text: cbs reports : the homosexuals " the homosexuals " is a 1967 episode of the documentary television series cbs reports . the hour - long broadcast featured a discussion of a number of topics related to homosexuality and homosexuals . mike wallace anchored the episode , which aired on march 7 , 1967 . although this was the first network documentary dealing with the topic of homosexuality , it was not the first televised in the united states . that was the rejected , produced and aired in 1961 on kqed , a public television station in san francisco . three years in the making , the homosexuals went through two producers and multiple revisions . the episode included interviews with several gay men , psychiatrists , legal experts and cultural critics , interspersed with footage of a gay bar and a police sex sting . the homosexuals garnered mixed critical response . the network received praise from some quarters and criticism from others for even airing the program . production the program was initially proposed in 1964 . the first version was produced by william peters , with production supervised by executive producer fred w. friendly . upon accepting the assignment , peters began his research by reading books and consulting with experts in the field . peters suggested that the program focus exclusively on gay men and that he cover lesbians in a second program , and friendly agreed . principal filming took place starting in the fall of 1964 and continued through early 1965 . peters interviewed men in san francisco , philadelphia , charlotte and new york city , accumulating 30 hours of footage . the identities of several of the men were obscured in some fashion , either in shadow or , in one instance , behind a large potted palm tree . also interviewed were psychiatrist charles socarides , who strongly advocated the position that homosexuality is a mental disorder , and fellow psychiatrist irving bieber , who shared socarides ' opinion of homosexuality as pathology . interspersed with these interview segments was footage , described as being in the cinéma vérité style , of the inside of a gay bar along with shots of hustlers working a street corner and a teenager being arrested in a public sex sting . after assembling a rough cut , peters approached mike wallace to anchor the hour . wallace was initially reluctant but after viewing the program enthusiastically agreed . despite his enthusiasm , wallace 's commentary disparaged homosexuals . the average homosexual , if there be such , is promiscuous . he is not interested or capable of a lasting relationship like that of a heterosexual marriage . his sex life , his love life , consists of a series of one – chance encounters at the clubs and bars he inhabits . and even on the streets of the city — the pick - up , the one night stand , these are characteristics of the homosexual relationship . friendly generally approved of the first version but believed that it was necessary to include information on same - sex sexual practices . when those practices were explained to him , however , he changed his mind . while the documentary was still in production , friendly was promoted to the presidency of cbs news but left soon after over a disagreement over the network 's coverage of the vietnam war . he was replaced by richard s. salant , who was known for his cost - consciousness , which put the future of the documentary and the cbs reports series in question . salant did try to kill the documentary , but stories about it began appearing in the trade press , putting cbs into a potentially embarrassing situation were it not to air . in mid - 1965 , salant gave peters the go - ahead to complete the episode . peters worked with the new york chapter of the mattachine society to secure interviews with two additional gay subjects , lars larson and jack nichols , both of whom were fully accepting of their sexuality . nichols later recalled his encounter with wallace : [ a ] fter we finished and the camera was turned off , mike wallace sat down with me and talked for about half an hour . he said , " you know , you answered all of my questions capably , but i have a feeling that you don 't really believe that homosexuality is as acceptable as you make it sound . " i asked him why he would say that . " because , " he said , " in your heart i think you know it 's wrong . " it was infuriating . i told him i thought being gay was just fine , but that in his heart he thought it was wrong . peters added more footage of psychiatrists espousing that model along with scenes from the 1965 convention of the east coast homophile organizations . cbs gave final approval to " the homosexuals " and scheduled it to air in the spring of 1966 . salant later pulled the episode from the schedule and assigned producer harry morgan to re - edit it . according to wallace , salant found the piece sensationalistic ; however , c. a. tripp , a psychologist who had put cbs in touch with his patient larson , claimed that salant felt the piece was pro - homosexuality . morgan scrapped all but about 10 minutes of peters ' final cut . cbs felt that the self - accepting gay men made too favorable of an impression , so morgan edited two of the interviews to make the men seem . according to wallace , no sponsor would buy time during the episode because of the taboo nature of the subject matter . commercial spots were filled by public service announcements for the peace corps and the internal revenue service . overview the first interview subject was a gay man , lars larson , who appeared undisguised and who spoke positively about his sexuality . following his interview , wallace gave the results of a cbs news poll that found that americans considered homosexuality more harmful to the united states than adultery , abortion or prostitution , that two - thirds of americans described their reaction to homosexuality as " disgust , discomfort or fear " and that one in ten described their reaction as " hatred " . just ten percent believed homosexuality was a crime but the majority still believed it should be criminally sanctioned . following the poll , another gay man was interviewed from his psychiatrist 's couch with his face obscured by shadow . he described coming out to his family , saying they treated him " like some wounded animal they were going to send to the vet . " following this man was another unobscured subject jack nichols ( who had taken on the pseudonym " warren adkins " for the programme ) , co - founder of the washington , d.c. branch of the mattachine society . he contrasted the comments of the previous subject , saying that he had come out to his family at age 14 and , far from being treated like a sick animal , they treated him with warmth and understanding . after remarks from socarides advocating the disease model of homosexuality , wallace discussed the legal aspects of homosexuality , noting that england was preparing to de - criminalize homosexual acts . federal judge james braxton craven , jr. from north carolina advocated a re - evaluation of united states law , commenting , " is it not time to redraft a criminal statute first enacted in 1533 ? " following footage of nichols and mattachine d.c. co - founder frank kameny picketing independence hall and the state department , kameny , under his real name , advocated a re - examination of federal law that placed a blanket ban on known homosexuals receiving security clearances . next , albert goldman ( then an english professor at columbia university ) and author and playwright gore vidal debated homosexuality , with an emphasis on the presence of homosexuals in the creative arts . goldman asserted that homosexuality " is just one of a number of ... things all tending toward the subversion , toward the final erosion , of our cultural values . " vidal , asserting that homosexuality is as natural as heterosexuality , countered by saying " the united states is living out some mad protestant nineteenth - century dream of human behavior .... i think the so - called breaking of the moral fiber of this country is one of the healthiest things that 's begun to happen . " wallace closed with an interview with a gay man , with a wife and two children , who claimed that the narcissism of gay men made it impossible for two men to form a long - term loving relationship . wrapping up the hour , wallace concluded : the dilemma of the homosexual : told by the medical profession he is sick ; by the law that he 's a criminal ; shunned by employers ; rejected by heterosexual society . incapable of a fulfilling relationship with a woman , or for that matter with a man . at the center of his life he remains anonymous . a displaced person . an outsider . also discussed were religious attitudes toward homosexuality and the boise homosexuality scandal , a sweeping investigation of a supposed " homosexual underground " in boise , idaho in 1955 . critical reaction critical response of the time to the program was mixed . the new york times , the washington star , and the chicago daily news praised cbs for addressing the subject . george gent of the times , however , commented on the anti - gay bias of the show , noting that it would " have been better to give the minority viewpoint that homosexuals are just as normal as anyone else a chance to speak for itself . " the chicago tribune titled its review " tv no spot to garbage " and attacked cbs for presenting such material to young and impressionable viewers . more recent critical attention to " the homosexuals " has also been mixed , trending to the negative . in one corner , anchor mike wallace is praised for debunking negative stereotypes about gay men . in the other , wallace 's commentary is condemned as " a string of gross generalizations and negative stereotypes [ that ] sounds as if it was scripted by rev. jerry falwell . " in noting that approximately 20 % of television viewers in the united states saw the program , lgbt activist wayne labels the broadcast " the single most destructive hour of propaganda in our nation 's history . " he says that " [ ' the homosexuals ' ] not only had a devastating effect on public opinion but also was a nuclear bomb dropped on the psyches of gay and lesbian americans , who , prior to this show , had never been represented as a group on national television . " participants ' response and personal consequences lars larson , the first interview subject , was infuriated after seeing the finished program . he had been led to believe that the episode would present a far more positive picture of american gay life . larson , whose interview had been altered to make him seem less happy , filed a formal fraud complaint and withdrew his release . " they had some rather nasty , angry anti - gay people on there who were treated as professionals , " he said . " i had no problem with harry morgan or mike wallace because they were thorough . but obviously others in the decision - making process were truly upset with homosexuality . they saw it as a threat to the human race and were out to kill as best they could . " jack nichols was fired from his job as a hotel sales manager the day after the program aired . for his part , anchor mike wallace came to regret his participation in the episode . " i should have known better , " he said in 1992 . speaking in 1996 , wallace stated , " that is — god help us — what our understanding was of the homosexual lifestyle a mere twenty - five years ago because nobody was out of the closet and because that 's what we heard from doctors — that 's what socarides told us , it was a matter of shame . " however , wallace was at the time of broadcast close friends with noted designer james amster ( creator of the landmark amster yard courtyard in new york city ) and amster 's male long - term companion , men whom wallace later described as " a wonderful old married couple " and " [ b ] oth people that [ he ] admired " . despite this personal knowledge , wallace relied on the american psychiatric association 's categorization of homosexuality as a mental illness rather than his own experience in creating the episode . as recently as 1995 , wallace told an interviewer that he believed homosexuals could change their orientation if they really wanted to .