The groundbreaking coming-out episode of Ellen DeGeneres’ sitcom Ellen, saw its 20th anniversary recently. DeGeneres’ pioneering role as the first out actor and character to head a television series is worth celebrating in itself—but it’s also worth noting that her show gave us one of best representations up to that time of an LGBTQ parent and their child on TV. Let’s look at what she did and at some of the previous portrayals.
This month marks the 20th anniversary of Ellen DeGeneres coming out in person and as her character on television. Let’s not forget, too, that her show also gave us one of earliest (though not the first) representations of an LGBTQ parent and their child on TV.
Check out the trailer for the upcoming Ellen Degeneres-produced sitcom about a single lesbian mom, One Big Happy. Here are my initial thoughts on the show.
I felt old today as I realized that Ellen, Ms. DeGeneres’ first television show, premiered in 1994 — 20 years ago. Of course, most of us remember best the 1997 episode in which she came out as a lesbian. Writer Emma Tattenbaum-Fine recently recalled watching the show with her two moms. “The night Ellen came out, I felt my family got an invitation to the party,” she says in the video after the jump.
It was a good news-bad news week for LGBT parent visibility on television. Ellen DeGeneres got the greenlight to produce a pilot for an NBC comedy about a lesbian mom, while on the same network, Sean Hayes’ Sean Saves the World, about a single gay dad, was told to halt production.
Ellen DeGeneres and Liz Feldman are producing a new sitcom for NBC about “a lesbian and her straight male best friend who get pregnant just as he meets and marries the love of his life,” reports Deadline Hollywood. Will it be any good?
Ellen DeGeneres and Disney/Pixar announced Tuesday that they would be making a sequel to the 2003 hit Finding Nemo, entitled Finding Dory, and starring her character from the original film. Did anyone else’s gaydar start beeping at director Andrew Stanton’s pronounless comment, “One thing we couldn’t stop thinking about was why she was all alone in the ocean on the day she met [Nemo’s dad] Marlin. In Finding Dory, she will be reunited with her loved ones, learning a few things about the meaning of family along the way.” Could it be that Dory has lesbian moms or gay dads?
Remember Zach Wahls? The University of Iowa student with two moms shot to fame in February after testifying at an Iowa House hearing about a bill that would ban marriage for same-sex couples. He’s since spoken with Ellen and the Human Rights Campaign, among others. This month, he’s profiled in Lambda Legal’s Impact newsletter (PDF
Personal Profiles South Coast Today (Massachusetts) profiles several gay dads and their struggle for acceptance. Pediatrician Maja Castillo writes for Gay City News about what happens when a child prefers one parent over the other, especially in cases of a biological and non-biological mother. Two lesbian moms in Birmingham, England have launched the U.K.’s first
Remember Zach Wahls, the Iowan college student who testified at the state House hearing on a bill that would repeal marriage equality? Here’s him, speaking with Ellen:
