Senators Kenneth Wherry and Joseph McCarthy
Herbert K. White/Associated Press
The Lavender Scare:
The Hunt for Homosexuals and Their Fight For Rights
Senator McCarthy's Cases
“If you had been in this work as long as we have been, you would realize that there is something wrong with each one of these individuals. You will find, that practically every active Communist is twisted mentally or physically in some way.”
-Senator Joseph McCarthy
A Republican senator for Wisconsin named Joseph McCarthy was influenced by the cold war hysteria. Senator McCarthy was determined to rid the government of potential “communist infiltrators”. On February 20th, 1950 McCarthy gave a case-by-case speech about “81 loyalty risks” in the State Department (Johnson 15-16). These cases described individuals who have been deemed a threat to diplomacy because of their potential link to communism. In Case No. 14, McCarthy linked a homosexual man to communism by claiming he was involved with a communist organization. In Case No. 62, McCarthy linked a group of homosexual men to communist organizations. This link created the hysteria that homosexual government workers could not be trusted (Adkins).
Sign promoting Senator McCarthy. Wisconsin Hisotrical Society.
Image of John Peurifoy, who admitted to firing homosexual workers due to their moral "perversion".
John Peurifoy, 1905-1945, Library of Congress
These cases led to the questioning of the U.S. State Department. During this questioning, Deputy Under Secretary John Peurifoy revealed that the department had dismissed ninety-one homosexuals. This struck debate and arguments further solidifying the link between homosexuality and communism. This connection created the idea that LGBTQ+ people holding government positions were a danger to the safety of Americans and American diplomacy (Weiss et al. 56-60). The hunt for communists now became a hunt for homosexuals.