When the world seems to be flying apart all around us, it’s comforting to view our present from the perspective of the past. It helps us acknowledge all the progress we have made. At the same time, we can grapple with the fact that we keep making the same mistakes over and over again. Thus Trump’s pathetic transgender military ban is simply a callback to the Lavender Scare, when our government persecuted LGBT Americans.
You Heard of the Red Scare, But Did You Know of the Lavender Scare?
Here’s what you probably know about the Red Scare. For much of the 1950s, our very own United States State Department undertook a campaign aimed at public servants with the goal of identifying threats to national security. The tools they used in the investigation included scanning personnel files and arranging clandestine interviews with potential threats. They operated under the guise of keeping America safe.
You’d be right to expect that the government was looking for suspected Communists, this coming on the heels of McCarthyism and heightened public paranoia. You’d also be incorrect. Rather than focus on enemies of the state, our very own government instead put ordinary LGBT Americans in the cross-hairs. And so began an intense campaign of intimidation and public shaming.
Called “immoral” and “perverted” for their sexual orientation, these men and women were pushed out of careers and their livelihoods. The government disapproved of whom they loved. They had their public identities stolen from them because someone, somewhere invalidated them and their ability to contribute.
From the Lavender Scare to Today
It angers me that someone, somewhere felt they had the right to determine another human being’s self-worth. It bothers me that the exact same arguments are peddled out every so often to justify mistreating others. LGBT Americans were no more a threat to “national security” during the Lavender Scare than Transsexual Americans are a threat to “military readiness” today. Different target, same rhetoric.
Past is Prologue, so scare tactics will not overcome the truth. Watch “The Lavender Scare”, learn from the historical narrative and become better equipped to combat the outright aggression and the not-so-subtle discrimination that confront our community.
Learn Everything You Need to Know about The Lavender Scare – LGBT Pride Movie on the GayTucson Calendar!
Have a great day!
Tony Ray 🙂
Tony Ray Baker
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Tony Ray
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