ONE morning last month, just before a filming of the ABC television show ”Ellen,” Tracy Newman, a consulting producer, asked the show’s star, Ellen DeGeneres, to autograph her copy of the script. It was the script for the heavily anticipated and highly publicized April 30 episode in which the sitcom’s lead character, Ellen Morgan, announces she is a lesbian. ”Can you believe what a big deal this is?” Ms. DeGeneres scrawled on the script. ”Maybe one day, it won’t be.”

Source: It’s Not A Secret, But Still Exciting – NYTimes.com