Can you believe it has been 20 years since Gays on Television were never the same again? When Ellen Degeneres' LEAD Character came out on 'Ellen' on April 30, 1997 it opened the door to more lead gay characters on television. Talk about ballsy. Called “The Puppy Episode”, the show garnered 42 million viewers and marked the first gay leading primetime character in television history. Despite speculation that advertisers would try to pull away from the controversy, the only corporate sponsor to cancel was Chrysler, and only for the single episode.
