Find more recent AfterEllen.com articles on Portia de Rossi (and Ellen) here.

When Portia de Rossi and Francesca Gregorini were first photographed together by the paparazzi in 2001 quietly canoodling in an alleyway, it was impossible not to have mixed feelings about their sudden exposure to public view.

On the one hand of course, it was wonderful news--a famous and beautiful actress, and the sassy rock-singer daughter of a Bond girl (and step-daughter of a Beatle, no less), together. In love! The celebrity lesbian-couple void left by the very public Anne/Ellen and Melissa/Julie breakdowns was all but forgotten. And so too perhaps, were the smug grins on the faces of those who cheered their fall, eager to delude themselves that lesbian couples, as a rule, couldn't last.

But on the other hand, the sickening headlines that accompanied many of those first photos of Portia and Francesca, where words such as "caught!" and "exposed!" were liberally splashed across the pages (as if pictures of two women hugging and kissing represented something illegal) reminded us all that as long as there is a sense of shock felt by some around same-sex relationships, sections of the press will gladly exploit it every time and for every penny it is worth.

However, since those initial revelations about Portia and Francesca, the two women have conducted themselves and their relationship with a level of dignity and grace that has, possibly, re-written the book on how to be publicly in love with someone of the same gender.

Not that there ever really was a book.

In years gone by, there seems to have been only two alternatives for a lesbian celebrity to take when it came to balancing her public life with the media's relentless and often provocative curiosity about her sexuality and love life.

1) Go completely public, in front of all the cameras, and declare "I'm a lesbian!" in the hope that by blowing the secret wide open, the world will respect your honesty and leave you alone.

or

2) Go completely into hiding, refusing to ever talk about your love life in interviews, and keeping your partner so hidden from public view that many people will have doubts (right until the bitter end) as to who you love. Or whether you even have a love life.

But Portia and Francesca have approached things a little differently--a kind-of hybrid method of the old ways. As anyone knows, love is not always a feeling that can be kept a secret, nor is it usually able to withstand the intense scrutiny of the public spotlight.

After the news first hit the airwaves, Portia and Francesca seemed to ignore all requests for interviews that might involve questions about their relationship. But they also began to appear together in public, with a complete lack of fuss, holding hands and wearing engagement-type rings on their left ring fingers.

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