What’s the big deal about the central character on TV’s “Ellen” coming out as a lesbian this season?

There are gay characters on “Friends” and “Roseanne,” two of the biggest hits on television (both had lesbian weddings last season, while their ratings held steady), as well as “NYPD Blue,” “The Larry Sanders Show,” “The Crew,” and other shows. The Birdcage was a hit movie.

Republican and Democratic politicians who have come out of the closet across the country have been re-elected. Actors, singers and sports stars are coming out and still getting work. More than half of the Fortune 1000 companies and dozens of U.S. cities offer benefits to gay spouses.

Equal rights for gays was debated in the U.S. Senate and House for the first time in history, and a bill protecting gays from discrimination lost by only one vote.

Despite the panic the religious extremists tried to spread about gay marriage, only 15 of our 50 states have passed laws banning it. An equal number tried but failed. The others didn’t even bother.

Times have changed. Most Americans have come to understand that gay people are just ordinary, everyday folks.

The world only turns forward, never backward.

Scott Miller

St. Louis, MO