by Fay Jacobs
Unless you've been held hostage inside the Hale-Bopp Comet, you know by now that comedienne Ellen DeGeneres came out of the closet in an April 7 TIME Magazine story.
Even though she's been blipping everyone's gaydar screens for years, it was great to see that 200 point type saying "Yup, I'm gay!" with the accompanying cover photo. Talk about a great new standard for flaunting it. I trust the "Hate is our family value" crowd went info spasms.
And, gay people and their straight allies all over the country have ants in their pants just waiting for the historic night of April 30 (9 p.m. ABC-TV) when the Disney-produced show Ellen will feature zany lead character Ellen Morgan (DeGeneres) coming out of the closet herself. Folks are comparing it to Bill Cosby's premier in I Spy the first-ever TV series with an African American leading man.
For my part, I'm hosting an Ellen's Coming Out Party at my weekday digs in Maryland, complete with an Ellen trivia game and other party goodies provided by the Human Rights Campaign. HRC offered the party kits to willing hosts and hostesses to try to raise money for TV commercials advocating Congressional passage of the Employment Non-Discrimination Act. I'm happy to help
Meanwhile, I've been monitoring the Ellen home page (ABC online) on the Internet. Okay, monitoring is not quite accurate. I'm obsessing.
Every morning I race to my computer to read what the Ellenheads have had to say overnight. There's been lots of cheering far the comedienne (supportive messages from both straights and gays), as well as the posting of every Ellen article and tidbit printed anywhere in the country.
Of course, I've also had to wade through the rantings of a bunch Of bigots, but to their credit, AOL and ABC stepped in and bounced hate messages off the board. But sadly, there are lots of people who still don't "get it."
Will you tell me how people who gobble up shows with straight couples pouncing all over each other; say Ellen "shouldn't come out as a lesbian because what she does in her bedroom is her business?"
Trying to respond to that bizarre logic, a message writer wrote: "I agree. Good thing we're not going to see Ellen naked and having sex with another woman in the bedroom Now, since we agree that bedroom stuff belongs in the bedroom and not in our faces.. tell me again what's so offensive about Ellen being a lesbian on this show?"
I'm sure they still didn't get it.
Another post suggested that "you and your friends and family members should pray about this serious issue"-presumably counting an prayer to stop the character of Ellen Morgan from coming out on TV
A board regular answered "YEP, praying's the best idea I've heard yet. While the American Family Association is praying against Ellen, I'm gonna be praying my brains out for her and I'm sure tens of thousands of other homosexuals will be doing the same thing. I feel confident this will pose no real dilemma for God. I'm sure God is as sick and tired of all this phobic hoopla over one small lesbian woman's right to be who she really is, as all of us in the homosexual community are.
The real rewording posts are from young people thanking Ellen for being a role model and making them feel less alone. One young lesbian said the Time Magazine interview gave her the courage to come out to her parents. "I felt like a boulder was lifted from my heart," she wrote.
14's just as terrific hearing from Ellen's straight fans with comments on why they WILL continue to watch, why they WILL use this as a learning experience for their youngsters, and why they think Ellen DeGeneres, Disney and ABC are doing a brave and important thing.
How brave?
The predictably outraged Jerry FaIwell has been trying to throw a soaking wet blanket over ABC and its advertisers ever since he and his ilk heard the news. Since the Falwellians have been instructed to "contact the advertisers and politely ask them not to promote homosexuality by advertising on ELLEN We should call, write or e-mail these same folks thanking them and encouraging their continued Ellen sponsorship.
But the best part of trolling the Ellen Message Board has been hearing the inside scoop about THE SHOW!!! Lucky ducks who attended the taping report that the script is sensitive and funny-in short, everything we hope it will be.
Actually, folks at the taping with total recall (or was it a hidden tape recorder?) posted almost the whole script on the net. Now that was fun to read! No, I'm not telling.
But, like hundreds of others across America, I'll be watching Ellen surrounded by friends (my family of affinity, just like the variety of families celebrated in the inspiring photography show recently at Gabby's on Baltimore Avenue -did you catch it?). I hear Blue Moon has festivities planned, too, as do gay and lesbian bars and restaurants every-where.
And I've finally figured out why funny lady Ellen DeGeneres allowing her character Ellen Morgan out of the closet pleases me so. It's the image thing.
Sure, Ellen's a looker, but it isn't that. And having a prime time lesbian is historic all right. But that isn't it, either.
My glee stems from an Easter Sunday incident at Mano's. Between the Mimosas and silly Easter bonnets on the waiters, our table was a jolly crew. Pretty soon we were telling jokes and some friendly guys at an adjacent table joined in. Before launching into a joke, they looked at me and Bonnie and asked if we had a sense of humor. We did, we noted.
"Okay," said one of the guys, "how many lesbians does it take to change a light bulb?"
"That's not funny!" was the punch line. No, we weren't offended by the joke on the stereotypical humor-challenged lesbian. We know the old line "If the guys are called gay, the girls are called glum."
So one thing is certain. Funny woman Ellen Degeneres will blow that old notion out of the water. Not only are we counting on the two El lens to enjoy their leaps from the closet, we're sure they'll both show America that you can be a lesbian and get a kick out of life at the same time.
For that alone, Ellen's got my vote for Time's Woman of the Year.
Fay Jacobs lives and works in Maryland and still manages to play in Rehoboth most weekends. She is a regular contributor to LETTERS.
[ Previous Story | Back to Top | Next Story ]
4/25/97 Issue. Copyright 1997 by CAMP Rehoboth, Inc. All rights reserved.