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Significant_Ant_2607 t1_j27jwy5 wrote

Reply to comment by rhb4n8 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

It's more complicated than that, as you may expect that it would be.

In the documentary, Clemmons says he was spotted going to gay bars, and Rogers confronted him about it because in that era, being spotted in a gay bar would mean the show would be cancelled and that was bad for the children. Rogers basically ordered Clemmons to be more discrete or he couldn't be on the show anymore.

But Clemmons also says that he eventually came to understand Rogers' message of "I love you just the way you are" was specifically aimed at Clemmons directly -- that it was Rogers way of saying he loved and accepted Clemmons including his homosexuality as a natural and okay part of who he was, and that Rogers confirmed that's exactly what he meant to Clemmons directly.

So Clemmons seemed to have ended things on a positive note with Rogers.

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hubbyofhoarder t1_j28f29u wrote

Clemmons talks about both the gay bar thing, and about realizing what "I love you just the way you are" meant in the documentary "Won't You Be My Neighbor". The whole movie is worth watching, but man, someone was cutting onions in the theater during the segment Clemmons was talking.

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