Ellen DeGeneres - On April 30th, 1997 Ellen DeGeneres the star of ELLEN ABC/1994-98 played a young bookstore owner named Ellen Morgan who finally admitted (with the help of a counselor) that she was a lesbian thus becoming the first lesbian character to star in a lead role in a prime time series. After accidentally announcing her gayness (to Laura Dern) over an open airport microphone, she declared "It felt so Great! It felt so LOUD!" Ellen DeGeneres had already announced to the world that she was a lesbian on the front cover of Time magazine. It carried the simple declaration "Yep, I'm Gay."