Our LGBTQ Prejudices: 1960’s Vs. Today

In 1969, venerable CBS reporter Mike Wallace reported “Two out of three Americans look upon homosexuals with disgust, discomfort or fear. A CBS News public opinion survey indicates that sentiment is against permitting homosexual relationship among consenting adults without legal punishment.” (13:40 in this documentary about the Stonewall riots in Greenwich Village that year)

At the time in United States, mainstream medicine, media and culture thought being gay could be cured with drugs, institutionalization and even physical torture or a lobotomy.

Thankfully, most people – with the notable exception of the some of the folks who will testify for a voter referendum on marriage equality tonight at the Senate Judiciary Committee – know how wrong we were about the LGBTQ community.

My warning to anyone who would support such a poor tool for granting equal rights is that in couple of years you might find your public statements in a documentary about how prejudiced we were about human sexuality just a few short years ago…

Watch Stonewall Uprising on PBS. See more from American Experience.