Mike Wallace: The Homosexuals

Watch the controversial broadcast - a first for network television in 1967

This past weekend, the media world lost Mike Wallace, a pioneer in many ways when it came to broadcast journalism. It got us to thinking about the very famous report he did for CBS in 1967 called “The Homosexuals.” Created as a one-hour documentary for the network, Wallace anchored the episode which dealt frankly with gay life for the first time on mainstream television.

Not only did the world get to hear from gay men, psychiatrists, legal experts and cultural critics, but the interviews were interspersed with footage of gay bars and a police sex sting. More sensational than one might have hoped, the episode was history-making – for better or worse. And while gay activists long criticized Wallace for creating controversy, the show certainly speaks to life before Stonewall – and even some of the issues that still persist for the LGBT community in mainstream media.

Check it out: