User:Lilstheblueberry/Lavender Scare

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The Lavender Scare was a period of a systematic campaign to identify and purge individuals in the LGBTQ+ community who held a government position. This period happened in the United States in the 1950s which gave a parallel to the Red Scare as they aimed to purge or root out communist individuals. The main themes discussed in Lavender Scare were: discrimination towards the LGBTQ+ community, invasion of privacy, impact on the individual's career as many lost their job, and finally, complex political dynamics of inequality and injustice towards LGBTQ+ as they thought they were more susceptible to the idea of communism.

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Origin

The Lavender Scare occurred in the early years of the Cold War, which is also known for the major paranoia and fear of communism everyone had. During this time, senator Joseph McCarthy launched his infamous campaigns to find those who were deemed to be a national threat to society. This was later known as McCarthyism, according to Oxford Dictionary, McCarthyism was vociferous campaign against alleged communists in the US government and other institutions carried out under Senator Joseph McCarthy in the period 1950–54.

Around March of 1947, the state department deemed homosexuality as an issue, therefore establishing a loyalty program to test their employees and root out any potential threats to society which were mainly those who were part of the LGBTQ+ community. These individuals were often discriminated against as they were labeled as easy to manipulate and they were more vulnerable to the ideology of communism, hence they were a threat to society and needed to be rooted out.

Impact and Resistance

The lavender scare has a huge impact on those participants of the LGBTQ+ communities as they were fired or blacklisted from their jobs. Their careers were destroyed and deemed to be no longer loyal citizens. In addition of their careers being destroyed, these communities were in a constant state of fear and insecurity. They had to choose a life of secrecy as they were afraid to express their true identities.

Although many of the LGBTQ+ members suffered and were oppressed, they courageously formed organizations to fight back and stand ground together towards their oppressors'. One of the greatest influences and voices of the LGBTQ+ members was Frank Kameny. Frank Kameny was once an astronomer, but was let go due to his sexual orientation. He took it upon himself to go against the government and use his name for those who were afraid to speak for themselves. He became an LGBTQ+ activist to help those who also lost their jobs like him, and tried to change many things that were linked to the LGBTQ+ community, such as homosexuality being a mental illness and issues of serving in the military while openly serving as a gay/lesbian soldier.

Lessons learned and Conclusion