Portia & Ellen: When The Best Ammunition Against Bigotry Is Simply Speaking Openly

“What I am impressed by most is how forthright she is about her sexual orientation, despite [having a] large, broad, national, daytime network audience that certainly must include more than just a few homophobes.”

So says Slate‘s Ellen Tarlin about talk show host/comedian Ellen DeGeneres’ popular daytime talk show. Tarlin’s post had a particular resonance for me after I watched DeGeneres’ wife, actress Portia Di Rossi, on The Tonight Show yesterday, because not only was Di Rossi adding her lesser known, yet no-less-animated face and audible voice to a high-profile gay marriage, she used the word “wife” repeatedly and spoke openly about her physical affections. She normalized these things for those who regard them as abnormal. As Tarlin puts it, “Maybe I am naive, but I think this is how our country will finally change: When people who are anti-gay finally learn that someone they already know and love is gay, and they want every happiness for their loved one that they are entitled to. Or even better, when they are willing to let someone who they know is gay into their lives, despite their homosexuality.” Clip above.