Survey
* Your assessment is very important for improving the workof artificial intelligence, which forms the content of this project
* Your assessment is very important for improving the workof artificial intelligence, which forms the content of this project
LGBT themes in speculative fiction wikipedia , lookup
Gay pornography wikipedia , lookup
Homosexuality wikipedia , lookup
LGBT history wikipedia , lookup
Socialism and LGBT rights wikipedia , lookup
Homosexualities: A Study of Diversity Among Men and Women wikipedia , lookup
Gender roles in non-heterosexual communities wikipedia , lookup
LGBT social movements wikipedia , lookup
Violence against LGBT people wikipedia , lookup
The Lavender Scare; An Historical Look Back at LGBT Militarism By Justin Monaco Teacher, Marie Curie Middle School 158Q Remember when a President of the United States signed an order demanding that all gay and lesbian government employees be fired? Remember when this led to an anti-gay witch hunt conducted in the same era as the Red Scare? Remember when thousands of people lost their jobs because of their sexual orientation? Huh? If you’re scratching your head because you have never heard about this time in history, don’t worry, most people haven’t. But it’s all true! LGBT is frequently ignored in social studies curriculum and in textbooks. If it is acknowledged, it usually begins with the Stonewall Riots. However, one of the most important periods of U.S. LGBT history is rarely discussed: The Lavender Scare. This refers to the persecution of gays from the 1940’s to circa 1969. It was during this period of criminalization that LGBT citizens formed a community and planted the seeds of revolution. Most social studies teachers know the story of Senator Joseph McCarthy and how he set off a “red scare” when he famously charged in 1950 that the U.S. State Department and other government agencies had been infiltrated by communist agents. Few social studies teachers know that McCarthy also charged that the government had been infiltrated by homosexuals, and that they posed a threat equally as grave to national security. This fear that gay men and lesbians could be blackmailed into revealing state secrets resulted in a systematic campaign to identify and remove all government employees suspected of homosexuality. This “lavender scare” permeated American Cold War culture, but it also helped launch a new Civil Rights struggle. In Cold War America, Senator Joseph McCarthy enjoyed tremendous support in the fight in the fight against what he called atheistic communism. That support stemmed less from his wild charges about communists that his more substantiated charges that “sex perverts: had infiltrated government agencies. Although now remembered as an attack on suspected disloyalty, McCarthyism introduced “moral values” into the American political arsenal. Warning of a spreading homosexual menace, McCarthy and his Republican allies learned how to win votes. In 1953, the pressure to strengthen security procedures became codified by newly elected President Eisenhower in an executive order. For the first time, “sexual perversion” was included in the list of behaviors that would exclude one from holding a job with the federal government or receiving a security clearance from a federal contractor. Agencies set up new policies and procedures for detecting and removing men and women suspected of being gay, lesbian, or bisexual. Applicants were personally interviewed to look for subtle signs of homosexuality, such as gender non-conformity. Invoking the notion of “guilt by association”, investigators checked whether an employee’s friends or roommates were gay. Some were placed under surveillance to determine whether they frequented gay bars or associated with “known homosexuals.” Local police agencies were encouraged to clamp down on local gay meeting places and then share their arrest records. Investigators vigorously interrogated civil servants about their private sex lives and offered a “lie-detector” test as one of the only means of establishing their innocence. Thousands lost their jobs or resigned under pressure. A small number were driven to suicide. As McCarthyism died down by the late 1950’s, the Lavender Scare continued in civilian life. Public service announcements that described homosexuals as perverts and pedophiles were shown in schools. The gay and lesbian community found resistance against attempted suppression. The Homophile Movement, which sought to stop the persecution of homosexuals, grew stronger and organizations like the Mattachine Society were formed. During the 1960’s, social movements and politics became more radical and the gay rights movement was not an exception. In 1969, the Stonewall Riots ushered in a new era of gay pride and liberation. By 1969, several U.S. federal courts had ruled that the policies of the Lavender Scare were an infringement on American freedoms. In highly sensitive agencies such as the F.B.I. and the National Security Agency, the ban on gay and lesbian employees would linger into the 1990’s, where President Clinton finally signed executive orders banning discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation in federal hiring practices and in the granting of security clearances. Although, President Clinton rescinded Eisenhower’s policy in 1995, LGBT workplace discrimination is not a story confined to the history book. There are still 29 states where you can be legally fired for being gay. The Lavender Scare shatters the myth that homosexuality has only recently become a national political issue, changing the way we think about both the McCarthy era and the origins of the gay right movement. The Lavender Scare reminds us of how acts taken by the government in the name of ‘national security” during the Cold War resulted in the infringement of the civil liberties of thousands of Americans. We cannot understand McCarthyism or cold war politics without examining the fears of gender and sexual non-conformity that permeated the era. For further reading on this topic, I would like to suggest The Lavender Scare: The Cold War Persecution of Gays and Lesbians in the Federal Government, University of Chicago Press, 2004. By David K. Johnson.