The Best TIME Covers

80's - Current

1997

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Yep, I'm Gay
Exclusive: Ellen DeGeneres explains why she's coming out
April 14, 1997

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Cover Story Excerpt:
"I hate that term 'in the closet,'" says Ellen DeGeneres, the aforementioned sitcom star whose all-pants wardrobe and sometimes awkward chemistry with male ingenues was provoking curiosity from fans and reporters long before her sexuality became a minor national obsession. "Until recently I hated the word lesbian too," she continues. "I've said it enough now that it doesn't bother me. But lesbian sounded like somebody with some kind of disease. I didn't like that, so I used the word gay more often."...Read the full story

The Worst TIME Covers

Walk back through TIME magazine's history of the images we'd rather forget

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