Of course there were protests. Vice President Al Gore, in a speech
to the Hollywood Radio and Television Society, said that when the TV
character played by Ellen DeGeneres “came out” as a lesbian,
“millions of Americans were forced to look at sexual orientation in
a more open light.” But the protesting seemed to be against the vice
president’s having conferred a sort of legitimacy on homosexuality
instead of being, as it should have been, against his having
conferred a sort of legitimacy on television. What does it matter,
after all, what the vice president thinks of homosexuality? Even if
he becomes president, he will do what seems politically possible at
the time (employment non-discrimination and more AIDS research,
probably; gays in the military and gay marriage, probably not). But
where moral leadership, at least against the propaganda function of
the goggle-box, was desperately needed, Gore stood up and cheered
for the other side.

Think about it. To the Hollywood Radio and Television Society, Gore
gave his quasi-official imprimatur not only to Ellen and friends
but, long after the fact, to Oscar the Grouch and Archie Bunker as
the teachers and guides of the American masses. So long as he and
others of his persuasion could pretend—as they did when his
predecessor, Dan Quayle, attacked “Murphy Brown” in 1992—that TV is
just “entertainment,” we were at least in theory free to make up our
own minds about the great moral issues of the day. But now, in a