[2] Notable as the first documentary program on homosexuality broadcast on American television,[3] KQED first aired the film on September 11, 1961.

Later syndicated to National Educational Television (NET) stations across the United States, it received positive critical reviews.

[3] Reavis and director Richard Christian utilized the talk show format, breaking down the subject matter into a series of smaller topics.

[8] Experts interviewed for the program included: KQED station manager James Day opened the documentary by reading a statement from California's then-Attorney General Stanley Mosk: With all the revulsion that some people feel toward homosexuality, it cannot be dismissed by simply ignoring its presence.

[16] Of the letters KQED received, which numbered in the hundreds,[17] 97% were positive and many of the writers encouraged the station to make more programs like it.

[7] Dorian Book Service of San Francisco published a transcript of The Rejected,[12] and close to 400 people ordered copies.

Some more radical activists, including Frank Kameny and Randy Wicker, found the program wanting for the apologetic tone it took toward homosexuality.

[20] In 2002, the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation presented KQED with the first Pioneer Award, in recognition of its production of The Rejected as the beginning of a long history of LGBT-related programming.

The Library's Recording Laboratory had already remastered the film onto a digital format and provided the San Francisco Bay Area Television Archive with a copy, for the purpose of making it available online.