was hitting on them and so they beat him in defense, also known as "gay panic".(www2) Matthew Shepard was killed because he was gay. This shows that society still does not totally accept homosexuals and causes many homosexual boys to stay in the closet.Other examples of gay people in society are those of Ellen DeGeneres and Anne Heche. Ellen DeGeneres was the star of the hit series "Ellen". At the beginning of the series everyone thought that it was going to be a big hit. Later, there was a rumor that Ellen's character would announce her homosexuality. After months of talk Ellen came out of the closet and was the first ever gay lead actress on a regular series. The "coming out" episode produced great ratings, an Emmy, and a Peabody Award. As the series became more and more centered on the characters sexuality the ratings began to drop and the series was not renewed.(www4) After Ellen announced that she was a lesbian, Angie and Debbie Winans composed a song, "Not Natural." The song addressed homosexuality and sexual immorality.(www5) Another example of a homosexual celebrity in society is Ellen DeGeneres' girlfriend Anne Heche. She is known as the woman who switched teams for Ellen.(www6) Her success in the movie Volcano influenced her to the possible damage that being a lesbian could have on her leading-lady status. Her relationship with DeGeneres was her first-time lesbian relationship.(IBID) When Heche was younger her father led a secret life. Even though he was married to a woman, he spent a great deal of time at gay bars. He later died of AIDS because he did not want to let his secret out in order to protect his family.(IBID) Gordon is a seventeen year old homosexual boy. He has gone through much harassment and abuse by fellow classmates who are straight. He knows that is was not his choice to be gay, but his classmates do not. He even says that if he could have chosen his sexuality he would have chosen to be s...
