The Lavender Scare

One of the darkest events in gay history has been brought to light in Johnson’s book. During the late 1940s and ’50s, the Federal Government engaged in a purge of gay men (and women) who worked in its offices by linking them to communism, an association politicians strengthened as the Cold War progressed. Fueled by their lies and guided by FBI Director (and closeted gay) J. Edgar Hoover, the persecution, called the “Lavender Scare,” spread from Washington, D.C. across the U.S. The government-sanctioned homophobia cost thousands their jobs, families, and friends when their sexuality was made public. Some committed suicide.… show more.

 Johnson was among the first historians to demonstrate that the McCarthy-era witch hunts of gay and lesbian federal employees were as virulent and obsessive as the witch hunts of suspected communists. The merciless persecution of government workers suspected of being homosexual led to tragedies of ruined lives and suicides. But, as Johnson shows, it also helped politicize the victims, making them aware of themselves as a gay and lesbian community that must fight for civil rights.

Reds weren’t the scare’s only bogeymen, as historian Johnson makes clear in this best-ever telling of how McCarthy and his fellow travelers used their trademark tactics to ignite and sustain what became known as the Lavender Scare.