Anne Heche Did More For LGBTQ+ People Than You Realize- And Paid A Price

The internet was buzzing with the news of the fiery car crash in Los Angeles on Friday afternoon. Since then, Heche has been thrust into the limelight once again as the public develops more awareness of who the star is and her path to this tragic moment.

At just 24 years old, Heche became the toast of tinsel town, featuring in high profile summer blockbuster alongside leading men like Tommy Lee Jones, Harrison Ford and Vince Vaughn, but it was her personal life that gained the most attention after Heche went public with her romance with comedian Ellen Degeneres in the mid 90's- a time when the topic of sexuality was still considered taboo.

Although Degeneres received most of the attention as an out lesbian after living decades in the closet, Heche did the most to educate- by fielding frequently invasive lines of questioning from news media and entertainment rags banking on the salacious rubbernecking of their readers. In spite of the skewed angle that constantly attempted to portray her as a heterosexual woman leveraging Degeneres for clout or star power, Heche stood firm, asserting over and over again what has become a motto in the LGBTQ community. “Love is love.” As much as she fawned over Degeneres and publicly displayed her affection, Degeneres grew less interested her, according to Heche’s confession last June on her podcast Better Together With Anne and Heather, “and more interested in chasing 60 million dollars.” For the first time in 20 years, Heche spoke…