VIDEO: The legendary CBS TV reporter Mike Wallace, "The Homosexuals," CBS Television Network, first aired March 7, 1967 interviewed the pioneering gay rights pioneer Jack Nichols who believed getting gay people to come out publically would shatter the myths about homosexuals that were documented in this report as being fact. (See , "The Daily Agenda for Wednesday, March 7," Box Turtle posted Mar. 7, 2012, TODAY IN HISTORY: CBS Airs "The Homosexuals": 1967 and TheLoverOfMovies, "CBS Documentary - The Homosexuals (1967)," aired on March 7, 1967, filmthreat.com posted May 23, 2011 -- ""Although this was the first network documentary dealing with the topic of homosexuality, it was not the first televised in the United States. That was 'The Rejected,' produced and aired in 1961 on KQED, a public television station out of San Francisco. Three years in the making, "The Homosexuals" went through two producers and multiple revisions. The episode included interviews with several gay men, psychiatrists, legal experts and cultural critics, interspersed with footage of a gay bar and a police sex sting. "The Homosexuals" garnered mixed critical response. The network received praise from some quarters and criticism from others for even airing the program."
This 1967 CBS documentary on homosexuals echoes all of the canards about gay men that were commonly believed by most people at that time. A typical example from OSU's archives was written by a distinguished OSU professor, which essentially equated gay men with child molesters and is shown in the history by Thomas Kraemer, "Corvallis, Oregon State University gay activism 1969-2004," outhistory.org accessed Mar. 9, 2012. Given the pervasiveness and history of bigoted opinions about gays, it is remarkable that the work of these early gay activists led to the formation of the first officially recognized gay student group at OSU in 1976. (ibid)
The first gay activist shown in this 1967 CBS documentary and interviewed by CBS reporter Mike Wallace was the pioneering gay activist Jack Nichols, who can be seen below in 2004:
PHOTO: (left to right) Dr. Frank Kameny, Jack Nichols, and Dr. George Weinberg being honored as Grand Marshalls of New York City's 2004 Heritage of Pride Parade. (See Thomas Kraemer, "Jack Nichols 1938-2005," thomaskraemer.blogspot.com posted Sept. 5, 2006)
PHOTO: Jack Nichols obituary, New York Times, May 4, 2005, p. C16.
PHOTO: Jack Nichols obituary, New York Times, May 4, 2005, p. C16.
