Time puts homosexuals on its cover
Shortly after Stonewall, Time ran a cover story on homosexuals. An ambivalent document of its era.
On 31 October 1969, Halloween, Time magazine appeared with a cover story that drew attention: "The Homosexual in America". Just months after the riots at New York's Stonewall Inn, what was then America's most influential news magazine put the spotlight on a subject that had long been barely discussed in public.
The tone had changed. Only a few years earlier, Time had portrayed homosexuality in an essay as a pernicious sickness. Now the magazine described a self-confident scene with its own bars, books and plays. It reported on the homophile movement, whose members demanded civil rights and demonstrated in front of the White House. Halloween was mentioned too: as a festival at which gay subcultures in cities such as San Francisco and New York played exuberantly with costumes and roles.
The article challenged some widespread assumptions. Gay men and lesbians, it said, were more often victims of crime than perpetrators. At the same time, old prejudices continued to shape the portrayal. Homosexuality appeared as a serious maladjustment caused by stressful childhood experiences. The magazine even raised the question of a homosexual conspiracy to dominate the art world. A poll it cited showed that almost two thirds of the population considered homosexuals harmful.
Franklin Kameny brought a different view. The openly gay activist took part in a panel discussion on whether homosexuals were sick. He firmly rejected the idea, compared homophobia to racism and refused to accept medical disparagement. In the printed version, he had the last word.
Four years later, the American Psychiatric Association removed homosexuality from its diagnostic manual. The Time cover story remains a document of transition: it made gay life visible and gave space to a self-confident voice, while carrying many of the inherited prejudices forward.