's print at the time, viewership end up clg bee the show "beme a program about a lead character who was gay every sgle week. Soon after Ellen went off the air, Will & Grace, a s about a gay man and a straight woman who were bt iends, lnched and beme a h. Sce Ellen end, havg gay characters and actors on shows — like Six Feet Unr, Morn Fay, Pose and many more — has bee a regular part of the TV landspe.

DeGener has stated that improvg attus towards gay rights is not what motivated her. A 2015 poll named her the most fluential figure makg Amerins more acceptg of gay rights. On April 30, 1997, a wily publicized episo of the ABC s Ellen, TV character Ellen Man (played by Ellen DeGener) announc that she is gay.

Lra Dern played an out lbian who helps Ellen DeGener' character realize she's gay on the ABC s" emprop="scriptn * ellen comes out as gay on tv show *

Like them, DeGener soon published a btsellg memoir, My Pot—And I Do Have One (1995) the fall of 1996, word leaked out that the character of Ellen Man, a bookstore manager, might acknowledge that she was a lbian, makg Ellen the first prime-time s to feature a gay leadg character. A week before the episo aired, DeGener ma a well-publicized “g out” of her own, appearg on the ver of TIME magaze unr the headle “Yep, I’m Gay. On April 30, 1997, Ellen DeGener publicly me out as gay on her ABC s, Ellen — makg her character, Ellen Man, the first gay or lbian lead character on a U.

I hope, like a ltle ty egg that turns to a terpillar that then turns to a on that eventually, emerg and spreads s big gay butterfly wgs. In the episo tled "The Puppy Episo" — a tle that was ed as a name for Ellen's g-out orr to keep the ntent of the episo unr wraps — DeGener' character, Ellen, told Lra Dern's character, San, that she's gay.

Ellen DeGener risked her reer by g out as gay on TV and the stud ncelled her show. The episo was a historic moment for the LGBT muny. " name="scriptn * ellen comes out as gay on tv show *

"I'm 35 years old, I'm so aaid to tell people, I mean, I jt… San, I'm gay. Don't people know that you're gay?

Not only did the episo receive unfathomable media exposure (DeGener nfirmed the news wh a g-out terview on Oprah and posed for a Time magaze ver that read, "Yep, I'm Gay"), but also began a ntroversial discsn amongst viewers and executiv, wh some affiliat refg to air the episo and advertisers pullg mercials. Acrdg to a study 2015, DeGener did more to fluence Amerins' attus about gay rights than any other celebry or public figure.

On April 30, 1997, two words of TV dialogue were a groundbreakg shout to the world: "I'm gay." Ellen DeGener ma that statement as Ellen ... * ellen comes out as gay on tv show *

"A lot of people didn't thk this show would work bee I was openly gay, and you proved them wrong, " she said on Thursday's episo of her show. I am so grateful that I've had this platform to not only give a voice to the gay muny, but to all people who feel like they're not seen. Ellen revealed that the shownners were "livid" when they found out about her plan to e out as gay.

" DeGener thought that there had been gay characters on TV before but there hadn't been a character who disvered their te sexual orientatn late life. Slot normally rerved for the s Ellen starrg edian Ellen DeGener was beg preempted bee her character on the show, Ellen Man, was about to e out as gay—a plot pot that the statn nsired appropriate for the fay viewg cisn to black out the program was unmon but ditive of the ntroversy that surround the actrs’s cisn to be transparent about her sexualy both on and off the screen. Penney opted not to buy mercial time for the episo; some relig lears nmned the “gay-affirmg” nature of the storyle.

Dpe the plethora of gay characters on televisn, Ellen Man would be the first leadg character to e out. Lucy and Ricky Rirdo of I Love Lucy slept separate beds, as did many fictnal upl of the 1950s; ank discsn of sex was practilly verboten, a kd of self-flicted censorship that was eventually loosened for straight relatnships but remaed place for gay wasn’t until 1972 that a recurrg gay character, bar patron Peter Panama (Vcent Schiavelli) on ABC’s The Corner Bar, was regularly seen on televisn; was four years later that a gay uple on producer Norman Lear’s Hot l Baltimore appeared. In the late 1970s and early 1980s, Barney Miller picted several gay characters operatn wh the Natnal Gay Task Force advocy group to avoid stereotyped the shows ma headway pictg a more diverse televisn populatn, was still rare to have gay leadg characters.

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The Real Reason Ellen DeGener Decid To Come Out As Gay On TV .

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