WJZ-TV Baltimore
Title
Description
Name of author printed as Warren D. Adkins, a pseudonym of Jack Nichols.
Creator
Source
The homosexual citizen, May 1967, p. 10
Date
Rights
Format
application/pdf
Language
English
Type
Coverage
Washington (D.C.)
Original Format
printed journal
Text
The Homosexual Citizen
May, 1967, page 10
WJZ-TV Baltimore
By Warren D. Adkins
(pseudonym for Jack Nichols)
A telephone call from producer Norman Ross took me to
Baltimore on March 22 to appear on John Sterling’s 45-minute show “Contact.” Appearing with me was the Reverend Leroy Graham, Ph.D., chaplain of American University and a strongsupporter of civil liberties and social rights for homosexuals.
During the preceding week, WJZ had flashed my picture on
TV screens, with a caption reading “The Second Largest
Minority” advertising the program at station breaks and
promising to give Baltimore’s public its first glimpse of a live
homosexual “associated with the Mattachine Society.”
Questions from both the moderator and the TV audience
revolved principally around the notion that homosexuality is a malfunction or illness. Both Dr. Graham and I vigorously
countered such concepts, maintaining that homosexuality is
probably being “caused” in the homosexual at the same time
that heterosexuality is being “caused” in the heterosexual –
and that the former is not due to pathological taint. Dr. Graham and I agreed with each other, supplementing and reinforcing our common viewpoint, namely, that homosexuals are not a priori sick, and deserve equal treatment as citizens of this free nation.
The significance of this show lies in the fact that for the first
time, a distinguished Methodist clergyman on the east Coast
has publicly associated himself with the civil libertarian aims
of the homophile movement and has made his views known to a wide television audience.
After the completion of the show, the producer led us to his
office where we both answered a great number of telephone
calls from an interested TV audience.
May, 1967, page 10
WJZ-TV Baltimore
By Warren D. Adkins
(pseudonym for Jack Nichols)
A telephone call from producer Norman Ross took me to
Baltimore on March 22 to appear on John Sterling’s 45-minute show “Contact.” Appearing with me was the Reverend Leroy Graham, Ph.D., chaplain of American University and a strongsupporter of civil liberties and social rights for homosexuals.
During the preceding week, WJZ had flashed my picture on
TV screens, with a caption reading “The Second Largest
Minority” advertising the program at station breaks and
promising to give Baltimore’s public its first glimpse of a live
homosexual “associated with the Mattachine Society.”
Questions from both the moderator and the TV audience
revolved principally around the notion that homosexuality is a malfunction or illness. Both Dr. Graham and I vigorously
countered such concepts, maintaining that homosexuality is
probably being “caused” in the homosexual at the same time
that heterosexuality is being “caused” in the heterosexual –
and that the former is not due to pathological taint. Dr. Graham and I agreed with each other, supplementing and reinforcing our common viewpoint, namely, that homosexuals are not a priori sick, and deserve equal treatment as citizens of this free nation.
The significance of this show lies in the fact that for the first
time, a distinguished Methodist clergyman on the east Coast
has publicly associated himself with the civil libertarian aims
of the homophile movement and has made his views known to a wide television audience.
After the completion of the show, the producer led us to his
office where we both answered a great number of telephone
calls from an interested TV audience.
Files
Citation
Nichols, Jack, “WJZ-TV Baltimore,” Rainbow History Project Digital Collections, accessed May 3, 2024, https://archives.rainbowhistory.org/items/show/730.
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