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The Lavender Scare: How the Federal Government Purged Gay Employees


Steve

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You may have heard of the "Red Scare" of the 1950s – the fear stoked by Republican Senator Joseph McCarthy that Communists had infested the federal government. Accused State Department employees would be interviewed for the purpose of acquiring information concerning others. "That was the technique that was used by the government: grab one person, and then get that person to inform on other people," said filmmaker Josh Howard.

But a panic of a different shade led to a much wider purge of gay employees. "Homosexuals must not be handling top-secret material," McCarthy said. "The pervert is easy prey to the blackmailer."

The panic long outlasted McCarthy's tenure.

David K. Johnson is the author of the definitive history of what's come to be known as the "Lavender Scare." He defined it as "a fear that permeated Cold War political culture, this fear that gay people were a threat to national security, that they had infiltrated the federal government, and that they needed to be systematically removed from government service."

The rooting-out of homosexual employees became official policy with an executive order signed by newly-elected President Dwight D. Eisenhower in 1953.

"This is a guy who understood firsthand a real threat," said correspondent Mo Rocca. "I mean, he's the Supreme Allied Commander in World War II, so you would think he would understand a real threat."

"Well, I think he did," said Johnson. "I think he probably didn't see this as a real threat, but he saw that it won elections."

"That it was expedient, politically?"

"It was part of their campaign, right. 'Let's clean house.' Let's get rid of all these people."

Howard, formerly of CBS News, has produced and directed a new documentary, soon to air on PBS, about the Lavender Scare. He said there's a good reason probably you don't know about this chapter in history.

"The Lavender Scare happened in private," Howard said. "The people who were being fired didn't want to tell their closest friends and relatives why they had been fired, because they wanted to stay in the closet.

"If you were found out to be gay in those years, your life was essentially over. You were shunned by society. You were shunned in the workplace. It's the reason people were in the closet in the 1950s."

Even in private homes, gay people were not safe from investigators. 

Bob Cantillion, a Navy serviceman, was told to report to the police station for interrogation. He recalled in the documentary, "At Christmastime, some friends were having a party. Somebody must have tipped them off that there was a party where gay people were going to be.

"I freely admitted that I was gay. And then they said, 'We also want five names of other people you know.'  So, I searched my mind and I gave them the names of five people I thought would be least hurt. My impression was that after I named the five names, they'd let me go and nothing else would happen after that. But then we were all discharged."

Rocca asked, "Was there any due process? I mean, could you call a lawyer?"

"You could not bring in an attorney, no, wasn't allowed," said Johnson.

"You were just forced to answer yes or no, to confess?"

"Right. The security officials boasted that gay people very easily confessed and told the truth. What they don't talk about is the fact that they essentially blackmailed people. They threatened to tell their families. So, a lot of gay people quietly resigned."

Johnson estimates that between 5,000 to 10,000 people were fired or resigned, and we'll never know how many didn't pursue their dreams for fear of exposure. 

Navy Captain Joan Cassidy came from a family of proud veterans. She had a shot at becoming the first female admiral. "I couldn't do it, I just couldn't do it," she said. "It was too big a chance to take. So, I had to give up the possibility of admiral because I was gay and because I wasn't sure I could hide it well enough."

Other stories ended in the worst possible way. Drew Ference, the son of immigrants, spoke five languages and was serving in the U.S. Embassy in Paris when investigators confronted him with evidence that he was gay. Shortly after confessing, he killed himself. 

He wasn't the only one.

Johnson said, "I saw lots of news reports, newspaper reports, of single young men, government employees, who committed suicide in Washington for no apparent reason."

"No one was defending gay people," said Howard. "The Democrats stayed away from this issue. At the time, the ACLU believed it was perfectly legitimate for the government to fire homosexuals as a threat to national security."

The persecution of homosexual public servants gave rise to the gay rights movement in the pugnacious person of Frank Kameny, a Ph.D. from Harvard and an astronomer with the U.S. Army Map Service. He was fired in 1957 for being gay.  In the documentary he declared, "To the best of my knowledge and belief, I was the first person to fight back out of all those large number of people who were fired in the '50s."

According to Johnson, Kameny says that "this issue is not about national security, it's not even about morality. It's about civil rights. He creates this new rhetoric. He calls himself and his colleagues in the group 'homosexual American citizens,' and that you can't forget either part of that."

In 1963, he became the first openly gay person to testify on Capitol Hill.

Then in 1965, he organized picket lines in front of the State Department and the White House. He told CBS News then, "Every American citizen has the right to be considered by his government on the basis of his own person merits as an individual."

"Those folks were very courageous," Johnson said. "It had never been done before, and they were scared to death."

But the discriminatory policy continued. In 1980, Jamie Shoemaker worked for the National Security Agency as a linguist. When asked what kind of security clearance he had, Shoemaker said, "Very high. Probably more than the president has, actually. You might be surprised."

One day, his supervisor told him that security wanted to question him: "And the first thing they said was, 'Mr. Shoemaker, we understand you're leading a gay lifestyle.' And I said, well, I didn't think I was leading it, but I said, 'Yes. I am.' And immediately they took my badge off. And they read me my rights."

And so, he called Frank Kameny. Shoemaker recalled, "He yelled at me and said, 'Why did you let them take your badge? And why didn't you shut your mouth?'"

Six months later, with Kameny's help, Shoemaker made headlines when the agency allowed him to keep his job, and his security clearance.

In 1995, after 42 years, the last vestiges of Eisenhower's executive order were finally overturned, when President Bill Clinton signed an executive order rescinding the policy.

Rocca asked, "How many gay federal employees actually spied for foreign governments?"

"There was not a single example of a gay man or a lesbian who ever submitted to blackmail by a foreign agent, not a single one," said Howard.

In 2009, Frank Kameny was back at the White House, this time invited by President Barack Obama for a ceremony extending the rights of gay federal employees. 

Kameny died in 2011, not long after being interviewed by Josh Howard, who said there are still lessons to be learned from Kameny's courage:

"I grew up in a time before there was marriage equality and before Stonewall," Howard said. "So, I'm in some ways envious of younger people, that they are growing up in a more tolerant society. But I also hope that they understand that equality is not a given, that there are people who fought and sacrificed for those accomplishments."

 

 

 

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Edited by Steve
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I enlisted when I was 19 serving in the US Navy as a Hospital Corpsman from 1983-1989.

Long before DADT. There were so many things we did to avoid being questioned by Naval Intelligence.

You had to hang out with straight guys and comment on tits and ass, look at straight porn, etc.

I'm black and my curly hair helped because I could pat it down then get it trimmed to military length. When I went out to a gay bar, I simply combed it out.

Kept my Texas DL on me and never went on leave stateside with it on my person. 

Only used temporary military placards on my vehicles. Just a simple card that laid on my dash. That way my car wasn't stickered and I never parked anywhere close to bar or house party. 

Thank God this was eons before social media so we never took pictures.

Got approved for the Bachelor's Allowance for Quarters stipend after my dad died suddenly. His brother lived in San Diego where I was stationed. My lover was an Army vet. I have his address as my uncles saying my father was part owner of the house and I inherited his part.

The more time you spent on base without being seen with a girl, engaged, or married, the harder the command looked at you. It was totally worth driving from San Diego to Camp Pendleton daily for that peace of mind. 

Overseas, we'd publicly hang with the heteros, then quietly slip away and meet up at a gay bar off the beaten path of Navy Shore Patrol. We depended on plants within the patrol for a heads up on the spots they were planning to hit each evening.

Once I let a friend borrow my car and he got busted. He was white and his fresh haircut helped them identify him and he parked in the lot of a gay bar.

When questioned, the only thing I said was that he was a fellow corpsman who asked to rent my car and I let him. I denied having any knowledge of his personal life. 

They never asked me about my personal life or pressed me any further however Texas State Representative, now Congresswoman Eddie Bernice Johnson, was a best friend and AKA sorority sister of my late mothers. When I enlisted she made calls on my behalf.

He went to captain's mast and we never saw him on base again...

I would have made a career out of it if there weren't such witch hunts.

Even in my civilian nursing career at a VA Hospital, discrimination against gays was present.

My heartfelt symparhy, respect and appreciation to the men and women who stood up to and fought back against sexual discrimination. Especially those who refused to name names.

 

My grandmother used to say;

"Derric, if you don't stand for something, you'll fall for anything."

 

 

Edited by Solemandd67
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Hi Solemandd67

Thank to for sharing such a personal story.  I know that after watching the film, and talking to the director, how difficult a time that was for gays and lesbians.  I honor your strength, and send compassion for how much you had to hide who you are.

Kindest....

Jerry

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Hi Jerry.

My hope for humanity is that we continue to educate ourselves of the sacrifices our individual and collective forebears have made by paving the rough road toward freedom and justice for all and that we continue to celebrate those victories while we march beside them both physically and spiritually.

 

Thank you for acknowledging my service, those who served with me, and providing the website link to The Lavender Scare.💯

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i know i don`t live under a rock, but i never heard of the lavender scare until just now!! i never knew anyone in the military, and because i never came out until i was 32, i was not familiar with gay society in its many forms. i have a great respect for anyone who joins the armed forces, and even more so if they were gay. i cannot image the fear of having to hide your sexuality as a result. if we ever met, i'd love to give you a big hug, and thank you for your service, Solemanndd67!!! and to anyone else who has served their country, because in my eye you are fighting for the freedom everyone in the world lives by!! thank you for sharing your story with us, with love from Wes!! Hugs!!! 

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Hi Bakersman,

President Obama for signed the executive order ending DADT in 12/2010 although it didn't go into effect until 9/20/2011. Officially it hasn't been 10 years yet. 

No one should face discrimination based on their race, sexual orientation, anything. If you meet the qualifications to do the job and do it successfully, everything else should be ignored.

I believe those who were dishonorably discharged for being gay should be publicly apologized to, financially compensated and those discriminatory discharges changed to honorable....after Black Americans are publicly apologized to and receive financial compensation for the discrimination we still face.

I wont hold my breath for either but it's worth a fight. 

Imagine being a black gay man, having served your country honorably and now seeing the level of racism and that has been simmering, literally blow up everywhere around you. Not to mention the attempted rollbacks of sexual orientation protections under Turd....and how close this past election was is a slap in the face.

Thank you for the acknowledgement. I hope my military service and the service of others before, alongside, and after me will inspire decent Americans to educate themselves about the struggles of those who are different and actively end discrimination everywhere.

Our survival depends on it. 

 

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Hi JoelR,

I don't know if your question was directed to me, but here's my answer in case it was.

I think its probably more surface than actual improvement and this is why.

Notice that after President Obama rescinded DADT, Turd comes in and starts to trying chip away at transgender rights to serve. No one addressed this issue. Although not everyone may understand transgender people, it bears remembering that not everyone understood gay people for a long time and some still dont.

Basic human tights aren't given, they are fought for. At every level, no matter what rights were beautifully written, with a quill pen, on a parchment scroll, some group, somewhere, challenged those basic human rights of people they considered themselves superior to, and in many instances superiors resorted to intimidation including violence and murder.

That caused marginalized citizens to courageously come together to collectively defend their humanity and the humanity of those coming behind them. Many died so others could access the implemented rights of basic humanity. 

America was built on intimidation, violence and murder. From Native Americans, African Americans, Women, LGBTQ Americans etc. Every group that isn't part of the white male majority has had to fight for the implementation of their basic humanity.

Yes the Constitution and Bill of Rights said yada, yada, yada but that quill shit fell on deaf ears if you werent part of the majority and tried to vote, find a job, live in better neighborhoods, travel safely etc.

The military and civil service are just a mirror of the political climate of our country. The president is the commander in chief of all military branches and sets the tone for how the Uniform Code of Military Justice is enforced or abused.

If your base commander, admiral, or chief is ultra conservative and the president is too, few under him will challenge him if he decides to weed out gay service members. They won't write that they are lowering your military evaluations because you're gay. They'll nitpick your performance, deny requests to transfer, leaves and other things to make you miserable.

Discrimination exists because a hater or a group of them has the internal need to feel good by making those who are different from them feel bad.

Look at the faces of those in command, who hold and have held power both inside and outside the military for years. How much racial or sexual diversity do you see?

I am not saying all white heterosexual males are incapable of being ethical.

I am saying diversity at all levels helps keep everyone in check and balances out power structures by extension anywhere you exist, especially when you are not part of the majority. Representation matters. 

The mere fact that Turd was able to negatively focus on transgender rights, means gay rights were coming up for the ax too. If the haters come for your neighbor today, they'll be breaking down your door tomorrow unless you align with them. That's the mob majority mentality.

Notice that not one military official publicly said "Wait Mr. President. We can't say transgender can't serve in the military because gay service members have been great service members and we had a misguided belief about them being fit for years. Let's at least study the matter or form a research committee."

A second look at those in power tells you why no military member publicly challenged Turd: Good old boys club. 

On so many levels Turd has promoted very deep and vile divisions and Turd gained strong military support.....

I'd say gay service members have seen an increase in discrimination just like everyone else. We may not hear of the incidents for some time because there hasn't even been an official transfer of power and so many conservatives politicians refuse to acknowledge Biden/Harris won the election but fear and intimidation is an old majority mob tactic used to suppress and control different Americans for eons.

Edited by Solemandd67
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