With all the hoopla past, what did you make of the Ellen show? Personally, I think Ellen Degeneres's coming out show was not only one of the best that TV has offered in many years but was also a landmark in television history and a major step forward in America's coming to terms with homosexuality.

The program was funny and had a message that we all needed to hear. As a Christian minister, I disagree with those right wing Christians who believe that openly depicting gay and lesbians as people instead of perverts poses a threat to our values and children. In fact I think the show provides a unique opportunity for us to learn more about, not only the fuller spectrum of sexuality, but also about the essential and universal experiences that we share as human beings regardless of our sexual orientation.

The show succeeds because it honestly and humorously portrays the story of a woman who is going through the difficult and painful process of self discovery. While Ellen serves as model for thousands of closeted gays and lesbians, she also presents a lesson and example for us all, for her's is a human story not simply a gay one. While, obviously, the particular issue is about being gay, the larger lesson was about the universal struggle to know and openly affirm oneself. In so doing it was also educational as it confronted common stereotypes and prejudice about gays and lesbians but did so in a way which did not preach or become sarcastic.

In the wake of its initial success I feel people, especially Christians, need to speak out and build on Ellen's example to expand the dialog and to correct the gross and pervasive misunderstanding which exists in American society about homosexuality. Further, this is an excellent time to confront and expose the massive denial which exists concerning the hatred and mistreatment which gays and lesbians receive.

For example, as a response to the recent media hype, various segments of the religious right presented gross misrepresentations about homosexuality as fact. Worst among the vicious propaganda was the assertion that homosexuality is a reversible, life style choice. In my opinion the facts, not the people, need to be set straight. Another ploy was the attempt to frighten people in to thinking that the efforts to gain full human rights for homosexuals were efforts to gain special or preferential rights and to promote a gay agenda. Religious trappings aside, these expressions of raw prejudice and hate need to be vigorously exposed as the bigotry that they are.

Which brings me back to why I am so enthusiastic about Ellen. Sometimes lies can be exposed and hearts can be changed in unusual ways. Where religion and theology have failed, perhaps Ellen's story, told with touching and comic flare, can succeed. Ellen avoids polarizing or politicizing the atmosphere and, in stead, humorously reveals universal truths about loneliness and longing and poignantly shows how difficult it is to truly be oneself in the face of societal disapproval.

Ellen gives us all a powerful model to emulate by dramatizing, with awkward realism, the process of coming to terms with a denied part of ones identity and the confusing struggle of knowing what to do next.

By portraying her gay character as a vulnerable person, we have been given the opportunity to look at homosexuals in a new way. By seeing their humanity rather than seeing them as perverted or immoral we can realize that they face the same kinds of emotional challenges that every one else does. Likewise, to recognize our essential sameness is to realize that her coming out is the kind of liberation we all of have need of.

Coming out can be a gift to our society if it is seen as metaphor for having the courage to be oneself and affirm one's own uniqueness. Perhaps, inspired by her example, we can muster the courage, as a society, to take the next step in consciousness to be more accepting and compassionate toward our human differences and there by become more a loving and caring people.