During the 1990s homosexuality became much more acceptable in mainstream American thought with events such as Howard Stern's gay dance party that he hosted on live television. Also, until 1990, homosexual foreigners were officially banned from entering the United States. Many stars including Ellen DeGeneres came "out of the closet" by announcing that they were gay (That episode had about 45 million viewers, 3 times the average). This made it much easier for other people to follow suit because celebrities doing so made it much more acceptable to others. What do you think would've happened if these public figures kept it to themselves, because they were afraid of it hurting their reputation?
If they had kept it to themselves, it would have been a very different story with the public reaction of gay people, and gay people probably wouldn't have been as accepted by the public if they hadn't come out.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Peter Jensen, by gays coming out it forced the community to begin to accept them in society. Without gays coming out, they would always be hated. But because they sacrificed everything such as safety and friendships it allowed people to learn to accept them.
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