Flashback: 1967 CBS Report On Gays

Head over to the Advocate for Dave White's take on this 1967 CBS report titled The Homosexuals, which includes an interview with a founding member of the Mattachine Society, America's first gay rights group. Dave White:

This weekend, for my second visit to The Homosexuals, I took notes. And when I was done my pad of paper was a laundry list of every horrible thing you’ve ever heard about the gays: smothering mothers, mental illness, animalistic sexual gratification, society’s repulsion, promiscuity, recruitment, etc.

Some quotes, some from Wallace, some from clergy and other “experts” on the subject:
“They frequent their own bars ... where they can act out…”
“The average homosexual isn’t capable of love.”
“Homosexuality is, in fact, a mental illness.”
“The church has a great deal of sympathy for those who are handicapped in this way.”
“[Being a homosexual] automatically rules out that [the man in question] will remain happy.”

The men (no mention of lesbians is ever made) who aren’t on camera as representatives of fledgling gay rights groups at the time, like the Mattachine Society, are interviewed in shadow or behind plants, and say things like, “I know I’m sick inside ... immature.”

White recommends you hang around until approximately the 30-minute mark, where Gore Vidal declares homosexuality to be as normal as heterosexuality. Mike Wallace: "Who says so?" Vidal: "I say so." Read Dave White's entire essay.