American Ellen

The announcement this week of Ellen DeGeneres taking over Paula Abdoul's judge's seat on American Idol was met with mixed reactions.

There was nothing mixed about my reaction.

"This is awesome! What a smart, shrewd move on the producer's part! I can't wait for the show to start this year! She's going to be great, just great."

I love Ellen. Everyone loves Ellen. She's funny, she's smart, she's not a schlub, she doesn't play a character in her comedy - she's just funny.

She's replacing Paula's warm heart on the panel. I am thankful the producers aren't leaving that spot empty: with just Simon, Randy, and Kara judging, I feared we would hear about a rash of contestant suicides. She'll have more to add than just the "nice" factor - I think Ellen will actually make sense in her critiques. At times, Paula wasn't unlike a person with Alzheimer's, grasping for words, picking many, none of them connecting to make a coherant thought.

I cannot overlook the biggest potential that Ellen brings to the table: increased acceptance of homosexuality. Ellen is a beautiful woman who is married to Portia DeRossi, a woman that could stop traffic. And she probably does, despite it being fairly well known that she's a lesbian. They are so...nonchalant about their relationship, a nonchalance that I think puts the skittish American public at ease.

No one likes "different", but none more so than Americans. We love the show "CSI," so we make a hit out of "CSI: Miami" and "CSI: New York." We love hamburgers, so we have a Wendy's, Burger King, McDonalds, and Carl's on every corner. If you're a roll of sushi, your best chances of being taken to are in the progressive Los Angeles or New York City.

Ellen does not make a federal case out of the fact that she is in love with a woman. She just is. She's a hamburger. She dresses just like the majority of Americans do, even wearing jeans and sneakers on her talk show. To be blunt, she doesn't Adam Lambert herself all over the place, a sushi roll if there ever was one.

Let me be clear: I am saying NOTHING against Adam Lambert, his guy-liner, his leather, his hair, or his sexuality. On "American Idol," he was one of the most generous and good-natured contestants I've seen. But I do understand that for a lot of people, he can be off-putting in the flamboyant and overt way he dresses and presents himself. Unfortunately, I think people look to put their finger on what, exactly, makes them uncomfortable about him. And for many people, that answer will be his sexuality, when in reality it is probably just his clothing (although the tabloid pictures of him making out porno-style with a guy, both smearing lipstick over each other, didn't help matters).

Homosexuality has somehow become synonymous with in-your-face counter-culture and anarchy. By definition, homosexuality is counter-culture: unfortunately, it is counter to what the majority of American culture accepts or believes in.

This is where the difficult debate comes in. With equal rights and marriage propositions on many states' ballots, gay people nationwide are looking to make their partnerships legal, a part of the culture.

Yes, I am saying some degree of assimilation into the majority culture is necessary for gay rights to really take hold, just like how some degree of assimilation on the part of each state is necessary to maintain our country as the United States.

Having Ellen on "American Idol" has just exploded her visibility. Seeing this average, fun, good soul will be great for Americans. Perhaps she will be generous enough to teach us to see the person instead of the sexuality. If we're smart enough to learn from her, I predict gay marriage will be legal nationwide within the next 2 seasons of "American Idol."