More than that. Had it been discovered, and that Rogers knew and still retained Clemmons, he would in all likelihood have been off the air himself. He not only protected Clemmons livelihood, he did so at risk to his own.

In reality, the entire show would have been shut down, and Congress would have used it as an excuse to revoke PBS funding.

Literally five years ago, in 2012, my daughter’s Girl Scout troop had some sort of organizational meeting with several troops while the girls were in another room doing an activity, and a mother from another troop stood up and said that she heard that one of the girls—a sixth grader—was a lesbian, and that she didn’t…

As everybody in Pittsburgh well knows, Mr. Rogers was what you saw. There are no skeletons, he may be the lone popular culture public figure who is simply unimpeachable.

And Clemmons most likely would have been arrested; at the least, he never would have worked again. Rogers was trying to be as fair as possible in horribly unfair world.

He did pragmatically admit the reality of the situation. If he kept going out to gay bars, he’d get outed and fired. That was the reality and completely out of Roger’s hands.

This. I’m old enough to remember that until 1969, the men arrested in police nuisance raids of gay bars would have their names published in the daily newspaper, often resulting in losing jobs. Rogers wasn’t rejecting him - he was looking out for him (and the show). Also worth noting that the marriage-for-appearances…

THIS. This article perfectly encapsulates why I can’t stand Rich’s articles.

Yes. I think middle-aged people (like me) may have a better perspective on what things were really like in the ’60s and ’70s. If it got out that a gay man was working on a children’s show, that would have been a huge scandal and there’s no doubt the show would have been shut down immediately. To Rogers, the show was a…

I agree that you can’t call this homophobia on Rogers part (imho). He didn’t reject Clemmons, quite the opposite. He did pragmatically admit the reality of the situation. If he kept going out to gay bars, he’d get outed and fired. That was the reality and completely out of Roger’s hands. The ending of the article in…

Yes, this exactly. I don’t see these “cracks”. Especially with this quote from Mr. Rogers about Clemmons, “Many of the wrong people will get the worst idea, and we don’t want them thinking and talking about you like that.” i.e., many folks would call Clemmons a pedophile just because he was gay. It really seems like…

Agreed. Par for the course at that time would have been to fire him. If Rogers were truly homophobic, he would have and no one would have batted an eye.

I have seen a couple of sites trying to make a fuss out of this and say that homophobia was some sort of skeleton in Fred Rogers’ closet. But that is really judging people of half a century ago by the morality of today. It is amazing that Clemmons wasn’t fired. Gay people (especially men) around children was regarded…

But still, it illustrates the finite nature of Mr. Rogers’s ideals. “I like you just the way you are,” he often said, but in the case of Clemmons there was a caveat: “...I just need you to show less of the way you are.” This information through the lens of contemporary culture, in which an employer legislating what…

So, now we have internment camps again. Wondering what happens when they get full.

ICE are the confederate slave traders of 2018.

The nazification of America is coming along nicely. I see.

She’d be getting nowhere near the same degree of flack if she’d done what other failed presidential candidates have done over the past couple decades and shut up/gone away for a year or two before resurfacing. There’s a reason she’s getting a lot of flack from even establishment/third way Dems and it’s that her…

As a dad, I’m shaking with rage at the thought of the school board president telling those children they owe the school resource officer an apology.

So do people not just run to Target when they are a) invited to a pool party b) are going on vacation or c) decide they finally are going to use the gym’s jacuzzi anyway even if all those skinny bitches will be judging you? And do they not just pull out the first swimsuit that is not hideous and looks like it’ll fit…