One of the most prominent figures in the world, Ellen DeGeneres didn’t grow up thinking that she’d be a pioneer in the fight for LGBTQ equal rights and visibility. But that’s exactly where she found herself in 1997 when she broke out of the professional closet she’d inhabited since becoming a standup comic.
Ellen Lee DeGeneres is an American comedian, television host, actress, writer, and producer. She starred in the popular sitcom Ellen from 1994 to 1998 and has hosted her syndicated TV talk show, The Ellen DeGeneres Show, since 2003.
She was born and raised in Metairie, Louisiana, to Elizabeth Jane, a speech therapist, and Elliott Everett DeGeneres, an insurance agent. In 1973, her parents filed for separation and were divorced the following year. Shortly after, Ellen’s mother married Roy Gruessendorf, a salesman. Already trying to accommodate through with her life, she was 15 or 16 years old, she was molested by her stepfather.
The rise to fame and stardom didn’t,t happen miraculously. In her early days, Ellen performed several jobs including working at J. C. Penney,[11] and being a waitress at T.G.I. Friday’s and another restaurant, a house painter, a hostess, and a bartender. She relates much of her childhood and career experiences in her comedic work.
Today she needs no introduction, we all know who she is.
When Ellen DeGeneres and her television character came out of the closet simultaneously, the media hurricane was a Category 5 and the backlash included hate mail, death threats, and ultimately the cancellation of her show. At the time of her Making Gay History interview in 2001, there was no guarantee that Ellen’s star would rise again—and far higher than it had in the 1990s—and that the honors showered on her would include the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
She risked her life as well as her life’s work to proclaim herself Gay.
And that’s on top of hosting awards shows, doing standup, and winning 30 Emmy Awards and more People’s Choice Awards than anyone. Ever. Add to that, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian award. Here’s what President Obama had to say at the White House that day in November 2016:
It’s easy to forget now, when we’ve come so far, where now marriage is equal under the law, just how much courage was required for Ellen to come out on the most public of stages almost twenty years ago. Just how important it was, not just to the LGBT community, but for all of us, to see somebody so full of kindness and light, somebody we liked so much, somebody who could be our neighbor or our colleague, or our sister, challenge our own assumptions—remind us that we have more in common than we realize. Push our country in the direction of justice.
Amen.
She is currently married to Portia Lee James DeGeneres. The marriage was not initially legalized but a subsequent California Supreme Court judgment validated it because it occurred before November 4, 2008.
A 31-year-old bisexual woman in our survey captured DeGeneres’ appeal and significance as well as anyone: “[S]he has been out for so long that it is no longer an issue, and older white women feel comfortable with her show. She normalizes LGBT people.”
Today she is one of the most famous and prominent Gay figure in the LGBTQ history.
