VIDEO: By Brandon Wolf, "University of Minnesota Student Video Project - Part 1 - HD Version" youtube.com (14:10) CBS Station WCCO-TV (Minneapolis, Minnesota) anchor Dave Moore On Sunday show first aired on September 3, 1973 updated July, 1974, posted Aug. 9, 2013, produced by students at the University of Minnesota. It first aired on September 3, 1973. The video contains footage of the marriage of Jack Baker and Mike McConnell, on September 3, 1971. Dave Moore was a super liberal who Republicans hated and he was the father of a boy I went to public school with.
PHOTO: Jack Baker and Michael McConnell's 1970 gay marriage was mentioned in the headline to an article by Rob Cole, "Two men ask Minnesota license for first legal U.S. gay marriage, Take advantage of vague law, expect court fight to follow," Advocate, Newspaper of America's homophile community (los Angeles) June 10-23, 1970, p. 1. Notice that the other headline was about the Texas sodomy law against private consensual sexual activity between adults. Similar anti-gay state laws were common across the U.S. at the time until the U.S. Supreme Court declared them to be unconstitutional. Soon after this article appeared, Baker and McConnell's marriage was featured in two national mass-circulation newsmagazines that were commonly read by millions, including children who often used clippings from them for school assignments. See Jack Baker, "Marriage Equality was Inevitable, DFL Party demanded equal marriage in 1972," box8661.blogspot.com posted Aug. 15, 2013 and Ken Bronson, "A Quest for Full Equality," Quatrefoil Library quatrefoillibrary.org Self published May 18, 2004, accessed Aug. 21, 2013.
The 1970 gay marriage of Jack Baker and Michal McConnell was mentioned approximately 9 minutes into the documentary film by Christie E. Herring, Producer/Director, "The Campaign," itvs.org aired on PBS KOAC-TV Channel 7 (Corvallis, Oregon) Aug. 27, 2013 11 PM - 12 midnight. The documentary said, somewhat inaccurately, that the U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear the case, but it is more accurate to say the court issued a boilerplate decision that said the case did not have any "substantial Federal question," which essentially meant the court decided marriage was a matter of only state laws and not Federal laws. Of course, the passage of DOMA escalated marriage to be a matter of Federal law, for sure. For more information about 'The Campaign' see www.TheCampaignDocumentary.com.
"The Campaign" documentary did a great job covering the history of California Proposition 8 ballot initiative that outlawed same-sex marriages, until lower court rulings and a June 26, 2013 decision by the U.S. Supreme Court on the Defense of Marriage Act, or DOMA, allowed same-sex marriages in California to resume. The documentary starts out showing a clip from the 1967 Mike Wallace "CBS Reports on The Homosexuals." Mike Wallace, who Republicans hated for his liberal views, was a famous CBS TV reporter that repeated the anti-gay dogma of his day, including the assertion that "2 out of 3 Americans look upon homosexuals with disgust, discomfort or fear. . . The average homosexual is promiscuous" and unsuited for monogamous marriage.
For a film of Baker's wedding see my previous post PQ letter on Jack Baker gay marriage activism vs. Steve Endean political goals (8/2/13) and see previous posts:
- PQ letter on Jack Baker gay marriage activism vs. Steve Endean political goals (8/2/13)
- Supreme Court gay marriage decision vindicates Jack Baker and W. Dorr Legg 50 years later (6/27/13)
- Supreme Court on Jack Baker's gay marriage case 42 years later (3/26/13)
I wonder if the book "Quake," is By Gail Karwoski, who is a friend of Jack Baker?
