Ellen Tells Stern: Caitlyn Jenner Is Judging Gay People

Ellen opens up to Howard Stern about her interview with transgender icon Caitlyn Jenner and her thoughts on same-sex marriage.

Alexander Cheves

Alexander Cheves is a memoirist, sex columnist for Out Magazine, and author of My Love Is a Beast: Confessions from Unbound Edition Press, which won the 2022 Geoff Mains Nonfiction Award from NLA International. He received an Excellence in Journalism Award from the National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association and, in 2021, was named to the Out 100. He has been a guest on many radio shows and podcasts, including Loveline and Dan Savage’s Savage Lovecast. He has spoken on panels at SXSW, The International AIDS Conference, the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, and others. His second book will come out in 2025. As a contributing editor at The Advocate, Cheves launched the “Sexy Beast” column for Advocate.com in 2016. To date, it has generated the site's best traffic on record. He now writes the "Last Call" column in print editions of Out Magazine. His bylines include VICE, Them, Document Journal, Out Traveler, and more. Originally from the American South, he now lives in Berlin and is a member of the Berlin Queer Writers Circle.

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Alexander Cheves

September 08 2015 7:21 PM EST

December 11 2015 6:53 AM EST

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When Caitlyn Jenner appeared on the Ellen DeGeneres show last week, Ellen's reactions were mixed, especially in response to Jenner's views on same-sex marriage. Calling herself a "traditionalist," Jenner admitted how she originally "was not for it," but said that her views have since changed.

"I think, like a lot of people on this issue, I have really changed my thinking here to, 'I don't ever want to stand in front of anybody's happiness.' That's not my job, okay?" Jenner told Ellen. "If that word 'marriage' is really, really that important to you, I can go with it."

But that word is important to the talk show host, who is married to actress Portia di Rossi and famously told then-presidential nominee John McCain when he appeared on her show during the 2008 presidential election, "Someday I hope it won't be called a contract, it'll be called 'marriage.'"

Ellen appeared on Howard Stern's radio show today and discussed her mixed feelings regarding the interview with Jenner, who came out in April as transgender. "I said, 'You're wanting people to understand and accept you -- this is like, really confusing to people. And you still have a judgement about gay people and marriage," DeGeneres said. "She goes, 'Well if the word marriage is that important.' It is. That's the word. We want the same thing."