There is so much focus on heterosexual Hollywood couples, it's about time we shed some light on the same sex couples who grace our screens too. 

Ellen DeGeneres and Portia De Rossi

Ellen DeGeneres and Portia De Rossi

Ellen DeGeneres and Portia De Rossi

The couple met backstage at an awards ceremony shortly after Rossi had broken up with singer Francesca Gregorini. Talk show host Ellen DeGeneres married actress of Ally McBeal fame, Portia de Rossi on 16th August 2008 after getting engaged in May 2008, shortly after the same sex marriage ban in California was lifted. She gave Rossi a three carat pink diamond ring when she proposed. The wedding took place at their house in Beverly Hills, California, which was attended by her mother and brother and Ellen's parents- the couple only had 17 guests in total on their big day.

In September 2012 a Los Angeles Superior Court Commissioner granted Portia's request to have the last name of her wife and now she is legally called Portia Lee James DeGeneres.

They now live in Beverly Hills together with their extended family of three dogs and four cats. Both celebrities are vegan and openly call themselves 'animal lovers'. In 2013, the pair announced that they were never having children together.

Portia was married from 1996-1999 to Mel Metcalfe and Ellen had a three year relationship with actress Anne Heche, with whom she split from in 2000.

Elton John and David Furnish

John and Furnish began dating back in 1993 and on the 21st December 2005, the day the civil right partnership act came into force, they were one of the first couples to form a civil partnership in the UK, held at Windsor Guildhall. Once gay marriage became legal in the UK in March 2014, they married in Windsor Berkshire on 21st December 2014 on the ninth anniversary of their civil partnership.

The pair now have two sons; Zachary Jackson Levon and Elijah Joseph Daniel both by surrogate.

Neil Patrick Harris and David Burtka

Harris attended the Emmy Awards in 2007 with his partner David Burtka and later confirmed their relationship to the press. When he was interviewed on the Ellen DeGeneres show he said that they had been dating since 2004.

On 14th August 2012, the couple revealed that they were expecting twins via surrogate mother and Gideon Scott and Harper Grace were born on the 12th October 2010.

After the passage of the Marriage Equality Act on 24th June 2014, the couple announced their engagement on Twitter. They said that they had proposed to each other 5 years prior but kept it a secret until same sex marriage became legalised.

On 8th September 2014, they tweeted about their marriage in Italy with Elton John as a guest who performed at their ceremony.

David Hyde Pierce and Brian Hargrove

There was a lot a media attention over Pierce's sexuality and he eventually came out in 1997 and announced through his publicist that he was dating TV write, director and producer Brian Hargrove and had been since the early 1980s.

When he went on stage to collect his Tony Award for Curtains he thanked "my partner, Brian, because it's 24 years of listening to your damn notes-that's why I'm up here tonight.". (Wikipedia)

They got married on 24th October 2008 only days before Proposition 8 was made law which banned same sex marriages in the state.

On 28th May 2009 he was a guest on The View and confirmed his marriage to Hargrove and talked about his anger over Proposition 8.

I've been going [to marriage-equality rallies] because I had the experience of...having this private thing [marriage] suddenly dragged out into the public and having people I don't know take a vote--I mean, can you imagine? If you're married, the people in your state getting together and saying, "well, you know what, you're not." It's a very odd thing. And I understand all the religious and emotional issues that are involved, but I don't...it was a very angry-making feeling, both in November when it was taken away from me and this past Tuesday, sitting in front of my television wondering, "gee, I hope the Supreme Court thinks it's okay for us to be married." Excuse me--it's none of your business. (IMDB)

The pair now live in Los Angeles together.

John Barrowman and Scott Gill

He met his husband, an architect, Scott Gill during a production of Rope at the Chichester Festival Theatre back in 1993. Gill had come to see Barrowman in the play.

They now have houses in London, England, Cardiff, Wales and Palm Springs, California.

The pair had a civil partnership on 27th December 2006 in a small ceremony in Cardiff, with friends and family only. The cast of Torchwood were also there as guests.

The couple got legally married in California on 2nd July 2013 and now have a Jack Russell terrier named Captain Jack after Barrowman's character in Torchwood.

Jim Parsons and Todd Spiewak

Parsons lives in Los Angeles with his partner, art director Todd Spiewak.

On 23rd May 2012, an article run by The New York Times revealed that he is gay and has been with Spiewak for the last decade.

In October 2013, Parsons described their relationship as "an act of love, coffee in the morning, going to work, washing the clothes, taking the dogs out - a regular life, boring love".

The couple made their first public appearance while they were given an honour at the 9th Annual GLSEN Respect Awards at LA's Beverly Hills Hotel in October 2013.

Parson's acceptance speech was humble; 'I've never considered myself an activist. I've never considered my relationship with Todd to be an act of activism. Rather simply, it's an act of love, coffee in the morning, going to work, washing the clothes, taking the dogs out-a regular life, boring love.'

'Now all this said; no one is giving us an award for activism. I realize this. If we are indeed inspiration to others by simply being who we are and living our lives in the way that feels right to us then we have to thank the same people who help any other couple who continue a successful relationship-our friends and family. We are both surrounded by so many people who make our lives better and easier, friends we've had for many years and friends we've made since living in L.A.'

He later told US Weekly; 'It was surprising to hear that we were getting an inspiration award. We feel very average, we feel very normal. We really do. The strange stuff is the Hollywood stuff we have to walk through, not the gay stuff we have to walk through.'

When Parsons accepted his 2014 Emmy Award for Outstanding Actor in a comedy series, at the 2011 Emmys and the 2013 Emmy Awards he thanked his partner on stage; "to my favourite person on the planet, Todd Spiewak."

In terms of their future, there are many burning press questions over when they will be tying the knot. In May 214 Parsons went on The Ellen Show and she asked him about his plans for marriage.

Jodie Foster and Alexandra Hedison

Foster married photographer Hedison in April 2014 after dating for just a year.

Stephen Fry and Elliot Spencer

On 6th January 2015, The Sun reported that Fry intended to marry Spencer. He wrote on Twitter " It looks as though a certain cat is out of a certain bag. I'm very very happy of course but had hoped for a private wedding. Fat chance!" They subsequently got married on 17th January 2015 in Dereham, Norfolk.

Matt Bomer and Simon Halls

Bomer and Halls have been married since 2011. They have three sons together, including twins all via a surrogate mother.

The first public acknowledgement he made of his sexuality was when he thanks his husband and his children in an acceptance speech for Steve Chase Humanitarian Award in 2012.

Sara Gilbert and Linda Perry

In 2011, the pair got together and announced their engagement in April 2013. The couple got married on the 30th March 2014 and Gilbert gave birth to their son Rhodes Emilio Gilbert on 28th February 2015. 

Cynthia Nixon and Christine Marinoni

The pair began dating in 2004 and got engaged in April 2009. They married in New York City on May 27th 2012. Nixon wore a custom made, pale green dress by Carolina Herrera. She gave birth to their son; Max Ellington in 2011.

Nixon said back in 2007: "I don't really feel I've changed. I'd been with men all my life, and I'd never fallen in love with a woman. But when I did, it didn't seem so strange. I'm just a woman in love with another woman."

Images courtesy of Famous.