Ellen's first sitcom "Ellen" was initially quite successful until the character she played "came out." She may have been "outed" before that, I don't recall. Anyway, the show quickly lost ratings and Ellen went on several talkshows, notably Oprah, in which she discussed her lifestyle and her show's demise. I would charactarize that as 'pushing' her lifestyle choices. Then there was the very publicized relationship with Portia De Rossi.
It was a little hard to ignore.
Her first sitcom was hysterical. I used to laugh until I cried it was so funny. But when she came out, the show suddenly changed fron a sitcom to a soap box for the lesbian lifestyle, and that’s when it lost ratings and I stopped watching.
Ellen was outed, she was trying to keep it private. When it reached a certain point, being an honest person, she conceded, "Yes I am Lebanese." At that point it was the elephant in the room and she would speak about it; again, she is honest to a fault. She has not, to my knowledge, conducted herself in a manner that could be construed as a spokesperson or advocate. Hard to ignore or not, publicity has always been forced upon her, not vice versa. The charachters she played in her sitcoms were kind, generous, helpful, simple people who represented everything parents should be trying to teach their children. In both cases, external forces perverted the situation to highlight the gay issue.
I would like to see as much effort put forth by the media to publicize her generosity and kindness. That doesn't fit the template though, or serve anyones agenda.