PHOTO: The former OSU Professor W. Dorr Legg's homophile magazine ONE May 1961 cover headline 'Homosexual Viewpoint' as shown in the 1960's movie "Perversion For Profit"(1965), tcm.com watched on Turner Classic Movie cable channel Jul. 9. 2017 2:30-3:00am PT
PHOTO: The homophile magazine 'Mattachine Review' April 1961 cover is shown next to homosexual "pornography" magazines 'Physique Spectacular' and 'Man Alive' with men posing provocatively' on the cover are also shown in the movie "Perversion For Profit"(1965), tcm.com watched on Turner Classic Movie cable channel Jul. 9. 2017 2:30-3:00am PT
VIDEO: The homophile publications hhat are shown above in this post were featured in this 1960's film, made by Charles Keating and Citizens for Decent Literature, Inc. For background information, see "Perversion for Profit," wikipedia.org accessed Jul. 11, 2017. This so-called "homosexual pornography" is shown in the film as examples of obscenity that the U.S. Supreme Court ruled is not protected as free speech under the U.S. Constitution. While the Supreme Court has ruled that obscenity is not protected free speech, in fact, the former OSU Professor W. Dorr Legg's homophile journal "ONE" had had its free speech rights of publication upheld in a landmark U.S. Supreme Court ruling shortly before this film was made. The film epitomizes the common anti-gay prejudices of the 1960's, for example, by conflating the ideas that homosexuals preyed on young men, turning them gay, and that homosexuals are part of a Communist plot to take over America. From: "Perversion for Profit_ Citizens for Decent Literature Film (1965)," youtube.com (30:57) posted Aug 16, 2012)
I finally got to watch the "Perversion for Profit" movie as shown on the "Turner Classic Movies" cable TV channel a few days ago. I knew that it had been created by an anti-pornography crusader who later became the head of President Richard Nixon's "Commission on Pornography." However, I had not heard about how much it focused on "homosexual obscenity" as the still frames shown above indicate. (See "Perversion For Profit"(1965), tcm.com and "Perversion for Profit," wikipedia.org accessed Ju. 11, 2017)
The producer of the film Charles Keating (December 4, 1923 - March 31, 2014) from the late 1950s through the 1970s, was a noted anti-pornography activist, founding the organization Citizens for Decent Literature and serving as a member on the 1969 U.S. President Richard Nixon's President's Commission on Obscenity and Pornography. He also stole billions of dollars from taxpayers by exploiting the loosened regulations on Savings and Loans in the 1980's that was championed by Republicans and President Ronald Reagan. (See Charles Keating From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)
The film's narrator, George Putnam (July 14, 1914 - September 12, 2008) was a famous L.A. TV news anchor. Putnam was born in Breckenridge, Minnesota. His radio career began on his 20th birthday in 1934 at WDGY in Minneapolis. (See George Putnam (newsman) From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)
I have not been able to determine what religious organizations were behind this. The Catholic Church was publically anti-pornography and anti-gay like many other churches back then. I am sure the film was made in reaction to the landmark U.S. Supreme Court rulings on obscenity that were being issued during this era.
PHOTO: ONE Magazine was ahead of its time when it mentioned the idea of "homosexual marriage" in 1953 long before "gay marriage" or same-sex marriage became a cause of some gay liberationists. Former Oregon State University Assistant Professor of Landscape Architecture W. Dorr Legg was one of the major contributors to the ONE homophile magazine and he was a conservative who probably saw gay marriage as being a conservative value. (See my previous post W. Dorr Legg OSU archives records 1935-1942 (7/21/10) and James T. Sears, PhD, "1953: When ONE Magazine, Headlined 'Homosexual Marriage,'" GayToday.com posted Aug. 11, 2003).
PHOTO: Letter signed by Oregon State University Assistant Professor of Landscape Architecture W. Dorr Legg from the original paper in OSU personnel files that are now stored on microfiche in the OSU Archives, Corvallis, Oregon. The letter, dated 1942, was requesting a sabbatical leave to allow Dorr to spread his "Christian Science" religious beliefs to soldiers at Camp Adair north of Corvallis, Oregon during World War II. Legg was a cofounder of the 1950s homophile political movement for homosexuals and the present-day Loc Cabin Republicans. See my previous posts:
- W. Dorr Legg OSU archives records 1935-1942 (7/31/10)
- FBI files on gay OSU professor 1956 (7/7/10)
- OSU W. Dorr Legg homosexual marriage 1953 vs. CA Prop 8 2010 (8/22/10)
- Gay Oregon Professor 1935 (9/16/06)
- OSU professor recognized equality hypocrisy decades ago (6/5/12)
- Thomas Kraemer, "Corvallis, Oregon State University gay activism 1969-2004," OutHistory.org posted June 2010
- OSU professor recognized equality hypocrisy decades ago (6/5/12)
- OSU gay marriage and the Corvallis Creeper (2/9/13)
- Churches self-destruct over gay marriage (6/18/09)
- Protection of Religion Amendment - GT letter (11/23/08)
- Slippery slope argument against marriage equality is predictable (6/22/12)
- Sam Champion gay marriage 2012 vs. 1970 Jack Baker (1/9/13)
