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The Rowdy Queer Rebels Who Turned Television Gay

Matt Baume | July 3, 2026



In the 1970s, a gang of rowdy queer rebels infiltrated TV stations and wreaked havoc on broadcasts. But their targets weren’t random — they were chosen with laser precision. So what was their goal, and did they succeed? This is their story.

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Written by Matt Baume

Comments

This post currently has 37 comments.

  1. @StanleytheCat-v8z

    July 3, 2026 at 4:07 pm

    Btw when you're doing this type of stuff and you get anonymous letter and tips and stuff: Some of that can be malicious stuff from "law enforcement".

    Be careful out there.

  2. @youtubemember811

    July 3, 2026 at 4:07 pm

    So effeminate stereotypes are great, but killer butch babes are not? I have to admit — I love the "Flowers of Evil" episode of 'Police Woman' (even though I probably shouldn't) and Angie's impassioned "I know what a love like yours can do to a person" speech. It's all delicious, Grade-A homophobic camp. (The episode did pop up in syndication in the '80s, however). For 1974, it managed to be both brave yet utterly regressive simultaneously.

  8. @CbClark715

    July 3, 2026 at 4:07 pm

    I love these videos. I grew up thinking there was something wrong with me. I never related to the cliche characters on tv and in movies, and felt embarrassed and ashamed. I also lived in fear. As soon as I could, I ran to a big city, Houston, because of safety in numbers. I learned there wasn't a "me" there was "US" and there was nothing wrong with me. Hate was their weapon and it came close to destroying me. Being surrounded by love, their hate couldn't reach me anymore. I still hold a little psychological baggage, I guess that would be expected growing up with phrases like "Gay Cancer," and what happened to Matthew Shepard. We are still not were we need to be, but thanks to people far braver than me, love is spreading- and love is a CANCER hate cannot escape.

  13. @cynhanrahan4012

    July 3, 2026 at 4:07 pm

    Might want to let your subscribers know some are being dropped. I just noticed that I was no longer subscribed, so I subscribed again and set to all. You aren't the only one, it seems to be a persistent bug. Several of my subscribed channels have asked that people check to be sure they are still subscribed, and also tell their friends. The first queer I remember is James Baldwin, but I was so little I had no idea what a homosexual was. Then we fast forward to Soap, and Billy Crystal playing a gay man, which was a huge leap forward. Would have been better if his character was played by an actual gay man, but that was still in the days when being queer could bring your acting career to a screeching halt.

  15. @bahhumbug9824

    July 3, 2026 at 4:07 pm

    I wonder if Matt realizes that in his clip of The Bold Ones: The New Doctors at 5:46 there's Robert Walden. Why do we care? Well, in the early 80s Showtime had a Cable Ace Award winning show called Brothers, about a young man who comes out of the closet on the very day of his weeding to the chagrin of his 2 older brothers, Walden being one of them and got 2 nominations (he had 3 while on "Lou Grant."). The other was Brandon Maggart who's Fiona Apple's dad. There was also a VERY flamboyant regular gay character played by Philip Charles McKenzie who'd become a steady TV director. He also played Fran Drescher's dad in Happily Divorced. Also, According to comic book artist John Byrne, his drawings of the X-Men character "Nightcrawler" were physically based on Robert Walden. X-Men having lots of coded gay subtext. The man has some gay cred. And has never married. Make of that what you will but before Will & Grace there was Brothers and despite a LOT of language now seen as problematic, it's astounding it's never gotten a dvd release although many episodes are on Youtube.

  16. @bahhumbug9824

    July 3, 2026 at 4:07 pm

    And now we have the 7 second delay so that things like this will never make it to our TVs. Seems a new strategy is required; especially in 2025 as the Repukes, with their Southern base, are in full-court-press mode in erasing us from history and the present. And now we see the same divisions within the gay leadership groups: Do we present ourselves as "normal" so as not to scare The Straights and wind up ignored or put the louder, flashier folks in charge and risk a massive backlash? Oddly enough both were working. In the NY press, at least, we went from being called "queens" (see the cringe coverage of the Stonewall riots from the NY Daily News and The Village Voice) to getting sympathetic coverage after a bathhouse fire killed many gay patrons c. 1978. The AIDS came out like a hammer and the Religious Right have been riding the Demonization Horse ever since, to great success. Now in the era of streaming where attention spans are near zero and there are hundreds of news shows on TV and the internet, how can gay rights activists effectively protest without yelling into an echo chamber or encountering just simply being edited out?

  25. @GCBWes

    July 3, 2026 at 4:07 pm

    Maybe I’m a little late, but Stonewall happened June 28, 1969….not in 1968. The Chicago Democratic Convention riot was in 1968.

  30. @NUFAN1313

    July 3, 2026 at 4:07 pm

    I'm not old enough to have watched Dick Cavette while it was on air, but I watch the episodes all the time on YouTube. I just love him.

  31. @dinodogstar

    July 3, 2026 at 4:07 pm

    It's interesting — no, sad and that a co-star of 'Police Woman' was gay, Earl Holliman, and it was said the star Angie Dickinson and others were aware of his sexuality. In this video news piece, the character played by Holliman is shown saying an insulting stereotype about lesbians.

  37. @Auggie-yp6br

    July 3, 2026 at 4:07 pm

    You are doing such amazing work. Learning about these events and activists really gives me both hope and a sense of where I can, most constructively, put my rage. Thank you for your dedication to education

Comments are closed.

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