Ellen DeGeneres and the LGBT Movement

SparkyTech

What are your thoughts on Ellen? Do you think she is an inspiration, good advocate or just a celebrity publicity seeker?

Im not too mad on her normal TV show, Her presenting style and humor aren't my taste, but as for her LGBT work I feel its very admirable and noteworthy.

In practicular 3 vid's that really moved me:

Interview with Judy Shepard on murder of her son Matheew 8 yrs on
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7FAYtWUQq68

On the murder of L King
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KSE6kjJK6nc

Her thoughts on gay bullying:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aBUMugqDRHg

KnifeWRENCH

Wouldn't call her an "inspiration" but I think she's a likeable, witty and genuinely decent person. I find her a lot less smug and much more entertaining than Oprah Winfrey.

And any celebrity who advocates for the rights of LGBT people is ok by me.

Also, I'm very jealous that she managed to snag Portia de Rossi. :cool:

Endymion

Indifference leaning towards dislike.

LegacyUser

KnifeWRENCH wrote: »

Wouldn't call her an "inspiration" but I think she's a likeable, witty and genuinely decent person. I find her a lot less smug and much more entertaining than Oprah Winfrey.

And any celebrity who advocates for the rights of LGBT people is ok by me.

Also, I'm very jealous that she managed to snag Portia de Rossi. :cool:

I would echo what KnifeWRENCH says here but I dont like Ellen's presenting style at all.
It totally puts me off watching her talk show. I enjoyed watching her sitcom some years back though.

baby and crumble

i think she's hilarious, plus is probably the inspiration for a lot of the way I dress. Can't really believe she's something like 53 now! :eek:

L.Jenkins

She's hawt for 53 :P Don't much of an opportunity to watch her talk show but i do think she's somewhat witty.

hotmail.com

Her comments on how gay issues have to be taken in the context of the intolerance of gay people in United States.

John McCain, would be US President, called the day openly gay people were allowed to serve in the US military, as a "sad day for America".

So the odd comment on promoting tolerance of gay people can do no harm I think.

Aard

I think she's made a slew of impressionable housewives gay-OK.

SparkyTech

Aard wrote: »

I think she's made a slew of impressionable housewives gay-OK.

Definitly. More so then Oprah ever could. That woman is so narcissistic! :rolleyes:

Ambersky

Maybe people forget the landmark significance of Ellens coming out in The Puppy Episode of the television series Ellen in which she was the lead character.
It was only 13 years ago but up untill then no one starring in a mainstream popular American TV series had risked coming out as Lesbian or Gay in their personal life or in series.

The Ellen show was a popular programme and Ellen risked loosing her fan base by making such a dramatic change mid season. The networks parent company Disney, had a reputation for conservative family values and it was a hard battle to sell the story line of one of their main characters coming out.
Even before the episode went out the studio received at least one bomb threat and sponsors were pressurised to withdraw funding.

I think its one thing to stand up for causes and it can take a lot of courage to do so when the causes are somewhat controversial, but it takes even more courage to put yourself in the firing line.
Anyone coming out knows that before you do it you just dont know what will happen.
Ellen and her team didnt know what would happen if she came out on television, heres a link to some info about it.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Puppy_Episode

As it happened it paved the way for others even though shortly after The Puppy Episode the series ended. She didnt work for a further 3 years.
It did open the way for programmes like Will and Grace which followed.
Its also why the Lesbian website AFTERELLEN is named as it is in recognition of the shows importance in media history.
The visibility of Lesbians and Gay men in ordinary television programmes played and still plays a very important part in our normalising
into society and mainstream culture.
http://www.afterellen.com/

Heres a link to a clip of Ellen talking with Laura Dern about what happened after the show aired.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xl0lWmrx76s

Heres a YouTube clip of the coming out episode itself
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bhuiJINpRww

Trans Ann

SparkyTech wrote: »

What are your thoughts on Ellen? Do you think she is an inspiration, good advocate or just a celebrity publicity seeker?

Im not too mad on her normal TV show, Her presenting style and humor aren't my taste, but as for her LGBT work I feel its very admirable and noteworthy.

In practicular 3 vid's that really moved me:

Interview with Judy Shepard on murder of her son Matheew 8 yrs on
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7FAYtWUQq68

On the murder of L King
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KSE6kjJK6nc

Her thoughts on gay bullying:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aBUMugqDRHg

I was never mad about her always thought she came across fake..I guess the truth came out in the end..its bad for her..but you can't treat people like dirt it always catches up later.

JupiterKid

Yes, it seems that a lot of very unpleasant revelations from the crew and staff of Ellen's TV chat show in terms of how she has treated them - very very badly, it turns out - have done significant damage to DeGeneres's credo.

Trans Ann

JupiterKid wrote: »

Yes, it seems that a lot of very unpleasant revelations from the crew and staff of Ellen's TV chat show in terms of how she has treated them - very very badly, it turns out - have done significant damage to DeGeneres's credo.

Yes. She's probably another ego maniac. Shame what's happened. Hopefully she will learn no one is invincible.