Today, on her talk show, host Ellen DeGeneres applauded the California Supreme Court’s ruling striking down the state’s ban on gay marriage and announced that she would be wedding her longtime girlfriend, actress Portia de Rossi:
This is very exciting, I have to say. Yesterday, the California Supreme Court overturned the ban on gay marriage. So I would like to say right now, for the first time, I am announcing that I am getting married. [...]
I’m so excited. It’s something that we’ve, of course, wanted to do, and we’ve wanted to be legal, and we’re very very excited.
The audience gave her and de Rossi, who was also present, a long, standing ovation. Watch it:
The Advocate (via Perez Hilton) has more reactions on yesterday’s ruling from prominent members of the LGBT community.
I got Daryll at 10:44.
May 16th, 2008 at 10:37 amtake care
tony and guidedog Lido
Ellen's gay?.. woah..shocker.
May 16th, 2008 at 10:38 amThat's hot.
May 16th, 2008 at 10:41 amEllen is living proof that gays are terr'sts & appeasers.
May 16th, 2008 at 10:44 am/snark
downwamorica Says:
TP Admin: Please don't allow this troll dung to ruin the moment. Please remove this troll and its comments, promptly.
May 16th, 2008 at 10:56 amCalifornia, good on ya for striking down the ban.
May 16th, 2008 at 10:56 amBut . . . Ellen who ?
I'm glad to hear that California lifted the ban on gay marriages. They should be entitled to all benefits the rest of us enjoy.
May 16th, 2008 at 10:57 amOH NOES!
Ordinary gays get married and the price of gas doubles!
Just watch, as soon as this FAMOUS gay gets married. Global Warming will be REAL!
FLEE. FLEE FOR YOUR LIVES! WE'RE BEING INVADED BY POLAR BEARS! OBAMA IS NEVILLE CHMABERLAIN AND HITLER WAS A PALESTINIAN! IT'S THE END TIMES!
P.S. God still needs a lot of money, now more than ever. Give generously and you are bound to be 'raptured'!!
May 16th, 2008 at 10:58 amFor the first time Ellen's life, she can be proud of a country that isn't completely overrun with right-wing drivel.
May 16th, 2008 at 10:58 amThis is going to be great for the economy. All the gay weddings will generate lots of gift sales. The marriage tax penalty will give more money to the government to operate with. And the subsequent gay divorces will help the attorneys.
Oh,I guess we should also support this because gays who love each other should have the secular right to legally partner and the religious right to practice their beliefs without government interference. :)
May 16th, 2008 at 10:58 amCongratulations, Ellen and Portia! It's been a long time coming, and I hope to not be far behind you!
May 16th, 2008 at 11:00 amCan't really blame the anti-gay trolls for being upset. Ellen's girlfriend (now fiance?) is way hotter than anything they can find in their mom's basement.
May 16th, 2008 at 11:01 amYay for Ellen and Portia! May you have a long and happy marriage.
May 16th, 2008 at 11:02 amThis is wonderful news.
May 16th, 2008 at 11:04 amPLChristian...
"This is going to be great for the economy. All the gay weddings will generate lots of gift sales...."
Yeah, but I'm not looking forward to the gay version of "My Best Friend's Wedding" which is also "27 Dresses" and half a dozen other versions of the EXACT SAME THING--but you know what Hollywood is like, they'll do it anyway ( sigh).
May 16th, 2008 at 11:05 amHow interesting that "Portia" is the heroine of William Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice, a woman who is blocked from marrying whom she chooses, and in part of her effort to gain her own freedom disguises herself as a lawyer.
May 16th, 2008 at 11:07 amTony Perkins was already on TV last night, whining about 'Activist Judges' in Calif. I'm sure Dobson will do the same today.
Let me get this straight, (no pun intended)...Ted Haggard can have paid, gay sex on meth & be 'saved' through 're-programming', but California gays who truly love each other should be denied the right to marriage because God said so.
Perkins, Dobson, Hagee, Parsley are the epitome of hypocrisy.
By the way, aren't all God's children created equal?
May 16th, 2008 at 11:10 am5th Estate, I wasn't interested in even the STRAIGHT versions of "My Best Friend's Wedding"! Anyway, there is sometimes a price to pay for standing up for what is right. :)
May 16th, 2008 at 11:10 amdownwamorica Says:
May 16th, 2008 at 11:11 amWho Gives a Fuc%!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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Crass though they may be, your words are not without their wisdom. Afterall "Who Gives a Fuc%!!!!!!!!!!!!!" who anyone wishes to marry? Why is this same sex marriage thing even an issue. Isn't this a society based on individual freedoms?
Instead of running some stupid ass story about who Ellen is marrying,why not run a story about the people this law will help!!! Like the partner now who can get health insurance, or the partner now who can gain visiting right, or any other rights this law will help and the ordinary people who will benefit...Stupid stories about celebs do more harm than good in my opinion..
May 16th, 2008 at 11:14 am1. downwamorica Says:
It's not a good reflection on your part, TP, to let this comment stand. Please remove it.
May 16th, 2008 at 11:17 amI woner how long until the Daryll's and Bitbit's show up to prove they ignore the words of Jesus in their drive to highlight their "pick & choose" approach to the Bible for the sole purpose of denying equal rights to every American Citizen?
I think they'll show up sometime before 12:00 to push their radical anti-Christian agenda.
May 16th, 2008 at 11:17 amDo only nonceleb gays and their partners benefit from this law or am I missing something? I think the idea may be to put a face to those very real benefits which all CA gay couples might now enjoy.
May 16th, 2008 at 11:19 amMaybe there's hope that one day I can walk MY daughter down the aisle :)
May 16th, 2008 at 11:21 amGood luck with that ESL. I wish you and your daughter all the best.
May 16th, 2008 at 11:24 amNo doubt Tom Tancredo will point out how gay marriage in California will allow gay illegal mexicans to "marry" for US citizenship and eventually turn us all into gay illegal mexican muslim terrorists!
May 16th, 2008 at 11:28 amLungman424 Says:
Instead of running some stupid ass story about who Ellen is marrying,why not run a story about the people this law will help!!! Like the partner now who can get health insurance, or the partner now who can gain visiting right, or any other rights this law will help and the ordinary people who will benefit…Stupid stories about celebs do more harm than good in my opinion..
California already has a very strong civil unions law that provides all these benefits to gay couples. Those couples just couldn't call it a "marriage", and of course, if they move out of state they lose that protection and those rights.
May 16th, 2008 at 11:33 amI think there should be two requirements for marriage:
May 16th, 2008 at 11:38 am1) Be of legal age.
2) Be willing.
No doubt Tom Tancredo will point out how gay marriage in California will allow gay illegal mexicans to “marry” for US citizenship and eventually turn us all into gay illegal mexican muslim terrorists!
Will Santorum say something about "man-on-gay-illegal-mexican-muslim-terrorist-dog" sex?
May 16th, 2008 at 11:47 amThe California Supreme Court ruling is great and all, but methinks Ellen may be using this ruling to get some free publicity out of it.
May 16th, 2008 at 12:04 pmJaneaneTheAcerbicGoblin Says:
Ellen is not the first to announce her engagement in public. This kind of awareness is inspiring to the LG community.
May 16th, 2008 at 12:08 pmFrankly I think this is great.
A lot of attention has been paid to promoting male homosexuality as normal, but the female equivalent is still, I suspect misunderstood, Mariel Hemingway and Rosanne (or was that Woody Allen ) notwithstanding (yes Madonna, it had been done --- OOOh, get you! mieow (etc.)) and associated either with soft-porn fantasies or crewcuts, square body frames, bov-ver boots (read Doc Martens) and lumberjack shirts ("and I'm okay" ).
Seeing two very normal looking women in such a high profile relationship can only be good for the normalization of being gay and female.
David,
Neither gay nor lesbian, just live-and-let-live-and-be-nice-to-others-please
Canada
aka "The Adsense Strategist" http://adsensestrategiesadsense.wordpress.com
May 16th, 2008 at 12:10 pmIs Ellen really that desperate for publicity? Methinks not.
May 16th, 2008 at 12:29 pmI'm very glad this idiotic ruling was overturned. Anti-gay religious CRAP has no place in the law. Period.
Marriage is simply a legal contract.
Where the HELL in our Constitution are gays prohibited from entering into contracts...?
Get the stupid religious freaknuts the HELL out of my life.
May 16th, 2008 at 12:37 pmRepublicans warn that gay marriage will hurt "traditional" heterosexual marriage. For instance, Larry Craig and Ted Haggard will now undoubtedly divorce their wives and move to California.
May 16th, 2008 at 12:44 pmI am 100% behind gay marriage. But, I read recently that there is a small problem with it. That problem is that there is no mechanism for gays to divorce! Can't have one without the other. This is apparently causing legal problems for gays who have been married in Massachusetts.
May 16th, 2008 at 12:54 pmOh, this is SOOO going to affect my marriage,
I think I will give my wife of 30 years a big hug and a kiss, then tell her 'I love her' when I get home tonight.
May 16th, 2008 at 1:25 pmThis is complete and utter bullsh!t.
The ruling has nothing to do with religious marriage ceremonies. You are uniformed.
May 16th, 2008 at 2:58 pmSorry -- uninformed.
I mean, you may be uniformed, I don't know. Maybe you're a police officer. You'd certainly be uniformed in that case. Or maybe you work in McDonald's.
But you are most definitely unINformed regarding this ruling and what it means.
May 16th, 2008 at 3:00 pmPrytania Says:
If the law is allowed to stand as written, gay marriage laws will force the various religons that do not believe in same sex marriages to marry gay couples in their places of worship.
As usual, the wingnut has it backwards. No church is currently forced to marry anyone. For instance, Catholic churches do not perform marriages between two Baptists, and no one tries to force them to do so.
On the contrary, the government has long interfered by forbidding churches to marry gays. Now that government interference has been removed in California, gay people will simply find a church which is willing to perform the ceremony, just like heteros do now.
May 16th, 2008 at 3:13 pmPortia is hot.
May 16th, 2008 at 3:28 pmIf conservatives are upset by gay sex, they should PROMOTE gay marriage. Ask anyone who is married...
May 16th, 2008 at 3:30 pmIt's clear that you're not that bright, but do you HAVE to throw out talking points that are so obviously uninformed?
Is that all you've got, or are you really that ridiculously stupid?
May 16th, 2008 at 3:37 pmRight-wing fundies are so amusing. This one thinks the government prohibition on churches preventing them from performing gay marriage is religious freedom, while allowing churches to marry whomever they like is government interference.
May 16th, 2008 at 4:01 pmI don't usually call other posters, even trolls, idiots, but you, madam, are an idiot.
Have you ever heard of any gay couple suing the Catholic church for the right to marry?
No? Then STFU.
I know wingnuts have been struggling mightily to merge church and state, but so far, you haven't fully succeeded, and government has no power to dictate a church's rituals or beliefs, nor to compel it to alter its sacraments.
If you can provide a single example of such a thing happening, then you've got something to argue. Until then, all you've got going for you is homophobic paranoia.
As for your lame-in-the-extreme argument that the Catholic Church is against same-sex marriage because it fears being forced to perform gay wedding massess, perhaps you also think that the Catholic Church opposes abortion because it fears being forced to perform abortions in monasteries? The logic, or lack of it, is exactly the same.
May 16th, 2008 at 4:06 pmPrytania Says:
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So, you don’t believe there will be gay couples seeking to get married in catholic churches? You are naive if you think they wont. And what will they do when denied Ralph?
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I think based on my understanding of catholism, I think they will just have to say they are sorry and do some silly prescribed rigmarole and they'll be back on the streets. If they are lucky they will get Father Rivera
May 16th, 2008 at 4:08 pmThen why does the Catholic Church oppose civil unions?
May 16th, 2008 at 4:26 pmPrytania Says:
I am also for churches rights to maintain their beliefs.
See, that's what is really messed up about you right-wing, fundie, extremists. You think denying churches the right to perform marriages for whomever they please is maintaining churches rights.
You, like all Republican extremists have a very strange idea about rights. Rights cannot be maintained by denying rights.
May 16th, 2008 at 4:38 pmI am a little late here.
May 16th, 2008 at 9:28 pmI just read the post.
I am a male.
I have been married to the same woman for 35 years this May 11th.
Gays and lesbians love their partners just like I love my wife.
They deserve equal treatment. They are living persons that are no different than us others than their choice of partners.
God is all forgiving. So you should be!
Just once, sit down and talk to them and you will find out that they are loving people and understanding individuals that are concerned about others.
They are like us!
Pull the Bible out of your mouthes and put it back in to your heart when you view these special persons.
They deserve your respect.
They are your equals.
LOL, I can't believe anyone watches her show or even attends the show. I guess after the marriage, we can expect an announcement that one of them will get pregnant with a sperm cocktail. Why would anyone cheer this ruling?
May 17th, 2008 at 10:25 amGo for it. Have a wonderful life
May 18th, 2008 at 4:13 amLinda D.
big freakin' deal.
i am sure all the corporations in cali are looking forward to footing the bill for all those extra benis.
May 18th, 2008 at 5:19 pmHope she gets a good prenuptial agreement or she'll get in trouble later like Paul McCartney did.
I prefer to see guys turn homosexual and marry each other, because it leaves more women for me, but I'm opposed to lesbianism. I am very romantic.
June 2nd, 2008 at 6:34 pm