- I called the executive
producers over to my house,
and I told them
that I wanted to come out.
It became bigger than
any of us ever anticipated.
- I get a telephone call...
- And my agent sends me this script.
- And the character breakdown for the
character of Taylor Mason said non-binary.
Hello, I'm Taylor.
My pronouns are
"they," "theirs," and "them."
- It's hard to talk about without
stressing how invisible gay people were.
- The earliest representations
were always people to be mocked.
- People couldn't be
just who they were.
- The truth is, there was no
LGBT presence on TV
that I can remember in 1971.
- We wanted to show people
as they really are.
- In all that time,
did I ever mention a woman?
- It's the first time ever on
an American sitcom
that a character came out
and said he was gay.
- That was, to me,
the breakthrough.
♪ Clipped wings,
I was a broken thing ♪
♪ Had a voice, had a voice,
but I could not sing ♪
♪ You would wind me down ♪
- We were fighting for our lives.
- I will probably die
before I turn 30 years of age.
- That's how much homophobia
there is in the community.
- This was the coming out moment
for the movement on national television.
This was the time they first saw us.
- My dad threw me out of the house.
The episode airs,
and my phone rings...
and it's my dad.
- One of the great things about television
is it helps us to make sense of
who we are and where we're going.
♪ No, I don't care
if I sing off key ♪
♪ I find myself in my melodies ♪
- Something about being on television
makes people see you
as part of our culture.
- Women who looked like me could be
the centers of their own universe.
♪ I'll shout it out
like a bird set free ♪
- When you see images that are
reflective of your own life,
it's a reminder to you
that your life matters.
- I didn't realize that I was
the revolution that I was waiting for.
♪ I'll shout it out
like a bird set free ♪
