- Lavender scare
The Lavender Scare refers to the fear and persecution of
homosexual s in the fifties that paralleled the anti-communist Red Scare. Because the psychiatric community regarded homosexuality as amental illness , gay men and lesbians were considered susceptible toblackmail , thus constituting a “security risk.” In 1950, the same year that SenatorJoseph McCarthy claimed 205 communists were hiding in the State Department, John Puerifory, the Undersecretary of state claimed that there was a "homosexual underground" in the State Department, so [http://www.writing.upenn.edu/~afilreis/50s/gays-in-govt.html] the government fired 91 homosexual employees for security reasons. [Representative Miller (NE). [http://www.writing.upenn.edu/~afilreis/50s/gays-in-govt.html "Homosexuals in Government."] "Congressional Record" 96:4 (March 29 ,1950 ) p. H4527.] [ [http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,807544,00.html Smiling Jack] , Time in partnership withCNN , (August 22 ,1955 ).] Because most homosexuals in the 1950s were not "out" and some were married, McCarthey assumed that communists would blackmail homosexuals in the federal government and force them into giving secret information on the US government. [http://www.glapn.org/sodomylaws/usa/usnews098.htm]Ironically (but not publicly known until decades later), McCarthy hired as chief counsel of his Congressional subcommittee a
closeted homosexual,Roy Cohn . Together, McCarthy and Cohn were responsible for the firing of scores of gay men from government employment, some of whom lost their homes and their families; some even committed suicide. There was also a rumor about McCarthy and Cohn having a homosexual relationship, but there are no written facts.Several causes for the Lavender Scare have been suggested, including the growing visibility of homosexuality, shifts in conspiracy thinking, a perceived crisis in American
masculinity , and political efforts to root outNew Deal conservatives. They also considered homosexuality as unmoral as communism. Because homosexuals were so secretive and would hang out in closed groups they were tagged as being equal and as shameful as communist partisans.The term for this persecution was popularized by
David K. Johnson based on the association of the color lavender with homosexuality,cite book|last=Johnson |first=David K. |title=The Lavender Scare: The Cold War Persecution of Gays and Lesbians in the Federal Government |publisher=University of Chicago Press |date=2004 |id= ISBN 0226401901 ] and is used in his bookee also
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Florida Legislative Investigation Committee
*Roy Cohn#Private life and death References
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