December 13th, 2011
onaissues
Ralph Blumenthal reflects on covering the gays rights movement for the New York Times in the 1970s: “I was cautioned, it was not the gay march, it was the homosexual march. The homosexual march? I dreaded to write that. Even then it marked me as woefully out of step with the zeitgeist. There was a leaden quality to the phrase, a sniffy retrograde disapproval. No, I objected, they call themselves gays. Gays? Now it was an editor’s turn at consternation. Gay meant happy. Were they happy? No, they were homosexuals.” Read his full account on the New York Times:  Before They Were Gay (at Least in Print).

Ralph Blumenthal reflects on covering the gays rights movement for the New York Times in the 1970s:

“I was cautioned, it was not the gay march, it was the homosexual march.

The homosexual march?

I dreaded to write that. Even then it marked me as woefully out of step with the zeitgeist. There was a leaden quality to the phrase, a sniffy retrograde disapproval.

No, I objected, they call themselves gays.

Gays? Now it was an editor’s turn at consternation. Gay meant happy. Were they happy? No, they were homosexuals.”

Read his full account on the New York Times:  Before They Were Gay (at Least in Print).

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news journalism LGBT
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