A Two-Story Thread

Joe McCarthy and Homosexuality; The Lavender Scare and Executive Order 10450

cw: institutionalised homophobia
(1/?)

Before I talk about the Lavender Scare itself, let’s set the stage for how America was at that time.

Homosexuals were technically banned from serving in the Second World War, because homosexuality was deemed as a mental disorder, and thus they were unfit, but because (2/?)

+of human shortages, loopholes were exploited, and many homosexual men and women ended up serving. 2’000 - 5’000 gay men were expected to have been serving at that time. Thus, as early as 1945, the heterosexual dynamic was challenged, accelerated by the war. (3/?)

Now onto the actual Lavender Scare.

In 1950, Guy Gabrielson claimed that ‘sexual perverts’ infiltrated the government, that their presence made them a security risk; as they were more likely to be blackmailed. He added, that they were ‘more dangerous than communists’ (4/?)

McCarthy [left], a senator at the time, hired Roy Cohn [right] (who died of AIDs, and was thought of have been gay), and under the support of F.B.I. head, J. Hoover. Under this, McCarthy launched a smear campaign against homosexuals, leading to primarily, loss of jobs. (5/?)

In 1953, the State Department said it had fired 452 employers for homosexuality. McCarthy was reported to have said; “If you want to be against McCarthy, boys, you've got to be either a Communist or a cocksucker.” He claimed that Communists (6/?)

all had sexual perversion, or that they manipulated homosexuals into becoming spies; as both were morally corrupt, and psychologically weak.

Now Exec. order 10450 (7/?)

Executive Order 10450 was signed by President Eisenhower, setting security standards for federal employment (and thus barring homosexuals from working), and then later on, every department, agency, etc. This caused the firing and outing of 5’000 people. (8/?)

Truman made it worse, you were now allowed to look for signs of ‘homosexuality’ and check that they weren’t attending gay bars, etc.

By mid 1950’s, homosexuals had to sign an oath attesting to moral purity to be able to get a job. (9/?)

Other dates;
1973 - federal rules you cannot fire someone JUST because they’re gay.
1975 - civil service commission announces they might accept homosexual employees.
1995 - exec. order 10450 is partially repealed by Clinton, because of the “don’t ask, don’t tell policy.” (10/?)

The term Lavender Scare was popularised in 2004, by historian David K. Johnson, who wrote a book with that name.

tl;dr, McCarthy initiated a witch hunt against homosexuals who had jobs, leading to unemployment and outing, and that was in effect until 1995.

Thank you all for reading this thread; if you like it, please lmk.

[gif: the pride flag waving]