Today in 2SLGBTQI+ history…
All In The Family premiered on January 12, 1971, and by the end of the year would become the most watched television show in the United States. The show, created by Norman Lear, also made history with one of its first episodes, “Judging Books By Covers,” which came early in the first season on February 9, 1971. In the groundbreaking episode, Archie Bunker (played by Carroll O’Connor) learns about judging people after incorrectly declaring that Roger (played by Anthony Geary), a seemingly effeminate friend of Mike and Gloria, is gay – only to discover that one of his own old football buddies, Steve (played by Phil Carey), is gay himself.
A large portion of the “Judging Books By Covers” is focused on Archie’s anger towards gay men – or, as he calls them a shocking number of times throughout the episode, fags. And then the audience is introduced to Steve, who – much to Archie’s shock and dismay – reveals that he is gay.
Steve, a masculine ex–professional football player, was the first gay male character to appear on a sitcom, and likely the first gay man many Americans had seen represented on television. The all-American character stirred controversy. Even then US President Richard Nixon was caught on tape calling out the All In The Family episode, bitterly complaining that it was “glorifying homosexuality.”
It was a one-shot guest role for Carey. But after that groundbreaking episode aired, similar representations of gay men on sitcoms would follow throughout the next decade on shows including The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Maude, Cheers and more.
All In The Family aired on CBS for nine seasons from January 12, 1971, until April 8, 1979, with a total of 205 episodes.
POST A COMMENT