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judehaz t1_j26b8kq wrote

Reply to comment by officialMpeg99 in In 1969, when black Americans were still prevented from swimming alongside whites, Mr.Rogers decided to invite officer Clemmons to join him and cool his feet in a pool, breaking a well-known colour barrier. by Legitimate_Row_4944

My recollection is that Fred knew Clemmons was gay and encouraged him to stay in the closet, suggesting it would severly hurt Clemmons' career if he came out. I do not recall ever hearing that Clemmons felt less than accepted by Fred. Not defending it, but it was a different time. EDIT: typo

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Significant_Ant_2607 t1_j27jn0x wrote

They touched on this in the recent Rogers documentary. That yes, Rogers encouraged Clemmons to stay in the closet (not go to gay bars where he'd been spotted, etc) for the sake of the show's survival -- but that his message about loving his neighbor was also very specifically aimed at Clemmons "I love you just the way you are."

Clemmons says that he had a conversation with Rogers where Rogers confirmed he was specifically telling Clemmons that that phrase was specifically Rogers telling Clemmons he accepted him and loved him as-is. So if Clemmons felt that Rogers was as welcoming and understanding as a trained minister could reasonably be expected to be in that era, I take Clemmons' word for it.

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SWPenn t1_j28mtrd wrote

And Sears was the major sponsor of the show back then. If it got out, Sears would have pulled the sponsorship and the show would have ended. Sounds extreme today, but police were still raiding gay bars in 1969 and people went to jail, which ended careers inst.

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