Equality, no matter what the state says

Celebrities have been coming out for years.

Ellen DeGeneres did it on the cover of Time magazine in 1997. Lance Bass did it on the cover of People magazine in 2006. Zachary Quinto came out quietly in an interview with New York Magazine in 2011.

Gradually, throughout time, it’s become quite the non-issue. Kind of like saying, “Hey, everyone. Guess what? I’m a vegetarian.” ‘Cause, you know, big deal.

Yet, as sexuality and gender identity slowly becomes the prejudices of yesteryear, public figures like actress Ellen Page acknowledging her homosexuality still bring a tear to my eye.

It really doesn’t register all that much to me that Page, an Academy Award-nominee for 2007’s “Juno,” is a lesbian.

I’m still going to see her next film because she’s a damn good actress. I’m still going to be drawn to her on screen because she’s an engaging presence. Heterosexual men can still find her attractive because she’s a beautiful person.

Her sexuality is not limiting to her professional life. It doesn’t apply to any of those previously mentioned parameters, or many parameters at all. In fact, it really only applies to Page herself and whoever she chooses to have a relationship with.

But as Page stood on stage at a Human Rights Campaign event on Valentine’s Day, she represented a heroism we, unfortunately, still must see today as bravery.

Even though the debate over House Joint Resolution 3, which would create a constitutional ban on same-sex marriage in Indiana, is tabled until 2015 or 2016, we still need people like Page to remind us being gay is OK.

The example being set by Indiana legislators seriously considering and fighting for an outright constitutional ban on same-sex marriage is appalling, and they should be ashamed.

Ashamed that an actress, a profession not entirely known for its guidebook to role-model ethics, is setting a better example than an elected representative. But then again, I guess I shouldn’t expect that much from politicians.

That’s what “House of Cards” is teaching me anyway.

I can only hope young Hoosiers across the state will listen to Page’s message of acceptance and not the statehouse’s proposed message of bigotry.

Children and teens shouldn’t be sentenced to an adolescence of fear because the officials they weren’t even old enough to vote for don’t have their interests at heart
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Ellen Page is on the right side of history, and I implore Indiana to join her in the coming years.

­— wdmcdona@indiana.edu
Follow columnist Dane McDonald on Twitter @thedevilwearsdm.