Steven Capsuto
@stevencapsuto.bsky.social
Author of ALTERNATE CHANNELS: QUEER IMAGES ON 20TH-CENTURY TV. Lead historical consultant for VISIBLE: OUT ON TELEVISION (Apple TV+, 2020).
This feed is mainly for my "Today in Queer TV History" video posts. Previous posts are on my YouTube channel.
This feed is mainly for my "Today in Queer TV History" video posts. Previous posts are on my YouTube channel.
Reposted by Steven Capsuto
Here's a lovely article about the people who risked their careers to put a gay couple on Barney Miller back in the 1970s. (With excellent quotes from @stevencapsuto.bsky.social & a link to my video on the topic.) Gift link: www.nytimes.com/2025/11/04/a...
www.nytimes.com
November 5, 2025 at 10:18 PM
Here's a lovely article about the people who risked their careers to put a gay couple on Barney Miller back in the 1970s. (With excellent quotes from @stevencapsuto.bsky.social & a link to my video on the topic.) Gift link: www.nytimes.com/2025/11/04/a...
Woohoo!
I'm quoted in today's NY Times piece about the 50th anniversary of the gay couple on the 1970s-80s sitcom BARNEY MILLER: Darryl and Marty.
#gay #queer #LGBTQ #sitcom
I'm quoted in today's NY Times piece about the 50th anniversary of the gay couple on the 1970s-80s sitcom BARNEY MILLER: Darryl and Marty.
#gay #queer #LGBTQ #sitcom
How the Cop Show ‘Barney Miller’ Made Gay TV History, 50 Years Ago
www.nytimes.com
November 5, 2025 at 1:12 AM
Video: 1983 - The first ongoing gay role on a US daytime soap opera: psychologist Lynn Carson (Donna Pescow) on ALL MY CHILDREN.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=rzFb...
#AllMyChildren #SoapOpera #LGBTQ #lesbian #gay #queer
www.youtube.com/watch?v=rzFb...
#AllMyChildren #SoapOpera #LGBTQ #lesbian #gay #queer
Oct. 31: Lynn on All My Children - The soaps' first gay regular role - Donna Pescow (1983)
YouTube video by Steven Capsuto - LGBTQ Images on Television
www.youtube.com
October 31, 2025 at 11:01 PM
Video: 1983 - The first ongoing gay role on a US daytime soap opera: psychologist Lynn Carson (Donna Pescow) on ALL MY CHILDREN.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=rzFb...
#AllMyChildren #SoapOpera #LGBTQ #lesbian #gay #queer
www.youtube.com/watch?v=rzFb...
#AllMyChildren #SoapOpera #LGBTQ #lesbian #gay #queer
Could people please stop using the word "divisive" as a euphemism for "recycled KKK rhetoric?" It is such a moral abdication.
September 14, 2025 at 4:16 AM
Could people please stop using the word "divisive" as a euphemism for "recycled KKK rhetoric?" It is such a moral abdication.
In the days after Charlie Kirk's death, half the internet sounds like that awful guy at the office who keeps going up to women coworkers and saying, "What are you talking about? Bob's a great guy! *I've* never heard him harass anyone!" #CreepyAssholes
September 13, 2025 at 5:03 PM
In the days after Charlie Kirk's death, half the internet sounds like that awful guy at the office who keeps going up to women coworkers and saying, "What are you talking about? Bob's a great guy! *I've* never heard him harass anyone!" #CreepyAssholes
(Watches British TV shows on PBS.) So... Is advanced criminology actually taught in Christian seminaries in the UK? Or is solving murders just something that all British clergy do as a hobby?
September 13, 2025 at 3:17 PM
(Watches British TV shows on PBS.) So... Is advanced criminology actually taught in Christian seminaries in the UK? Or is solving murders just something that all British clergy do as a hobby?
Today, I'm at the Yiddish Book Center in Massachusetts for the annual Yidstock music festival. This is their Yiddish typewriter collection, on display in the book room, where the public can peruse or buy many of the thousands of vintage volumes in Yiddish that the center has rescued. #Yiddish
July 11, 2025 at 12:55 AM
Today, I'm at the Yiddish Book Center in Massachusetts for the annual Yidstock music festival. This is their Yiddish typewriter collection, on display in the book room, where the public can peruse or buy many of the thousands of vintage volumes in Yiddish that the center has rescued. #Yiddish
Video: TODAY IN QUEER TV HISTORY
1) "Straight Man in a Gay World" on Morgan Spurlock's "30 Days" (2005)
2) Founders of the Parents of Gays organization (now PFLAG) on NBC's "Today" show (1978)
#gay #queer #lgbtq
1) "Straight Man in a Gay World" on Morgan Spurlock's "30 Days" (2005)
2) Founders of the Parents of Gays organization (now PFLAG) on NBC's "Today" show (1978)
#gay #queer #lgbtq
July 6: Parents of Gays on "Today" (1978) and Straight Man in a Gay World on "30 Days" (2005)
YouTube video by Steven Capsuto - LGBTQ Images on Television
www.youtube.com
July 6, 2025 at 2:08 PM
Video: TODAY IN QUEER TV HISTORY
1. The founder of Parents of Gays (now PFLAG), Jeanne Manford, on "The Pat Collins Show," July 5, 1974
2. "Hyde in Hollywood' on PBS's "American Playhouse," July 5, 1991
www.youtube.com/watch?v=YkCS...
#gay #queer #LGBTQ
1. The founder of Parents of Gays (now PFLAG), Jeanne Manford, on "The Pat Collins Show," July 5, 1974
2. "Hyde in Hollywood' on PBS's "American Playhouse," July 5, 1991
www.youtube.com/watch?v=YkCS...
#gay #queer #LGBTQ
July 5: PFLAG founder Jeanne Manford on TV (1974) and "Hyde in Hollywood" on PBS (1991)
YouTube video by Steven Capsuto - LGBTQ Images on Television
www.youtube.com
July 5, 2025 at 6:56 AM
Video: TODAY IN QUEER TV HISTORY
1. The founder of Parents of Gays (now PFLAG), Jeanne Manford, on "The Pat Collins Show," July 5, 1974
2. "Hyde in Hollywood' on PBS's "American Playhouse," July 5, 1991
www.youtube.com/watch?v=YkCS...
#gay #queer #LGBTQ
1. The founder of Parents of Gays (now PFLAG), Jeanne Manford, on "The Pat Collins Show," July 5, 1974
2. "Hyde in Hollywood' on PBS's "American Playhouse," July 5, 1991
www.youtube.com/watch?v=YkCS...
#gay #queer #LGBTQ
If you're rounding up people who "look Hispanic," what you really mean is they look like indigenous peoples of the Americas. This is white leaders ordering the roundup and imprisonment of indigenous Americans, to punish them for being on the wrong side of lines that white people drew on the ground.
July 5, 2025 at 6:06 AM
If you're rounding up people who "look Hispanic," what you really mean is they look like indigenous peoples of the Americas. This is white leaders ordering the roundup and imprisonment of indigenous Americans, to punish them for being on the wrong side of lines that white people drew on the ground.
Reposted by Steven Capsuto
All I can say about US Republicans is they better hope the Christians are wrong and that there's no such things as hell. 🔥 😠
July 4, 2025 at 2:46 AM
All I can say about US Republicans is they better hope the Christians are wrong and that there's no such things as hell. 🔥 😠
This week, I'm digitizing audio interviews I did in the 90s with people who'd been involved in gay rights activism in the 1950s to mid-1970s, and with TV producers and writers behind early US TV depictions of queer people.
I plan to post some of them online (for tapes where I have permission). 😊
I plan to post some of them online (for tapes where I have permission). 😊
July 3, 2025 at 12:34 AM
This week, I'm digitizing audio interviews I did in the 90s with people who'd been involved in gay rights activism in the 1950s to mid-1970s, and with TV producers and writers behind early US TV depictions of queer people.
I plan to post some of them online (for tapes where I have permission). 😊
I plan to post some of them online (for tapes where I have permission). 😊
Marriage equality seems to be the only issue Andrew Sullivan ever seriously cared about. In the 1990s, he kept urging us to abandon the pursuit of employment nondiscrimination and instead focus activism entirely on attaining marriage rights, which helps far fewer of us. I never had much use for him.
Andrew Sullivan is the apotheosis of respectability politics. Fuck him.
Shorter Andrew Sullivan: “Once I got what I wanted, they kept going, trying to help other people. How dare they?”
June 28, 2025 at 11:25 PM
Marriage equality seems to be the only issue Andrew Sullivan ever seriously cared about. In the 1990s, he kept urging us to abandon the pursuit of employment nondiscrimination and instead focus activism entirely on attaining marriage rights, which helps far fewer of us. I never had much use for him.
Reposted by Steven Capsuto
An addled president is shredding the Constitution to usher in white nationalism and fascism while destroying the economy and our health care, so if you’re going to write an alarmist op-ed because a mayoral candidate might open five (5) city-run grocery stores, you can kindly get bent.
June 27, 2025 at 2:13 AM
An addled president is shredding the Constitution to usher in white nationalism and fascism while destroying the economy and our health care, so if you’re going to write an alarmist op-ed because a mayoral candidate might open five (5) city-run grocery stores, you can kindly get bent.
Favorite typo seen today: "I need to attach an apostle to the translation of my birth certificate." (I think they meant "apostille.")
June 26, 2025 at 2:39 PM
Favorite typo seen today: "I need to attach an apostle to the translation of my birth certificate." (I think they meant "apostille.")
Reposted by Steven Capsuto
Socialism is what they called public power.
Socialism is what they called social security.
Socialism is what they called the growth of free and independent labor organizations.
Socialism is their name for almost anything that helps all the people.
—Harry Truman, 1952
Socialism is what they called social security.
Socialism is what they called the growth of free and independent labor organizations.
Socialism is their name for almost anything that helps all the people.
—Harry Truman, 1952
June 25, 2025 at 4:45 PM
Socialism is what they called public power.
Socialism is what they called social security.
Socialism is what they called the growth of free and independent labor organizations.
Socialism is their name for almost anything that helps all the people.
—Harry Truman, 1952
Socialism is what they called social security.
Socialism is what they called the growth of free and independent labor organizations.
Socialism is their name for almost anything that helps all the people.
—Harry Truman, 1952
It's 98 degrees in NYC today (36 Celsius).
If this day were a person, it would have a healthy body temperature.
If this day were a person, it would have a healthy body temperature.
June 25, 2025 at 10:39 PM
It's 98 degrees in NYC today (36 Celsius).
If this day were a person, it would have a healthy body temperature.
If this day were a person, it would have a healthy body temperature.
TODAY IN QUEER TV HISTORY
Raquel Welch appeared on THE DICK CAVETT SHOW on 6/25/1970, talking about her starring role playing a trans woman in the notoriously awful film MYRA BRECKENRIDGE. Of course, there's video...
#LGBTQ #trans #queer
Raquel Welch appeared on THE DICK CAVETT SHOW on 6/25/1970, talking about her starring role playing a trans woman in the notoriously awful film MYRA BRECKENRIDGE. Of course, there's video...
#LGBTQ #trans #queer
Clip: 1970, Raquel Welch on playing trans in "Myra Breckenridge" and the film's queer audiences
YouTube video by Steven Capsuto - LGBTQ Images on Television
www.youtube.com
June 25, 2025 at 10:39 PM
On a potential client's contractor-management portal, the screen about minority-owned businesses asks whether I'm an LGBT-owned business, and if so, whether I'm self-reporting or if I'm certified as such by an official certifying agency. Certified how? Is a note from my partner good enough?
March 21, 2025 at 6:24 PM
On a potential client's contractor-management portal, the screen about minority-owned businesses asks whether I'm an LGBT-owned business, and if so, whether I'm self-reporting or if I'm certified as such by an official certifying agency. Certified how? Is a note from my partner good enough?
It seems Trump and Co. are trying to purge LGBTQ people from federal jobs, like in the 1950s. I'll be surprised if this doesn't end up with prison camps for queers. And as I'm being hauled away, some MAGA asshole will say to me "How can you be angry with me over a difference of political opinion?"
February 26, 2025 at 1:38 PM
It seems Trump and Co. are trying to purge LGBTQ people from federal jobs, like in the 1950s. I'll be surprised if this doesn't end up with prison camps for queers. And as I'm being hauled away, some MAGA asshole will say to me "How can you be angry with me over a difference of political opinion?"
Reposted by Steven Capsuto
TODAY IN QUEER TV HISTORY - 2/24/1993
On the GRAMMY AWARDS, k.d. lang & Melissa Etheridge won, respectively, Best Pop Vocal Performance, Female & Best Rock Vocal Performance, Female. Both had recently come out publicly, at a time when out-and-proud celebrities were rare. #LGBTQ #gay #lesbian #queer
On the GRAMMY AWARDS, k.d. lang & Melissa Etheridge won, respectively, Best Pop Vocal Performance, Female & Best Rock Vocal Performance, Female. Both had recently come out publicly, at a time when out-and-proud celebrities were rare. #LGBTQ #gay #lesbian #queer
February 24, 2025 at 3:13 PM
TODAY IN QUEER TV HISTORY - 2/24/1993
On the GRAMMY AWARDS, k.d. lang & Melissa Etheridge won, respectively, Best Pop Vocal Performance, Female & Best Rock Vocal Performance, Female. Both had recently come out publicly, at a time when out-and-proud celebrities were rare. #LGBTQ #gay #lesbian #queer
On the GRAMMY AWARDS, k.d. lang & Melissa Etheridge won, respectively, Best Pop Vocal Performance, Female & Best Rock Vocal Performance, Female. Both had recently come out publicly, at a time when out-and-proud celebrities were rare. #LGBTQ #gay #lesbian #queer
February 24, 2025 at 3:13 PM
TODAY IN QUEER TV HISTORY - 2/23/1981
DYNASTY: In an early episode of the original 1980s version of this drama series, a coworker decides to "fix" Steven's attraction to men by taking him to a brothel so he can see what sex with a woman is like. (And oh, that 80s hair!)
#LGBTQ #gay #queer #Dynasty
DYNASTY: In an early episode of the original 1980s version of this drama series, a coworker decides to "fix" Steven's attraction to men by taking him to a brothel so he can see what sex with a woman is like. (And oh, that 80s hair!)
#LGBTQ #gay #queer #Dynasty
February 23, 2025 at 2:14 PM
TODAY IN #QUEER TV HISTORY - 2/23/1999
An episode of BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER gave the first hint that Willow (Alyson Hannigan) might not be as straight as her friends assumed, when her "skanky" vampire alter-ego from a parallel universe showed up and seemed (as "good Willow" put it) "kinda #gay."
An episode of BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER gave the first hint that Willow (Alyson Hannigan) might not be as straight as her friends assumed, when her "skanky" vampire alter-ego from a parallel universe showed up and seemed (as "good Willow" put it) "kinda #gay."
February 23, 2025 at 2:02 PM