History of National Coming Out Day: 1997: Super Mom
In September 1997 the project brought in its first straight spokesperson - Betty DeGeneres, mother of actress/comedian Ellen DeGeneres. The message she delivered and continues to spread is perhaps the most powerful of all. "The fact that I'm a mom advocating equal rights for my daughter and her partner underscores the point that ending discrimination based on sexual orientation is not just important to gay people, it's important to their families and the people who love them," she told HRC Quarterly in 1997.
Betty DeGeneres traveled the country with this message, and also made a television public service announcement for HRC entitled "For Our Families." In it, she said: "For too long, gay Americans have suffered discrimination. As long as our sons and daughters are excluded from the basic protection of law, we must share that burden as a family." HRC and the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation co-hosted a celebrity reception in Los Angeles to mark National Coming Out Day 1997. The event featured past project spokespeople, as well as Ellen DeGeneres and her then-partner, actress Anne Heche.