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Public broadcasting has played a notable role in contributing to the national discourse on LGBTQ+ rights since at least the early 1960s, predating even the establishment of the Public Broadcasting Service on November 3, 1969. That is because stations such as KQED were already in existence by that time. KQED was the sixth public television station in the United States, signing on for the first time in 1954.

Here is a look back at some historic LGBTQ+ moments on public media:

1961 – The First Television Documentary About Homosexuality Broadcast in the U.S.

The first television documentary about homosexuality broadcast in the U.S. was The Rejected, which initially aired on KQED TV in San Francisco on September 11, 1961. The program featured discussions with experts from various fields, including a psychiatrist who argued against the notion of homosexuality as a mental illness. That was a radical stance for the period. The documentary was groundbreaking in its explicit focus on homosexuality at a time when the topic was largely avoided or portrayed negatively in mainstream media. 

1962 – First Out Lesbian on a Show Discussing Lesbianism

KTTV in Los Angeles, which was an independent station from 1954–1986, ran a series called Argument that included an episode “Society and the Homosexual.” It featured one of the first ever out lesbians on television discussing lesbianism.

1965 – American Sexual Revolution Founder Albert Ellis on Stations Nationwide 

Psychologist and psychotherapist Albert Ellis (1913–2007) is widely viewed as one of the primary founders of the American Sexual Revolution that resulted in more nuanced views toward sex and morality. His work paved the way for women’s rights, LGBTQ+ rights, and more. Ellis’ views on homosexuality changed over the years, with him concluding at first that it was not inherently good or evil and later that everyone should, as his 2001 book held, enjoy Sex Without Guilt. Eight years before the American Psychiatric Association declared that homosexuality was not a mental disorder, Ellis appeared on National Educational Television (a precursor to PBS) on the “Every Tenth Man” episode of the series Other Voices.

1966 – Balanced View of Homosexuality

WPBT in Florida ran a locally produced program called The Homosexual that discussed the topic from various angles, including law enforcement and gay activism.

1970 – Largest Gathering of LGBTQ+ Leaders to Date on Television

WNDT via the series Newsfront ran an episode on June 24, 1970, just four days before the first gay Pride parade known as the Christopher Street Liberation Day March in New York City. The program included seven gay liberation leaders, believed to be the largest such gathering for a widely viewed television show.

1973 – First Openly Gay Person on Television as Part of a Family Unit

Arguably the most influential LGBTQ+ moments on PBS occurred during the 12-hour documentary series An American Family. The series is believed to be the first ever reality show, and it followed the lives of the Loud family in Santa Barbara, California. Lance Loud (1951–2001), the oldest of the family’s five children, made history by becoming the first continuing character on television who was openly gay. Unlike the previous mentioned shows, this series had a huge viewership for the time (an estimated 10 million) ran from coast to coast, and was broadcast at airtimes that allowed multiple generations to watch.

1982 and 1983 – Major National Stars in Productions With Prominent LGBTQ+ Themes

In 1982, the year that the acronym AIDS was officially adopted and fear over the illness was gripping the nation, the series American Playhouse ran a program called the “Fifth of July,” starring Richard Thomas, then known to nearly all television viewers as the star of the hit show The Waltons. In this program he played a gay paraplegic Vietnam veteran who lived at his family home with his boyfriend.

In 1983, yet another major national star, Milton Berle, headed up the cast of the American Playhouse production, “Family Business.” Berle played a wealthy man who is dying and wishes to make amends with his sons, one of whom is openly gay.

1989 – Helping Preserve the Legacy of James Baldwin

An early program as part of the American Masters series was “James Baldwin: The Price of the Ticket.” It chronicled the life of the openly gay writer and civil rights activist who had died just two years before.

1991 – First Nationwide Airing of a Major Documentary About and By Gay Black Men

PBS ran the powerful 1989 documentary Tongues Untied produced by Marlon Riggs (1957–1994) despite national controversy that had everyone from conservative religious leaders to Republican U.S. Senators to right-wing presidential candidates criticizing the film before it even ran. The poetic film years later, in 2022, was selected for preservation by the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress for being “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant.”

1992–2012 – First and Longest Running National LGBTQ+ Television Program

Airing for 20 years, In the Life—created by Emmy-award-winning producer John Scagliotti— was the first and longest running national LGBTQ+ television program in history. Guest hosts included Gavin Newsom, Madonna, RuPaul, and countless others who went on to even greater prominence. Segments also addressed individuals of historical significance, such as jazz musician and bandleader Billy Tipton (1914–1989), who is now viewed as a pioneering transgender man. While many of the other mentioned programs have been lost over time, thankfully the UCLA Library’s Film & Television Archive has preserved all episodes of In the Life: https://bit.ly/463cJL3

Scagliotti was interviewed about the history of the series, and why he elected to work with PBS. That too is archived and may be viewed at https://bit.ly/3GHN7cg

These are just some of the important programs directly concerning the LGBTQ+ community that have run on PBS and related stations. They do not even take into account the widely viewed shows promoting acceptance and diversity that originated on public broadcasting, such as Mr. Rogers Neighborhood, The Electric Company, Zoom, and Sesame Street that influenced generations of kids and their parents.

PBS has been both a mirror to LGBTQ+ rights, reflecting cultural and legal changes over the decades, and an educational tool that has helped shape the viewpoints of its audiences. The responsibility of that latter role has not been taken lightly, and especially for children’s programming. Child psychologists and educators, for example, were extensively consulted by the creators of Sesame Street to ensure the series is both educational and engaging. Focus groups were also organized to evaluate the content and to make sure that the show represented diverse experiences and perspectives. 

Such lengthy and painstaking work along with community involvement seems worlds away from Trump’s accusation that PBS and NPR programming is “politically biased.” The effort to silence public media is itself biased. President Trump has called PBS and other major media outlets the “enemy of the people,” which is what Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin leveled against those who dared to oppose him.

PBS has had the backs of the LGBTQ+ community for years. It is time to pay it back to this most prominent provider of educational programs in the U.S.

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