The month of March is Women's History Month! Yay for women and girls everywhere! So today I'm highlighting the accomplishments of one of the many amazing women I admire!!! There are hundreds of women that deserve recognition this month, but for the sake of this article, I will be focusing on Ellen Degeneres. Feel free to do your own research on other wonderful women!
Ellen DeGeneres took an extremely brave step by coming out 20 years ago when LGBTQ issues were not really spoken about. Not only did she come out to the world through a famous magazine, but she came out on her sitcom Ellen, on national television. On her show, Ellen goes on a date with a man from her past and meets a woman he is friends with. She immediately feels a connection with this woman that she has never felt with a man before. This woman tells Ellen that she is gay, and because of how society raised children to believe homosexuality was wrong, Ellen freaks out and leaves when accused of herself being gay. Ellen seeks therapy and evidently comes to the realization that she is, in fact, gay. She takes the conversation a step further and shows the emotional journey of telling your loved ones.
She faced extreme hate, discrimination, and backlash (still does). Her show actually gets canceled after this season, and some states refused to even air the episode where she comes out. It's sad but even as little as 20 years ago coming out as gay was very taboo. Gradually, it has gotten easier but we still have a long way to go. Although in this country homosexuality is widely accepted now, gay people still face discrimination and mistreatment. Hate crimes are still committed all the time, and the acceptance of all lifestyles is not where it should be. Other countries in the world are unfortunately not even where we are with acceptance. Even worse, in our own country, other members of the LGBTQ community are less accepted tan others. Currently, the transgender community is facing a lot of issues. They are being killed for living their lives, are being told where they can and can not go to the bathroom, are not recognized, and are facing the struggles the gay community faced 20 years ago.
On a more positive note, I am so beyond proud to be a woman today and every day with role models like these!!! I highly recommend watching these 2 parts of an episode from Ellen's 90s sitcom where she came out on national television.
Learn more about Women's History Month and how to get involved here!
