I wish Ellen DeGeneres was an Alcoholic.

Sometimes, I wish Ellen DeGeneres was an alcoholic.

I’m glad she’s not, but we alcoholics need someone with big balls and a big profile like Ellen to celebrate the life that results from alcoholism.

When Ellen came out as gay to over 41 million people on her very popular prime time sitcom in 1997, she was loud and proud about it. Actually, she was grinning and sarcastic, but that’s her trademark style, and pride just oozed from her confident and hilarious pores. I’m sure that in reality, she was terrified of the repercussions, but it didn’t show. What we all saw was a famous person declaring something important about herself unapologetically and without concern for the approval of others. And by telling us she didn’t care what America thought of her sexual orientation, she won our approval in ways and in numbers never before considered possible.

It was a game changer for our society in general, and the LGBTQ community specifically, and as an alcoholic, I’m jealous.

Ellen didn’t admit to a character flaw. She used humor to boldly announce who she was. She hadn’t learned to live with a handicap or forgive herself for a dysfunction. She wasn’t in the process of making amends with all of her straight friends who didn’t understand. She was gay. She was happy. And our…