Ellen – Gay and Proud

I fell in love with Ellen DeGeneres when she played Dory on Finding Nemo, which I think most of America did as well. Until this character, I hadn’t really heard much about her though. This fun loving character that she played was a way that helped American to feel like she was a funny person that we would like to see again, and she got her new TV show and became a hit. I feel like many people are scared to come out to their friends and family because they don’t know how to understand it on their own sometimes and it’s hard to accept when your family or society tries to force you to be someone you’re not. Ellen was a strong person to come out as a TV icon because she risked the repercussions of how this could affect her career in the TV and Film industry. But because she was able to laugh at herself about it, she didn’t suffer from the way others may have viewed her. Laughing about situations is sometimes the only thing you can do. I have also found though that most funny people are actually really suffering underneath how they act. I have seen this to be true in my past relationships as well as with people you see on TV as well. Being gay is something that our society has cast a shadow on as something you don’t want to be. So growing up, knowing you are gay and keeping it a secret as long as she did was probably really hard and confusing for her. I think more people who have the power to impact others need to be expressing their self freely so they can show others that they can stand up for who they are as well. Ellen has helped reach many people and brought them strength and hope in opening up to others about their own problems with how society has affected the gay community. I think that our society is getting better about accepting the gay community but it is still far from where it has the potential to be.