Lavenr Sre: The Government’s Gay Wch Hunt

Contents:

• YOU'VE PROBABLY HEARD OF THE RED SRE, BUT THE LSER-KNOWN, ANTI-GAY 'LAVENR SRE' IS RARELY TGHT SCHOOLS
• LAVENR SRE: THE GOVERNMENT’S GAY WCH HUNT
• THE LAVENR SRE: THE U.S. GOVERNMENT’S ANTI-GAY PURGE
• THE ERA WHEN GAY SPI WERE FEARED
• I'M AAID THAT I'M GAY
• GAY HISTORY: 9 THGS TO KNOW ABOUT ‘THE LAVENR SRE’
• 10 ANTI-GAY MYTHS DEBUNKED

YOU'VE PROBABLY HEARD OF THE RED SRE, BUT THE LSER-KNOWN, ANTI-GAY 'LAVENR SRE' IS RARELY TGHT SCHOOLS

Known as the “Lavenr Sre, ” the policy was based on the unfound fear that gay men and lbians “posed a threat to natnal secury bee they were vulnerable to blackmail and were nsired to have weak moral characters, ” says historian David K.

LAVENR SRE: THE GOVERNMENT’S GAY WCH HUNT

Joseph McCarthy’s fear-mongerg “Red Sre” mpaign the early 1950s, which targeted alleged subversive munists workg the feral ernment, thoands of ernment employe were forced out of their jobs as a rult of the anti-gay policy.

THE LAVENR SRE: THE U.S. GOVERNMENT’S ANTI-GAY PURGE

Johnson timat that somewhere between 5, 000 and 10, 000 people lost their jobs as a rult of the Lavenr Sre, although is difficult to know the te number of people affected, as the policy acted as a terrent to any gay man or lbian woman who would have been prospective ndidat for ernment jobs. Acrdg to a 1983 oral history terview wh drag kg Rty Brown, who served the Navy, the fear went even beyond Washgton, permeatg the entertament dtry Hollywood and the bars and nightclubs New York Cy, as people were aaid they would be fired if their employers found out they were gay. And although 1975 the Civil Service Commissn announced new l that meant gay people uld no longer be barred or fired om feral employment bee of their sexualy, discrimatn ntued other agenci where employe had secury clearance, like the NSA, where Shoemaker worked.

And although Pete Buttigieg was recently announced as print-elect Joe Bin’s pick for Transportatn Secretary, which would make him the first openly gay Cabet member, discrimatn agast members of the LGBTQ muny is still prent current U.

Kameny wasn’t the only person galvanized by the public targetg of LGBT people— 1969, the Stonewall Rts ma gay rights a ont-page issue, and the movement Kameny helped start and the Lavenr Sre helped foment has flourished ever sce.

THE ERA WHEN GAY SPI WERE FEARED

Only the 1970s was the ban on gay telligence muny members relaxed, and took until 1995 for another executive orr, signed by Print Bill Clton, to explicly state that the ernment may not discrimate based on sexual orientatn when to grantg accs to classified rmatn.

The term Lavenr Sre refers to the intifitn and firg of some 5, 000 homosexual people om the US ernment between 1950 and Lavenr Sre was nnected to Senator Joseph McCarthy’s Red Sre heargs tend to purge munists and munist sympathizers om ernment.

Though most feral agenci reversed their polici on LGBTQ discrimatn employment after the 1973 urt orr, the FBI and Natnal Secury Agency ntued their bans agast homosexuals until Print Clton overturned them 1995. In 2009, Frank Kameny returned to the Whe Hoe, this time at the vatn of Print Barack Obama for a ceremony observg the signg of an executive orr extendg the rights of gay feral employe to receive full feral benefs. Jt over a week later, Deputy Unrsecretary of State John Prifoy, ttifyg before a submtee of the Senate Commtee on Appropriatns, revealed that the State Department had oted 91 homosexual employe as secury risks.

I'M AAID THAT I'M GAY

In rponse to Wherry and Hill's remendatns, rolved on June 7, 1950, to unrtake a thorough, prehensive vtigatn of "the alleged employment by the partments and agenci of the Government of homosexuals and other moral perverts.

The staff first ntacted a wi range of feral agenci to ascerta the number of spected homosexuals vtigated or removed om employment and to quire about the agency's related polici and procr and s general stance on the suabily of gay employe. "Sce is possible, acrdg to our unrstandg of medil and psychiatric opn on the subject, for a homosexual to lead a normal, well-adjted life, we do not nsir that such a person necsarily nstut a bad secury risk. Staff vtigators wrote to and terviewed proment psychiatrists and other medil thori to ascerta whether homosexuals uld be tected through psychiatric examatn, whether and how they uld be cured, whether they lacked the emotnal stabily necsary for ernment service, whether they tend to sce younger men and women, and whether would be helpful to have psychiatrists on personnel boards charged wh intifyg homosexuals.

GAY HISTORY: 9 THGS TO KNOW ABOUT ‘THE LAVENR SRE’

Acrdg to Thomas Qun, associate judge of the municipal urt, the Hoey mtee's Flanagan met early Augt wh Gee Barse, chief judge of the municipal urt, "wh regard to homosexual s, and wh particular regard to the matter of forfeur. " In his November 30 reply to Hoey, Ford ncurred wh the chairman's suggtn that, henceforth, FBI rmatn about any Hoe or Senate employee arrted on charg of homosexualy should be forward to the chair of that chamber's mtee on admistratn.

10 ANTI-GAY MYTHS DEBUNKED

Although the "revolutn" was of a different sort than Ra (or McCarthy) imaged, Kameny and his fellow activists, unr the prsure of risg discrimatn, brought about their own kd of revolutn: a changed world for gay feral workers.

Charl, Hoover's War on Gays: Exposg the FBI’s "Sex Deviat" Program (2015); Lillian Farman, The Gay Revolutn: The Story of the Stggle (2015); Lda Hirshman, Victory: The Triumphant Gay Revolutn (2012); and Michael G.