DTM

Oct. 11 marks the 30th anniversary of National Coming Out Day. The day celebrates “coming out” as a central piece in the demand for equality by the LGBT rights movement as well as a formative experience in the lives of many LGBT people.

Since the first National Coming Out Day in 1988, a lot has changed. Coming out doesn’t carry the same political significance that it used to, and the ways in which people choose, or don’t choose, to come out have reflected that shift.

Those changes are most evident in pop culture — movies, TV, and music — and LGBT celebrities have done a lot to influence how the general public thinks about coming out. In 1997, almost a decade after the first National Coming Out Day, Ellen DeGeneres came out on the cover of Time, and the character that she played on her sitcom, Ellen, came out as well.

It was a big deal, and it mobilized a political backlash. DeGeneres received death threats. Some advertisers decided to pull their ads from the show. An adult content warning was added to episodes in which two women kissed. The show took heat from conservative commentators who griped that the show was trying to normalize homosexuality. The show was canceled a little more than a year afterward. 

At the same time, people looking back on that moment see it as a pivotal shift. As she celebrated the 20th anniversary of “The Puppy Episode” on her talk show, DeGeneres said it was important “to remember what it was like back then and appreciate how far we’ve come.”

It Almost Destroyed Ellen’s Career; Now Celebrities Are Playing With ‘Coming Out’