After years of progrs on gay rights, how did the US bee so anti-LGBTQ+? | US news | The Guardian

Contents:

• J. EDGAR HOOVER: GAY OR JT A MAN WHO HAS SEX WH MEN?
• SPYG BEFORE STONEWALL: HOW THE FBI SECRETLY TRACKED GAY ACTIVISTS THE 60S
• GAYS HAVE TAKEN OVER THE FBI!
• AFTER YEARS OF PROGRS ON GAY RIGHTS, HOW DID THE US BEE SO ANTI-LGBTQ+?

J. EDGAR HOOVER: GAY OR JT A MAN WHO HAS SEX WH MEN?

FBI rerds released recently unr the Freedom of Informatn Act reveal, for the first time, what fueled his fixatn: Hoover was nvced — mistakenly — that Nelson planned to wre that the FBI director was homosexual. "I fied him to produce any rmant who would stare me the face or who would stare Jack Nelson the face and say that Jack Nelson had on any ocsn timated that Hoover was a homosexual, " Kraslow wrote.

Earlier that year, the Amerin Psychiatric Associatn’s manual had classified homosexualy as a kd of madns, and Republin senators had charged that homosexualy the Tman admistratn was a natnal secury threat.

Chapter 3 — The Story of Charlie BakerIn the mid-1960s, after a top ai to Print Lyndon Johnson was arrted for havg oral sex a YMCA bathroom, there was a new crackdown to ferret out gays workg for the ernment. His book, Hoover’s War on Gays, is the first to fully expose the extraordary vasn of US cizens' privacy perpetrated on a historic sle by an stutn tasked wh protectg Amerin much of the twentieth century, when exposure might mean nothg short of , gay Amerin men and women had much to fear om law enforcement of every kd—but none so much as the FBI, wh s exhstible feral rourc, nnectns, and s refully crafted reputatn for ethil, by-the-book operatns.

SPYG BEFORE STONEWALL: HOW THE FBI SECRETLY TRACKED GAY ACTIVISTS THE 60S

What Hoover’s War on Gays reveals, rather, is the FBI’s distctly uhil, off-the-books long-term targetg of gay men and women and their anizatns unr ver of "official" ratnale—such as spicn of crimal activy or vulnerabily to blackmail and fluence. The book offers a wi-sle view of this policy and practice, om a notor child kidnappg and murr of the 1930s (ostensibly by a sexual predator wh homosexual tennci), tg the public about the threat of "viat, " through WWII's secury ncerns about homosexuals who might be promised by the enemy, to the Cold War's "Lavenr Sre" when any and all gays workg for the US ernment shared the fate of spected Communist sympathizers. 1951, May: Joseph Bryan II and Rumors of Hoover's HomosexualyThis month Joseph Bryan II, then an agent wh the CIA's psychologil warfare divisn, for some reason received CIA and FBI thorizatn to review the FBI's Obscene File.

This cint spired the novel and motn picture Advise and Consent  which the blackmailer of the Senator wh a homosexual cint his past is a left-leang member of the Senate - ignorg the fact that the actual blackmailers belonged to the Republin Party. 1958A Florida Legislative Commtee ("The Johns Commtee") began terrogatg spected homosexuals among stunts and faculty on Florida mp before the Legislature gave specific thorizatn for the vtigatn of homosexuals.

GAYS HAVE TAKEN OVER THE FBI!

Parts 2, 3, 28, 33, 36, 39 of 42 refer to "homosexual" 3 of 42 refers to "homosexuals" 20 of 42 refers to "homosexuals" 29 of 42 refers to "homosexuals" 14 of 42 refers to "homosexuals" 25 of 42 refers to "homosexuals" 38 of 42 refers to "homosexuals" 4 of 42 refers to "homosexuals" 15 of 42 refers to "homosexuals".

AFTER YEARS OF PROGRS ON GAY RIGHTS, HOW DID THE US BEE SO ANTI-LGBTQ+?

Spe and ContentThe general spe and ntent of this llectn is extensive pi of papers llected on or about the var Mattache Society, Gay Liberatn Front, the North Amerin Conference of Homophile Organizatns, the Natnal Plang Conference of Homophile Organizatnal the Wtern Conference of Homophile Organizatns and their activi over the years 1953 - 1970's. Florida Legislative Commtee ("The Johns Commtee")[4]The Johns Commtee begun terrogatg spected homosexuals among stunts and faculty on Florida mp before the Legislature gave specific thorizatn for the vtigatn of homosexuals. In 1961, the Legislature directed the Johns Commtee to broan s vtigatns to clu homosexuals and the "extent of [their] filtratn to agenci supported by state funds, " particularly at state lleg and universi such as the Universy of Florida, Florida State Universy, and the Universy of South Florida.

Havg the power to subpoena wns, take sworn ttimony, and employ secret rmants, the mtee spread terror among the closeted lbian and gay populatn state lleg, often g uniformed policemen to pull stunts and profsors out of class for terrogatn. Webse: "This Civil Rights anizatn origated [sic] at Oh State Universy the 1970's and had several other Chapters throughout the Uned Stat, which were ncerned wh equal rights for gays and lbians. Hay and Geer participated a k strike Los Angel, where Hay was first exposed to radil gay activism the person of "Clarabelle, " a drag queen who held urt the Bunker Hill neighborhood, who hid Hay om police.