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Bonus video! The Time Homosexuals Took Over TV Network Headquarters (Patreon)

Published:
2023-03-12 16:00:04
Edited:
2023-07-15 07:09:28
Imported:
2026-06
Tags:

Content

Backup link in case the video doesn't play for you: https://youtu.be/UorLMOzJ1Hc 

Hello there!

Next Sunday (the 19th), I'll be releasing a video about the TV movie That Certain Summer, and how it transformed the way that television depicted queer characters (though not without a huge nasty fight behind the scenes, as always seems to happen). As part of that research, I've been taking a closer look at the activism that came in the years that followed -- in particular the time that gay activists got fed up with TV networks and marched on ABC and NBC headquarters, taking over the offices until their demands were heard. Their tactics were radical, aggressive, and (it seemed at first) unsuccessful, but they laid the groundwork for a strategy that wound up working so well, it's still used to this day.

Files

Bonus video! The Time Homosexuals Took Over TV Network Headquarters

Next Sunday (the 19th), I'll be releasing a video about the TV movie That Certain Summer, and how it transformed the way that television depicted queer characters (though not without a huge nasty fight behind the scenes, as always seems to happen). As part of that research, I've been taking a closer look at the activism that came in the years that followed -- in particular the time that gay activists got fed up with TV networks and marched on ABC and NBC headquarters, taking over the offices until their demands were heard. Their tactics were radical, aggressive, and (it seemed at first) unsuccessful, but they laid the groundwork for a strategy that wound up working so well, it's still used to this day.

Comments

Steve McLean

Mark Segal founded the Philadelphia Gay News in 1976 and is still the editor and publisher. He would disagree with you that the zaps were not effective in causing change. He zapped Walter Cronkite’s evening broadcast of the CBS News in 1973 which was seen by 60 million people. Fourteen minutes into the broadcast, Segal darted in front of the camera with a sign reading “Gays Protest CBS Prejudice.” He was later tackled to the ground, arrested, and brought to trial. At the court hearing, Segal felt a tap on his shoulder from Cronkite. “Why did you do that?” “Your news censors,” Segal responded. “If I can prove it,” Segal then asked, “would you do something to change it?” Cronkite agreed to listen. “Why haven’t you reported on the 23 other cities that have passed gay rights bills?” Segal asked. “Why do you cover 5,000 women walking down Fifth Avenue in New York City when they proclaim International Women’s Year on the network news, and you do not cover 50,000 gays and lesbians walking down that same avenue proclaiming Gay Pride Day? That’s censorship.” Cronkite was persuaded and on May 6, 1974, less than six months after Segal’s zap, the veteran anchor’s newscast featured a segment on gay rights. “Part of the new morality of the ’60s and ’70s is a new attitude toward homosexuality,” Cronkite told his audience. “The homosexual men and women have organized to fight for acceptance and respectability.” After spending the first half of the 1970s combating and zapping journalists and TV news, in 1975 Segal broke into the media. With no professional background in journalism, Segal started his own paper, Philadelphia Gay News, in 1976.

SG

Segal is still an elder statesman in Philly, though younger generations consider him irrelevant, unfortunately.

Matt Porges

@Matt Baume did this organization lead to GLAAD?

Gareth Alexander

A possibly slightly silly question from an ally over the pond - in Homer’s Phobia, other than the visual of John “zapping” Homer with his ray gun, and Homer presumably terrified he will become gay, is that a direct reference or a lovely coincidence? I can only assume the former.