mattbaume
patreon
Bonus video! The Time Homosexuals Took Over TV Network Headquarters
🕑 Added 2023-03-12 16:00:04 +0000 UTCBackup 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.
Comments
Matt Baume
Thank you! Adding DC to the list to check out.
QueBijoux
If we’re putting in requests, here is one for Politics & Prose (preferably the one on Connecticut Avenue) I’m DC!
Matt Baume
I'll try to make it happen! We may have a second tour happening in the fall that's more school-focused, so Boston might be on the list for then.
Sally Jordan
This is a little late, but I would love it if your book tour did a stop in the Boston/Cambridge area. There’s a great independent bookstore here: https://www.portersquarebooks.com/
Gareth Alexander
Thanks for the reply! I thought that despite, as you say, no writers being openly gay, many were clearly tuned into some subcultures and specific niches so it wouldn’t be beyond the realms of possibility. I think Waters’ so pronounced “Zzzzzap” works both ways and, again, I wouldn’t put it past him being him, but I’d love to know for sure! Keep up the great work!
Matt Baume
That's a good point -- there were on occasion some very effective zaps, and Mark certainly was at the forefront of those. It's the network takeovers that were not quite so immediately effective.
Matt Baume
That's a great question -- I have to think it's such an obscure reference it has to be accidental. (I don't believe there were any openly gay writers on the show at that time, so I think it's pretty unlikely they'd be familiar with what was, by then, a pretty dated term.) But it's possible! John did contribute some edits to his dialogue, so he might've suggested it. I interviewed him briefly a few years ago and should have asked -- if we ever cross paths again, I'll ask.
Matt Baume
Not directly, though their work certainly contributed. The Gay Media Task Force was part of the National Gay Task Force, which is still around and now known as the National LGBTQ Task Force. GLAAD was formed slightly later (by Vito Russo and some others; there's a great documentary called Vito about that) mostly in response to terrible coverage of HIV.
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.
Matt Porges
@Matt Baume did this organization lead to GLAAD?
SG
Segal is still an elder statesman in Philly, though younger generations consider him irrelevant, unfortunately.
Steve McLean
Here's the CBS News zap https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UiKkbtbn7BU
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.
