ALL HAIL ELLEN

Ellen Degeneres recently made waves for being honored with a Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Barack Obama. Degeneres is known for many things, but ultimately, for reminding us to "just keep swimming." Her tagline is "Be kind to one another" and her show is based around bringing "joy and happiness" to people. She's the human equivalent of a golden retriever and SHE'S THE BEST (*the author may be bias.)

“It’s easy to forget now, when we’ve come so far -- where now marriage is equal under the law -- just how much courage was required for Ellen to come out on the most public of stages almost 20 years ago just how important it was. Not just to the LGBT community, but for all of us.” - President Obama

But Ellen made waves long before her blonde, pixie-cut self was bouncing around on a national talk-show. Ellen starred in a sitcom in the 90s titled, simply "Ellen" branching out from her stand-up comedy career.

Then, in 1997, Ellen came out as a lesbian on the Oprah Winfrey show. Then, her character came out. This was ground breaking. In the 90s, despite the AIDS epidemic still heavily on the minds of those in the LGBTQIA+ community, gay characters and representation of gays on television and film was hardly ever seen. If gay characters existed, they were tropes and stereotypes.

Ellen began dismantling this early on. Now, she celebrates all walks of life on her show. She celebrates all ethnicities, religions, genders, and backgrounds. She's dedicated to helping others and encouraging others to help others. Almost every episode she gives away money to some cause, from a family in need, to a school, to a relief fund -- she's always thinking of others first.

Unfortunately, we exist in a sensationalized media-driven world, where the media often exists under a "Mean World Syndrome" umbrella. We often get lost and mixed up in a mindset that the world is a terrible place. Ellen seems to pull everyone back together by doing goofy games, asking celebrities silly questions (or scaring the S*#@ out of them) and ultimately knits us back comfortably.

Not only that, we cannot lose sight that Ellen is a lesbian. She is a lesbian existing in a heavily, heterosexual dominant industry. But she doesn't stop who she is. She celebrates her sexuality, talking often about her wife, Portia and their "fur babies." She became a MASSIVE voice for an incredibly marginalized group.

She's not the trope "man-ish" lesbian. She's the face of a makeup line. She's a fashion designer. She isn't the "tomboy" or the "brute." She's simply a woman in the entertainment industry -- a comedienne, a humanitarian, an activist, a wife, a friend, and a human.

Ellen humanizing, not only the LGBTQIA+ community in a time where they desperately needed it, but also people different than we are familiar with, and reenforcing us with a positive message brings a little more light into the world.

Ellen is important (and I could honestly write a novel on her impact) not because she is a lesbian. Not because she is an activist. Not because she is a humanitarian. Not because she's a successful comedienne. She's important because she's all of these things, is flawed, and puts all of her sides on display. She represents how three-dimensional people are. She's a support system for those who've felt cast-aside, and even if her show is only on for an hour, she is dedicated to bring happiness.

Everything Ellen represents can be seen from her monologue on her talk-show episode post the 2016 election.