The Lavender Scare

Civics 101

NHPR

History, Government, Society & Culture

4.2 • 2.6K Ratings

🗓️ 3 January 2023

⏱️ 42 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

You've probably heard about The Red Scare - the panic around the perceived threat of communism during the Cold War. But The Lavender Scare is lesser known. This was a time when the federal government investigated, persecuted and fired thousands of LGBTQ+ employees, calling them security risks and threats to the country. In this episode of Civics 101, we'll dive into the origin and timeline of the Lavender Scare, meet the man who pushed back and started a movement, and learn about the ripple effects we're still seeing today. Guests: Historian Dr. Lillian Faderman, author of Woman: The American History of an Idea Professor David K. Johnson. His book, The Lavender Scare: The Cold War Persecution of Gays and Lesbians in the Federal Government, became the basis for a documentary film that was broadcast nationwide on PBS. Support our work! Click here to make a donation to Civics 101 today. CLICK HERE: Visit our website to see all of our episodes, donate to the podcast, sign up for our newsletter, get free educational materials, and more! To see Civics 101 in book form, check out A User's Guide to Democracy: How America Works by Hannah McCarthy and Nick Capodice, featuring illustrations by Tom Toro. Check out our other weekly NHPR podcast, Outside/In - we think you'll love it! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Just a quick note, this episode includes outdated language that is offensive.
0:04.6	Inik, can you describe for our listeners the video that I'm showing you right now?
0:11.1	Yes, so you've got people picketing in front of Independence Hall in Philadelphia, and
0:16.6	they look like sort of clean-cut people.
0:19.0	They're well groomed.
0:20.9	And they also have signs, signs that say things like sexual preference is irrelevant to employment,
0:26.7	homosexual citizens want equal treatment as human beings.
0:30.5	But it's kind of eerie, Hannah, because nobody's saying anything.
0:34.5	There's no chanting, there's no yelling.
0:36.8	Yeah, this is a silent protest.
0:39.5	The group protesting is part of the Madashine Society.
0:42.7	The founder and leader of the silent protest is that guy wearing the suit and the tie with
0:47.7	the pocket square talking to a reporter.
0:50.3	That's Frank Kammany.
0:51.3	I lived for eight months on 20 cents worth of food a day when I had the 26.
0:57.6	This is at a time when people in my profession were in higher demand and they had been meaning
1:02.0	all human history.
1:03.7	And I could not get a job specifically because I was at 12.
1:07.9	Frank Kammany was very rare in his fighting back against the federal government and his
1:13.6	being fired from his job.
1:16.1	What usually happened when a homosexual, as we were all called, was fired from his job or
1:23.4	her job is that that person would sort of slink off into silence and hope that nobody
	...

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