Ellen DeGeneres did a bit on her show yesterday responding to a ridiculous article in the Christian Post decrying the positive depictions of gay people in popular culture. It’s titled “Are You Aware of the Avalanche of Gay Programming Assaulting Your Home?” I couldn’t read the entire hate-filled diatribe, but it included statements like “The indoctrination and propaganda coming from those advocating a gay lifestyle in our country, classrooms and culture are [sic] increasing.” and “God calls [being gay] ‘abominable’.” Then the author listed the ways that gays are trying to take over the world by realistically existing on television. This was hilarious to me.
- Super hyped “Empire” series starts with Oscar nominee Terrence Howard having a homosexual son – and he’s a hunk.
- “Glee” features over five gay characters.
- Home and remodeling reality shows regularly feature lesbians and gays in partnerships exploring homes.
- “Modern Family” features a gay couple who married over two episodes recently.
- “Ellen DeGeneres” celebrates her lesbianism and “marriage” in between appearances of guests like Taylor Swift to attract young girls.
- “Dancing with the Stars” hosts a gay judge and gay couples.
- “Biggest Loser” had lesbian Jillian Michaels as a role model coach.
There’s more but I’ll spare you. Showing gay couples on TV buying and redecorating homes like people do is such a threat to our society! Gay people shouldn’t be on TV and they definitely shouldn’t be hot! This intolerant idiot’s logic is funny, but he’s dead serious about it.
Well the only reason we’re talking about this is because Ellen responded and she did so with humor and grace, as we’ve come to expect from her. E! has the details:
Tomcazk accused Hollywood of having a gay agenda and argued that DeGeneres “celebrates her lesbianism and ‘marriage’ in between appearances of guests like Taylor Swift to attract young girls.”
“OK, let’s just break this down. First of all, I’m not ‘married,'” Portia De Rossi’s wife corrected him while using air quotes. “I’m married. That’s all. And, Larry, I don’t even know what it means to celebrate my lesbianism. I mean…Well, I guess I do,” DeGeneres said, using an air popper. “Like that! Yay! I’m gay!”
“In the article, the pastor criticizes a lot of TV shows for promoting gay agendas,” DeGeneres continued. “He says that Glee has over five characters. Modern Family had a gay wedding. Anderson Cooper boasts about his homosexuality. If you ask me, Larry is watching a lot of gay TV. His solution is for parents to encourage their kids to watch classic TV shows like Little House on the Prairie and I Love Lucy. It’s not like I Love Lucy is a great example for kids! She’s shoving all that chocolate in her mouth! That’s not good for kids. And then I did some research, and if you don’t think Lucy and Ethel had something going on, explain this,” she said as a picture of Lucille Ball and Vivian Vance appeared on the screen behind her.
“If that’s not gay…That’s all us gays do,” DeGeneres joked. “We get a garbage can lid…”
On a more serious note, the comic explained, “The only way I’m trying to influence people is to be more kind and compassionate with one another. That is the message I’m sending out. I don’t have an agenda.”
“I’m not here to brainwash anyone,” she added. “But…”
While holding a spinning vortex, she said, “Listen to the sound of my voice. Attention youth of the world: I want you to live your lives being exactly who you are. Be true to yourself—the most important thing is to be true to yourself. The second most important thing is that you wear Ellen underwear and only Ellen underwear.” DeGeneres smiled and instructed her viewers to “look into my vortex and dance with me.”
I’m so glad my son is growing up in this era, where we have a greater acceptance and understanding of LGBTQ people. We still have a long way to go, but people like this “Christian” are the minority. Kids need to know that they are accepted and loved for who they are. The fact that people are allowed to be themselves and that our society accepts them for that must be frustrating to those who live under a set of rigid arbitrary guidelines characterized by exclusion and judgment.
You can see the video of Ellen’s response on E! Online.
Photo credit: WENN.com
I don’t believe that Ellen has type of gay agenda. I think she just wants to be able to live her life like everyone else and is free to love who she loves. That’s it.
I love Ellen. She’s tops in my book. Nuf said!
Good job Ellen. What’s wrong with treating everyone with kindness and equality? I’m also glad my kids are living in an age where everyone should be kind and accepting of all.
I will never accept the idea that a person should be singled out for being “different. ”
Kindness, acceptance, equality for all!!!!!!
I love Ellen! And this dude needs to p*ss off, this may sound cruel, but I cannot wait until the older generation of racist, xenophobic, sexist and homophobic turds passes on.
It’s not cruel. I agree.
Unfortunately there are plenty of those in the younger generations as in those in their early twenties and below.
Not cruel, I agree. It is so frustrating. But we can take heart in the fact that they are losing this battle, they will never win. People these days are more informed. What these so-called pastors are doing, is akin to picking a spot at their local beach and trying to turn the tide back with a broom. It is that futile for them.
Shock! Horror! LGBTQ+ people are honorable and lead – gasp – normal lives?! Say it isn’t so! /eyeroll
Anyway, i adore Ellen. She always responds to hate in a graceful and funny way. If she has an agenda, then i’ve been hooked a long time ago.
I hate ignorance and bigotry. My sister, may she RIP, was gay and I loved and idolized her. And guess what, being “around” someone homosexual DIDN’T make me gay! Newsflash idiots, gays and lesbians are just like everyone else. They deserve respect and the dignity to live their lives without hatred.
Well, logically if gays being around children could ‘turn’ kids gay – what’s the excuse for the kids who are only around a heterosexual influence being gay? I just don’t get that line of thinking. It’s not even remotely logical.
And the whole bible BS. Everyone just quotes the scriptures that suit them. I don’t think Jesus himself ever said “hey, being gay is a sin guys. You’re going to hell”. There’s just so many ridiculous laws in the bible, that the people using the anti-homosexual quotes from it, are just as guilty for not following the other rules because sin is sin. A lot of people tend to pick and choose which pieces of scripture they like, and it’s not even remotely fair.
eg: No cheeseburgers – dairy and meat are a no-no together. No bacon – pigs are unclean. No blended fabrics. Don’t mistreat foreigners. Don’t round your hair or beard. Don’t remarry after divorce. No gold, jewels, fancy clothes, or braided hair on women.
Basically, I just live my life by the rule of thumb “don’t be an asshole”. If there’s a higher power that wants to punish me, it’ll be my issue – not anyone else’s. At the end of the day, I treat people well, try not to be a jerk, and do my best to be a positive influence. Not our of fear of a higher power – but because at the end of the day, I’m living with the choices I make, and I hate to think I’ve hurt someone else.
You are exactly right. My parents are very religious and the church I went to was against homosexuality. Yet, I never could see any reason to hate on someone because of whom they love. My sister being gay cemented that view and my parents came around to see it wasn’t a choice or a sin. We loved her for her.
Beautifully stated, Erinn! Completely agree with your reasoning and I really connect with what you wrote in your last paragraph. Took the words right out of my mouth.
If the gay agenda is teaching compassion, tolerance, acceptance, and equality, then consider me brainwashed. Because the agenda of intolerance, hatred, bigotry, and prejudice is just not for me.
“Be kind and compassionate with one another”! Amen sister!!
No, his kind is not a minority. We still have many states making Gay marriages illegal in US, still have long way to go, mainly in the South. Older generation have their set ways, hard to change but not impossible, I hope.
Yep – the South, the place of America’s deepests oppressions! These are red Republican states, who vote on simplistic issues like this one! Although I have lived on both east and west coast’s in the US, as well as in the far east and Europe – the South is one place where I refused to go – I’m not black, but this mentality is so offensive to me; why not enjoy South America – Panama, or someplace truly interesting!? I simply refuse to go to a spot on earth, that is so ignorant, and unkind; it would hurt me, if that makes any sense.
Why, oh why, do people consider themselves a “holier than thou Christian”, for these sorts of ideas? Kind and compassionate is the real story here…and I believe that Ellen is mostly, all of that.
Oh, please. I live in South Carolina and we have plenty of gay people here. I don’t know anyone who harasses or bothers them…they are just people and that is the attitude I’ve always seen. It has nothing to do with being a red state. Republicans don’t hate gay people; I really wish that false stereotype would go away. I’ve lived her for 40 years and the oppression you speak of is more in people’s heads than anywhere else, at least in my city. We are an international city with an extremely diverse population.
There are always going to be idiots who do and say stupid things, and that includes people in blue states. There are good people and bad people everywhere. Perpetuating stereotypes about an entire region is hurtful and actually false. Stop coloring the south with a 1960s mentality and understand that, just like all other parts of the country, we have grown, changed and improved through the decades. Of course there is always more progress to be made, but that’s true of anywhere.
Thanks SamiHami – I haven’t been to the deep South, as I mentioned, although it’s great to hear that an evolution has occurred: are you a black person, most qualified to make this judgement? I would be so happy to know that racism no longer exists, in the quality that I’ve been aware. However, the conservative mentality of Christians, still shows deficiencies in real world thinking, IMO. It’s difficult for me to believe that there are people so insulated. If the pope were correct in stating that we should not criticize other’s religious beliefs, we would still be living in the Dark Ages. Are we a part of Sharia Law, if we remain silent? From the Huffington this morning:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-l-borosage/the-empty-center-challeng_b_6478170.html
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/bob-seay/rand-paul-nsf-budget_b_6467666.html
I think, seriously – Christians believe this?!
You “refused to go” there and yet you speak with such authority on what it’s like. I tell you what I have noticed as the biggest difference between the South and the non-South (having spent decades all over North, South, East and West) is that in the South it is the uneducated and the fanatically religious who make such grand glittering ignorant generalities about vast swaths of the population. Outside the South, everyone does it.
Mel – good one – and very true, that I am guilty of significant generalizing about this region, filled as I am with documentaries, films, and testimony. I’ve never been further south than Virginia, which is where I garnered much of what I know. My ancestor was a plantation owner, and his children made new homes (other plantations after VA) in North Carolina before moving further west. I didn’t know this, until just a few years ago. I’ve been so horrified over someone trying to imprint “Lord and Master”, over another’s soul, all of my life, that perhaps my wish to never visit, was taking a stand in my mind; or maybe I’m sensitive; or maybe there is some genetic memory from these evil times. But for sure, I am not brave in my horror.
Over a sofa, I have a I a print from the Metropolitan Museum of Art. that is by an anonymous artist in America, circa 1825. It is called “The Plantation”. It depicts a plantation home at the top of a very high hill, that is dotted with tiny homes, various barns and dairy, also, a little church. Happiness prevails in the happy home on the hill. There are grapes and ivy which draping the trees. Tiny homes are tending the larger. Below, on the water, lies a dark, menacing ship. In the sky, encircling the plantation home, birds fly free.
IMO, I believe that real emancipation will have occurred, when black people have the same kind of access to monies and opportunity. To have this present, merely in the schools (that is, an equality of a quality education), could reduce inequality. Education is primarily based on income, or property values and corresponding taxes (aside from federal funds). This is mostly true, although not categorically. I worked in a school district where it was very clear which side of town had kids who were preparing for college!
We have been, and currently are, working on providing safety and dignity for all people in the US, and hopefully the whole world. Human rights are something that I am sure we can agree on! I still have no heart for the south, but that doesn’t mean that I am correct! I am glad that it is better than I imagined.
Ellen’s show is one of the most positive shows around, pure positivity. What a horrible thing to bring to the world, goodness. She does so much for people in need. Most of those people, look like average citizens who are Christians. I see people all the time, average moms at home, who say in hard times her show brings light into their life, just a little laughter for the day. They look like average moms trying to get by..
I think what she brings to the table is treat people with respect and dignity and compassion and brings a little light into some people’s lives for the hour she’s on and her show does donate and help viewers who are struggling.
What an awful human being, that Ellen.
Seriously! She’s a better example of Christianity than any actual “Christian” who would use the Bible to defend bigotry. If Jesus actually is the son of God and he returned right now, he’d embrace Ellen for helping so many people and giving visibility to so many more… and condemn the hate spewed by people like Larry.
Even if he were not the son of god, I am positive (!) that Jesus would still condemn hated.
Her lack of a gay agenda is one of the reasons she’s so popular. She is a funny, light hearted person of good will but an “agenda” would over shadow all of that……..as it does with almost all agendas the propagandists try to shove down our throats.
… but there’s no such thing as a gay agenda, so how could she promote one? The gay community KNOWS that sexuality isn’t a choice, because most of them tried and failed to be straight. They’re the last group in the world who would actually try to “convert” anyone.
The agenda is not conversion, it’s acceptance………as in, “if anyone doesn’t support me in my sexuality, they are bad narrow minded people.
@Rita: It’s not about asking someone to actively ‘support’ you in your sexuality either. It’s about not discriminating against people based on gender or sexuality, not verbally (or otherwise) abusing people for it and, for many, not using religion as a justification for discrimination, hypocrisy, and abuse. That’s not asking for much. If someone can’t even do that, then describing them as narrow-minded and their discrimination as ‘bad’ is not shoving an agenda or propaganda down someone’s throat- it’s just an observation.
Personally I’m deeply concerned about Hollywood’s agenda.
Their comic book agenda.
I’ve seen so many comic book movies and shows that I have been brainwashed into wearing spandex, hiring a butler, and going out every night to fight crime with my super powers. Damn Hollywood!
Lol, right? My first and surname both started with E. I’m pretty much setup to be a hero or a villain. Peter Parker. Bruce Banner. Lex Luther. Green Goblin.
I’m a tragedy or radioactive spider away from super powers, I swear.
” The fact that people are allowed to be themselves and that our society accepts them for that must be frustrating to those who live under a set of rigid arbitrary guidelines characterized by exclusion and judgment.”
Preach, sister. It all comes from a place of defensiveness and fear, and that’s the big irony for me: people clinging to their privilege because they’re terrified of losing it, yet failing to empathize with how it must feel to never have it in the first place.
I feel like living life is a personal agenda. We ALL HAVE AGENDAS.
p.s. Portia is a bombshell in those photos. Love the whole thing.
I had a gay agenda, but I forgot to print it out before the monthly Big Gay Overlords™ management conference. Anyone got a spare?
Go Ellen!! And the bit with the spinning vortex wax hilarious.
You know what I can’t stand? People who say “I don’t have a problem with gay people, I just don’t want it in my face. ” Guess what! That means you are a homophobe. You’ve got a big o’l problem with homosexuality. I actually prefer the rantings of the religious zealots who think gay people will burn in hell, to the people who are like “go be gay where I can’t see you.”
Yeah- and it’s even more annoying when you know that the person in question has no problem watching, drawing, writing about, or reading about hot members of the opposite sex get sexy with each other. I’m not someone who’s bothered by straight people of either sex being turned on by hot guys or hot girls making out with each other, as long as the person isn’t a homophobe about it.
I am glad that my kids are being raise in this era, also. They have had friends with same sex parents since Mommy and Me class. It’s a non-issue.
There is someone in this story who had an agenda and is trying to force it on others, but it’s not Ellen.