Sociolinguistic Artifacts

In a televised talk show this year host Ellen DeGeneres celebrated the twentieth anniversary of her revelation on national prime time television that she was a lesbian. Forty-two million viewers tuned in to watch Ellen’s sitcom character declare “I am gay”, and this challenging and controversial decision made television history. A media frenzy followed with heated debates on gay rights and lifestyles. Ellen’s difficult and personal decision to reveal her lesbianism led to her sitcom show being cancelled in 1997. By 2004 she returned to television as a talk show host, and since then has earned ten Emmys for excellence in television. By making it acceptable for a public figure to declare a sexual preference, social change has occurred, and since then, gay marriage has become legal in the United States.