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How Do You Turn Walter Cronkite Into a Friend of Gay Rights? Zap Him.
Last edited Mon Dec 12, 2016, 01:39 PM - Edit history (2)
I'm going through old newspapers. That was the print title of this article from 2009.
Edward Alwood -- Walter Cronkite and the Gay Rights Movement
By Edward Alwood
Sunday, July 26, 2009
Walter Cronkite's illustrious career is remembered for the historic events he covered, from the assassinations of John F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr. to the moon landing and the Vietnam War. But Cronkite also reported on burgeoning social movements, including the struggle for gay liberation. After becoming a target of that movement, Cronkite would become a behind-the-scenes ally.
Following the Stonewall riots in 1969, as the nascent gay rights movement became increasingly combative, a gay Philadelphia teenager initiated his own guerrilla war aimed at television, including the "CBS Evening News." Nineteen-year-old Mark Segal became angry when he and a male friend were thrown out of a television dance program one August afternoon in 1972 after the program's host saw them dancing together. In retaliation, Segal barged into the studio of Philadelphia's WPVI a few days later during its evening newscast. Startled studio personnel wrestled him to the floor, tied his hands with a microphone cable and called the police.
....
Nevertheless, Segal's tactics paid off. Cronkite arranged meetings at CBS where Segal could voice his complaints to the top management. On May 6, 1974, Cronkite'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. They've succeeded in winning equal rights under the law in many communities. But in the nation's biggest city, the fight goes on, with the city council due to vote on the matter again this week."
Reports on the status of gay rights in various cities followed, with one CBS correspondent pointing out 10 cities that had passed legal protections for gays and reporting that similar laws were under consideration in at least four others. At a New York luncheon 34 years later, I asked Cronkite about the zapping incident. "Oh, yes," he said with a smile and twinkle in his eye. "I remember that."
....
quprof@yahoo.com
Edward Alwood, a former CNN correspondent and journalism professor at Quinnipiac University, is the author of "Straight News: Gays, Lesbians, and the News Media."
By Edward Alwood
Sunday, July 26, 2009
Walter Cronkite's illustrious career is remembered for the historic events he covered, from the assassinations of John F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr. to the moon landing and the Vietnam War. But Cronkite also reported on burgeoning social movements, including the struggle for gay liberation. After becoming a target of that movement, Cronkite would become a behind-the-scenes ally.
Following the Stonewall riots in 1969, as the nascent gay rights movement became increasingly combative, a gay Philadelphia teenager initiated his own guerrilla war aimed at television, including the "CBS Evening News." Nineteen-year-old Mark Segal became angry when he and a male friend were thrown out of a television dance program one August afternoon in 1972 after the program's host saw them dancing together. In retaliation, Segal barged into the studio of Philadelphia's WPVI a few days later during its evening newscast. Startled studio personnel wrestled him to the floor, tied his hands with a microphone cable and called the police.
....
Nevertheless, Segal's tactics paid off. Cronkite arranged meetings at CBS where Segal could voice his complaints to the top management. On May 6, 1974, Cronkite'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. They've succeeded in winning equal rights under the law in many communities. But in the nation's biggest city, the fight goes on, with the city council due to vote on the matter again this week."
Reports on the status of gay rights in various cities followed, with one CBS correspondent pointing out 10 cities that had passed legal protections for gays and reporting that similar laws were under consideration in at least four others. At a New York luncheon 34 years later, I asked Cronkite about the zapping incident. "Oh, yes," he said with a smile and twinkle in his eye. "I remember that."
....
Edward Alwood, a former CNN correspondent
A Google search shows that Edward Alwood's current email address is edward.alwood@yahoo.com.
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Response to mahatmakanejeeves (Original post)
