Six years after the famous Ellen DeGeneres "coming out" episode aired on ABC, primetime TV is breaking ground again this fall with the introduction of same-sex parents in lead roles.

This month, ABC will debut "It's All Relative," a comedy involving two homosexual men whose daughter marries the son of Irish Catholic parents. The plot focuses on the tension between the two families, whose beliefs clash.

Additionally, FOX's "A Minute with Stan Hooper" will feature a male homosexual couple in a supporting role.

The Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) is calling the fall season a "critical step forward" in the portrayal of same-sex couples.

"My partner of 22 years and I can finally look at our three children and tell them there is a family on television that looks like us," GLAAD Executive Director Joan M. Garry said in a press release praising "It's All Relative."

A total of 18 primetime shows - nine on broadcast television, nine on cable TV - will feature homosexual characters, according to a tally by GLAAD.

But that count does not include reality programs such as Bravo's "Queer Eye for the Straight Guy" and CBS's "Amazing Race," which sometimes garner as many viewers as dramas and comedies. CBS referred to a male homosexual couple - which won the most recently concluded "Amazing Race" contest - as being "married." - (RNS)