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Tabloid Homosexuality in the 1950s/60s Confidential,
along with its Tabloid Rivals: Whisper, Uncensored, |
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Confidential |
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Tabloids! The exploitative tabloid articles of especially the 1950s and 1960s gave the everyday folks at the supermarket checkout stand perhaps their only look at homosexuality. And this was a time when being homosexual was sick and/or illegal, so it was easy to play up the sensational aspects. Remember, at this time there were no gay role models, and none on TV unless you count the rumors about the flamboyant Liberace and Paul Lynde. Therefore these publications had a big influence on shaping how America saw us. I hope this section can be a resource for allowing a look back these times. |
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The
social climate of the media in 1952 was rife with "confidential"
tabloids, helping feed the public's need for gossip and scandal, and
Jack Lait and Lee Mortimer wrote volumes of it for many years. Their
1952 book "U.S.A. Confidential" roams from city to city yelling
about the unseemly sides, and that included mention of the homosexual
hangouts of the time. Therefore this book is a hardbound tabloid, and
its commentary should be taken with many grains of salt. |