Today in Labor History June 15, 1950: As part of their Cold War hysteria, the Senate opened an investigation of 3,500 alleged "sex perverts" (i.e., homosexuals) in the federal government, somehow overlooking their cross-dressing darling in the FBI, J. Edgar Hoover. The investigation was part of the Lavender Scare, or Gay Witch Hunt, that accompanied the Red Scare of the same period, and was led by many of the same players. It was part of a general expansion of the bureaucratic and surveillance state during the mid- to late nineteenth century, much like what we’ve been experiencing since 9/11. Many people lost their jobs during the Lavender Scare. In fact, many more alleged LGBTQ people were targeted and harassed by the witch hunts than alleged Communists.

Frank Kameny was fired from his job as an as an astronomer for the United States Army Map Service in 1957 because of his sexual orientation and could never find another job in the federal government again. He devoted much of the rest of his life to the gay rights movement. In 1965, he picketed the White House for gay rights. He was also one of the founders of the Mattachine Society of Washington in 1960. The Mattachine Society and the Daughters of Bilitis, both predecessors to the modern LGBTQ rights movement, were formed and operated, to a large degree, in response to the repression of the Gay Witch Hunt. Both

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