We’re here, we’re queer, get used to it” gave way to “hate is not a family value.” This was an important, perhaps even crucial shift, as the gay rights movement came to be seen as a part of middle-class morality, rather than something at odds with it (not without some internal dissension).

But what was more important, I think, was what followed. Melissa Etheridge came out in 1993. Ellen DeGeneres came out in 1997. A slew of celebrities followed: The “Queer Eye for the Straight Guy” folk, Anderson Cooper, Portia de Rossi, Suze Orman, Neil Patrick Harris, just to name a few off the top of my head. These celebrities didn’t comport with the preconceived notions of what a gay person “ought” to look or act like for many Americans. This “de-otherizing” of gays, I think, was one of the keys to public acceptance of homosexuality resuming its upward march in the 1990s.

There have been attempts to create a similar conception of polygamists, most famously with the popular show “Sister Wives.” But even they are associated with a religious group that most Americans are unlikely to associate with. Scandals such as the one involving Warren Jeffs have only reinforced the idea that polygamy is something that “others” do.

Perhaps celebrities will begin to take on multiple spouses in the next few decades.  If that happens – if Brad Pitt had been happy to stay with Jennifer Aniston but just wanted to add Angelina Jolie to the club – things could change.  But for now, it seems unlikely that a spate of relatable polygamists will emerge into the mainstream culture in the next few years. That remains a crucial distinction.