A listener note. This episode contains references to suicide. It may not be suitable for all audiences.

It's April 15, 1972, in the ballroom of the Hilton Hotel in New York City.

At the doorway of the chandeliered room, 31-year-old Morty Manford watches as a comedian on stage performs routine featuring an offensive, limp-risted caricature of a gay man.

Room erupts with laughter.

But as the president of the Gay Activistists Alliance, Morty doesn't find the performance

funny at all, and he's here to put a stop to it. Every year, New York's political reporters

hold a gala dinner at the Hilton. They usually invite city leaders, union chiefs, and top officers

from the New York Police Department to join them. But a few weeks ago, the gay activists' alliance was tipped off

that the post-dinner entertainment this year would be filled with homophobic jokes and insults,

and after watching just the first performer, Mory realizes the information was right.

He pulls out a bullhorn he's been discreetly hiding behind his back,

then walks into the room along with a dozen followers.

While Morty shouts through the bullhorn that homophobia will not be tolerated in New York City,

the other members of the Gay Activists' Alliance spread out to distribute flyers,

accusing the media in New York City government of discriminating

against gay people. It doesn't take long for the activists and dinner guests to begin scuffling.

And when one protester scrambles up on stage to grab the microphone, the comedian pushes him

hard. To Morty's horror, fights are breaking out all over the room. But before he can do anything

to stop them, Morty himself has grabbed violently about the chest, yankton's in the air, and then

drag towards the door. Outside the New York Hilton, Morty Manford is subjected to a vicious beating.

The attack is witnessed by several serving police officers, but none of them steps in to defend

Morty, nor do any of them speak up afterwards. The man accused of the attack will be acquitted

...