I am looking forward to watching the program Ellen on April 30. It will be my first time watching the show. I’m excited to see the main character on a popular television program come out of the closet and reveal she is a lesbian.

When I was a toddler, I remember watching programs like “Soap” or “Three’s Company” and the treatment that the writers and actors of these shows gave their characters (that were gay or were presumed to be gay). Of course, such a treatment was an extension of the prevailing view in our culture. I agree with Alan L. Light (A breath of fresh air; Mar. 17) that negative gay and lesbian images have been the rule in the media until recently.

This change in the media reflects the expansion of society’s consciousness regarding its gay and lesbian neighbors. We are coming closer in understanding that having a homosexual orientation is not a perversion of sexuality. It is simply a variation of orientation. Further, we are realizing that same-sex relationships are as important as opposite-sex relationships. Gay and lesbian families are beginning to become more visible in the media and among our neighbors.

It is refreshing to see this as an indication of the moral growth that is transpiring in our culture as we enter the cusp of a new millennium.

Don Paulsen

North Sioux City, S.D.