Date: Wed, 19 Nov 1997 15:39:00 -0700 From: Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation Subject: GLAAD AND COLAGE PRAISE "ELLEN" FOR BRINGING "HOLLY" TO TV GROUNDBREAKING PORTRAIT SIGNALS POSITIVE REPRESENTATION OF CHILDREN OF LESBIANS AND GAY MEN MEDIA RELEASE FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Liz Tracey (GLAAD), (212) 807-1700 e-mail: tracey@glaad.org pager: (800) 946-4646, pin # 1423527 Felicia Park-Rogers (COLAGE), (415) 861-5437 e-mail: colage@colage.org GLAAD AND COLAGE PRAISE "ELLEN" FOR BRINGING "HOLLY" TO TV GROUNDBREAKING PORTRAIT SIGNALS POSITIVE REPRESENTATION OF CHILDREN OF LESBIANS AND GAY MEN NEW YORK, NOVEMBER 19, 1997-The Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) and Children of Lesbians and Gays Everywhere (COLAGE) today praised the television show Ellen for bringing an important portrayal of a child of a lesbian parent to the small screen. Holly (Kayla Murphy) is the 12-year old daughter of Lori (Lisa Darr), Ellen's girlfriend on the ABC show, and was featured prominently in the November 12 episode, in which Ellen meets Holly for the first time. The episode explored Ellen's discomfort with displaying affection publicly. Ellen thinks that Holly simply does not like her, until they have a heart-to-heart talk about Ellen's feelings. Holly tell her that anyone's who going to date her mother cannot hide who they are. Ellen realizes how enlightened Holly is, and then begins to behave in a more open and honest manner. "This is yet another breakthrough for ABC and Ellen. For the millions of children of lesbians and gay men growing up in America today, Holly represents them in a wonderful light. She's smart, funny, has crushes on boys, plays in the school band and has very deeply held beliefs about herself and her mother," said GLAAD Executive Director Joan M. Garry, mother of three. "Lori and Holly are one of the better examples of family values on television, they have a close, open and honest relationship of love and understanding." There are an estimated 6-14 million children who have a parent who is lesbian or gay, according to Charlotte Patterson, the leading psychological expert on children of gay people. Also in her research, Dr. Patterson found that lesbian and gay parents are not more likely than children of heterosexual parents to have low self-esteem. "As the daughter of a lesbian and a gay man, I can tell you that Holly is a great addition to the television family," said Felicia Park-Rogers, Director of COLAGE. "My brother, sister and I grew up in a way that is honest, loving and can truly be held up as a family. I can only hope that people who are watching Ellen are learning that children of lesbians and gay men exist, and that we're helping to broaden the way family is defined, so that instead of being left out, we're now out-and we count." COLAGE is the only national support and advocacy organization for run by and for daughters and sons of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender parents. GLAAD is a national organization that promotes fair, accurate and inclusive representation of individuals and events in the media as a means of combating homophobia and all forms of discrimination based on sexual orientation or identity. -30- ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) glaad@glaad.org TO REPORT DEFAMATION IN THE MEDIA - Call GLAAD's Alertline at 1.800.GAY.MEDIA or go to the GLAAD Web Site at www.glaad.org and report through our Alertline Online. TO JOIN GLAAD AND RECEIVE GLAAD's DISPATCH AND QUARTERLY IMAGES MAGAZINE, call 1.800.GAY.MEDIA or join on the Web today at www.glaad.org/glaad/join/join-about.html TO SUBSCRIBE TO GLAAD-Net, GLAAD's electronic mailing list, send e-mail to majordomo@vector.casti.com with the message "Subscribe GLAAD-Net" TO UNSUBSCRIBE, send e-mail to majordomo@vector.casti.com with the message "Unsubscribe GLAAD-Net" GLAAD is a national organization that promotes fair, accurate and inclusive representation as a means of challenging discrimination based on sexual orientation or identity. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "GLAAD" and "Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation" are registered trademarks of the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, Inc.