The Lavender Scare

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The Lavender Scare is the first documentary film to tell the little-known story of an unrelenting campaign by the federal government to identify and fire all employees suspected of being homosexual.

In 1953, President Eisenhower declared gay men and lesbians to be a threat to the security of the country and therefore unfit for government service. In doing so, he triggered the longest witch hunt in American history. Over the next four decades, tens of thousands of government workers would lose their jobs for no reason other than their sexual orientation. But the actions of the government had an unintended effect: they inadvertently helped ignite the gay rights movement.

In 1957, after thousands had lost their jobs, a Harvard-trained astronomer named Frank Kameny became the first person to fight his dismissal. His attempts to regain his job evolved into a lifelong fight for the rights of LGBTQ people. The Lavender Scare is a compelling story of one man’s fight for justice. And it is a chilling reminder of how easy it can be, during a time of fear and uncertainty, to trample the rights of an entire class of people in the name of patriotism and national security.

A MARC record for this title is not available yet.

Keywords

LGBT,LGBTQ,LGBTQ+,LGBTQIA,LGBTQIA+,LGBTQ rights,history,american history,Lavender Scare,Dwight Eisenhower,President Eisenhower,gay,lesbian,government persecution,national security,discrimination,homophobia,witch hunt,gay rights movement,sexual orientation,civil rights,documentary,Frank Kameny,1950s history

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(dramatic orchestral music)

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[Voiceover] Dear mother.

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I received your very welcome
letter of last Sunday.

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I hadn't told you about my work situation

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because I didn't want you to worry.

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The fact is, I was fired
not because of a judgment

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upon me as an individual,

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but a judgment against an
entire group of people.

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I'm certain you would agree
that every American citizen

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has the right to be
considered on the basis

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of his own personal merit.

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I am a homosexual American citizen.

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Before I leave this earth,

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I assure you that I will see to it

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that the second and third
words of that phrase,

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American citizen,

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are no longer ignored in
regard to people like me.

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That is all for now.

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I have about 16 more letters to write,

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so I'll close.

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With much love, Franklin.

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- [Man] Mr. Speaker,

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the President of the United States.

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(audience applauding)

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- [Narrator] Soon after
taking office in 1953,

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President Dwight Eisenhower
ordered the firing

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of all homosexuals working
for the U.S. government.

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- Under the standards established

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by the new employee security program,

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more than 2,200 employees
have been separated

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from the Federal government.

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Our national security demands
that the investigation

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of new employees, and the evaluation

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of derogatory information
respecting present employees,

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be expedited and concluded,
at the earliest possible date.

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(audience applauding)

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- [Narrator] The United States was gripped

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in the panic of the Cold War.

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There were fears that Soviet spies

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had infiltrated the government,

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and that gay men and
lesbians could be blackmailed

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into betraying national secrets.

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- [Joseph McCarthy]
Homosexuals must not be

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handling top secret material.

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(audience applauding)

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The pervert is easy
prey to the blackmailer.

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- In fact, nobody could
point to a single example

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of a gay or lesbian person who
had betrayed their government

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under threat of blackmail.
Not a single one.

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And yet, the effect of
Eisenhower's executive order

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is to begin a systematic campaign

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throughout government agencies

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to identify and remove homosexuals.

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(dramatic orchestral music)

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- Since it was not difficult,
once you got started,

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to identify some of these homosexuals

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who no longer belonged in the department,

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we were able to move
on them fairly quickly.

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And it was quite easy to get
them to agree to just go away.

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They didn't want to ruin their lives

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by being overtly exposed and discharged.

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They were quite happy to resign quietly.

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(dramatic orchestral music)

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- [Voiceover] I remember
it was springtime,

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but it was already so hot
and sticky in Washington.

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And I was sitting at
my desk, and I look up

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and there are these
two men standing there.

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And they show me their badges,

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they're FBI agents, and they say,

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"Madeleine Tress! Please come with us."

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- [Voiceover] FBI field report.

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Subject, Madeleine Tress.

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Born, Brooklyn, New York.

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Parents divorced.

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Attended Erasmus Hall
High School, IQ, 124.

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College, Georgetown University.

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Employed as economist, U.S.
Department of Commerce.

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- [Voiceover] They just sit you in a room,

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and there are these two
agents, these sons of bitches.

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And first thing, they put
you under oath, you know,

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"You swear to tell the
truth," and all that.

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And they just start in.

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And they say they have
evidence I'm a lesbian.

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- [Voiceover] Subject identified during

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routine surveillance

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of establishments catering
to known homosexuals.

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According to informant, subject frequents

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the Red Skin Lounge in Washington DC

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for the purpose of making
contacts for sexual gratification.

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- [Voiceover] And then they say,

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"How do you like having sex with women?"

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And, "You never had it so good
until you get it from a man."

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It was the most demeaning thing.

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- [Voiceover] Confidential
informant describes subject as

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"Not at all feminine,
looks and acts very manish,

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uses very little lipstick,
wears severely tailored suits."

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- [Voiceover] And you're thinking,

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who told them all this,
how do they know all this?

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Years later, when they made it

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so you could get your FBI file,

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I found out, it was this thick.

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I was just 24, 25 years old.

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This was my first job,

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my first real job, right out of college.

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Working in Washington was what I always,

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always wanted to do.

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But my career was over before it began.

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- In this era, gay men and
lesbians are trying very hard

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not to be visible and
noticed in any way at all.

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They're leading double lives.

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There's a wall of secrecy
that separates their sexuality

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from the rest of their lives.

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But the government is
saying, "We will find you."

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(dramatic orchestral music)

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- Throughout my whole career,

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we spent a good part of our
time in identifying homosexuals.

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We looked at every part
of the person's life.

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It was an extensive investigation.

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We spoke to their current supervisors,

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their fellow employees.

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Just about everyone in
his whole life, you know,

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his minister, his church.

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You'd almost set up a schematic, you know,

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here's John here and he's a homosexual,

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and he was a fraternity
brother of so‐and‐so

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who was a homosexual
and he knew so‐and‐so,

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and your employee knew these people

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and he socialized with these people.

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So you set these kind of things up,

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it gave you an indication
that there was some kind

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of a connection between these people.

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And if we ran across a heterosexual

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who knew and associated
with the homosexual

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we'd have a question about
the heterosexual person.

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And we'd look into that.

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It was just like a police department

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would investigate murders,
this type of thing.

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You had to put little pieces together.

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And this is what we did.

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You really knew something about a person,

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when the full field
investigation was concluded,

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you had a pretty good
picture of the person.

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(light orchestral music)

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- I was born in Nashua, New Hampshire.

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I was raised in Milford, New Hampshire.

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Very, very small New England
towns, extremely small.

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- [Voiceover] Name, Carl Rizzi.

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Veteran, U.S. Navy, honorable discharge.

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Employment, secretary, U.S.
Post Office Department.

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- I enjoyed it there.

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I was very happy there
at the Postal Service.

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And I progressed through the
ranks and through the years.

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And one day I was just
minding my business at work.

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And two men came in, coat and tie.

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I asked 'em if I could help them.

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They showed me their badges.

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They were Postal Inspectors,
the dreaded Postal Inspector.

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They said they wanted to talk to me

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and would I come with them?

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Well, you know, you have no choice.

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- [Voiceover] Confidential
informant believes subject

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to be a homosexual.

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- I had been going down to this place

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called the Gold Key Club at North Beach.

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And on Sunday afternoons,
they had a drag show

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down the center of the top of the bar.

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Well, for some reason, I just
felt that was my calling.

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- [Voiceover] Confidential informant

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has observed the subject
wearing women's clothing.

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- They pulled out this Polaroid.

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And they said, "Is this you?"

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Well, I looked at it, and I said, "Yes."

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I, I, you don't know what to
do, ou don't know what to say,

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you don't know what to do,
they've got you over a barrel.

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And at one point, I told
them that the picture

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they had of me was terrible,

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and if they wanted a
picture for their files,

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I could bring them a decent one.

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Well, they didn't like that one bit,

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but I told them anyways,

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I don't know where I got
the courage to say it,

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but they were pissing
me off and I told them.

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I was so frustrated and so upset.

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They have their techniques
and their nasty ways, and

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they're just so arrogant.

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(dramatic orchestral music)

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- The security officials
would put people under oath

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before they even told them
why they had been called in.

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They wouldn't show them
the evidence they had.

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They certainly wouldn't let
them face their accusers.

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And they did not allow for
any legal representation.

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- We would not allow it, for one thing.

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People just clam up and you
have no answer at all, you know?

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And it was not required, there
was no legislation, no law

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that was ever handed down that,
that required confrontation,

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that required due process.

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(dramatic orchestral music)

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- Civil servants began reading
in their morning newspaper

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about the efforts of the State Department

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and other agencies to
fire gay men and lesbians.

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And a lot of them thought it

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was their patriotic duty to help.

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So they started informing
on their co‐workers,

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their bosses, sometimes
even their friends.

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- [Man] Miss Wilson is a rather

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unattractive person physically

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and somewhat masculine in appearance.

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She must be a Lesbian.

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- [Woman] My feminine intuition tells me

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Mr. Hand is probably a homosexual.

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He has a jelly handshake.

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- [Man] Edward W. Kelley
has a feminine complexion,

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and a peculiar girlish walk.

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- [Man] You may want to
investigate Mr. William Friedman.

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Especially look into his period
of studying costume design.

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- The FBI is going to local
police departments, saying,

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"These people are a threat
to national security,

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we need their names."

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And so police all over the United States

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felt they had the authority

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to harass gay bars,

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gay people in public places, in parks.

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It suddenly makes it seem
like you're doing a service

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to your country if you go to a gay bar

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and arrest the 40 or 50 men
who were there that night.

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- [Voiceover] In Redwood City, California,

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90 men were arrested
today in a midnight raid

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on Hazel's Inn, a place authorities

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called a known hangout for sex deviates.

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- [Voiceover] In Miami, 33 men were taken

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into custody earlier today after a series

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of coordinated raids on bars known

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to be homosexual hangouts.

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All were checked for venereal
disease before being booked.

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- [Voiceover] In San
Francisco, two women found

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to be wearing mannish
clothes have been arrested

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at Tommy's Bar, a known
gathering spot for lesbians.

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- [Voiceover] In Pawtucket, Rhode Island

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26 men and women were
arrested during the night

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in what police described
as their on‐going campaign

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to rid the downtown area of homosexuals,

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lesbians, and other undesirables.

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- Very often the purpose of the arrests

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were just harassment.

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No charges would be filed.

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But they were taken down
to the police station,

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sometimes they were kept overnight.

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They were fingerprinted.

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If your name showed up in
the newspaper it could mean

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and often did mean that your
employer would fire you.

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It could really ruin your
life if your name showed up

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as having been arrested
in a homosexual bar.

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(light acoustic music)

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- [Narrator] Even in their own homes,

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lesbians and gay men were not safe

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from government investigators.

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- At Christmastime, some friends

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were having a party in Georgetown.

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And around midnight or a little later,

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there was a knock on the door.

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And we looked out, and it
was obvious they were police.

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Somebody must have tipped them off

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that there was a party where
gay people were going to be.

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And they came in and said, "Are
there any servicemen here?"

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And I and several others stood up.

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They took our names,
ranks, and serial numbers,

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and then later on, I was told to report

00:16:25.601 --> 00:16:29.860
to the police department,
and I was taken into a room

00:16:29.860 --> 00:16:31.173
and then interrogated.

00:16:33.510 --> 00:16:38.233
So then I freely admitted that I was gay.

00:16:39.320 --> 00:16:43.340
And then they said, "We
also want five names

00:16:43.340 --> 00:16:44.873
of other people you know.

00:16:46.040 --> 00:16:50.088
So I searched my mind and I gave them the

00:16:50.088 --> 00:16:55.030
names of five people I
thought would be least hurt

00:16:56.640 --> 00:16:59.680
by my informing on.

00:16:59.680 --> 00:17:01.290
- Security officers often boasted

00:17:01.290 --> 00:17:03.840
that they could get gay
people to confess very easily,

00:17:03.840 --> 00:17:05.100
but what they did not acknowledge

00:17:05.100 --> 00:17:07.902
was that they were threatening
these people with exposure,

00:17:07.902 --> 00:17:10.156
telling their families,
telling their co‐workers.

00:17:11.130 --> 00:17:15.450
- My impression was that
after I named the five names,

00:17:15.450 --> 00:17:19.190
they'd let me go, and nothing
else would happen after that.

00:17:19.190 --> 00:17:23.089
But then we were all discharged.

00:17:24.789 --> 00:17:29.298
(dramatic orchestral music)

00:17:30.250 --> 00:17:32.950
- [Narrator] For those
branded as homosexuals,

00:17:32.950 --> 00:17:36.553
a lifetime of job
struggles often followed.

00:17:37.730 --> 00:17:42.240
- I got a job at the,
in the Patent Office.

00:17:42.240 --> 00:17:46.730
And the FBI eventually came in there

00:17:46.730 --> 00:17:50.000
and I was called to the FBI office.

00:17:50.000 --> 00:17:53.161
And they asked me why I hadn't said

00:17:53.161 --> 00:17:56.780
that I had been undesirably
discharged from the Navy

00:17:56.780 --> 00:18:00.083
and I said, because I
didn't think you'd hire me.

00:18:01.010 --> 00:18:04.923
And they said well yes,
that's probably true.

00:18:05.840 --> 00:18:10.593
And so I lost my job at the patent office.

00:18:12.979 --> 00:18:16.646
(dramatic orchestral music)

00:18:18.700 --> 00:18:20.150
- [Voiceover] Dear Mr. Secretary.

00:18:21.530 --> 00:18:24.160
I continue to apply for
jobs in your department,

00:18:24.160 --> 00:18:26.660
only to be told that I'm "well-qualified",

00:18:26.660 --> 00:18:29.753
but that government policy
will not allow my employment.

00:18:33.140 --> 00:18:36.533
All I ask is for you to
consider me as an individual.

00:18:37.920 --> 00:18:39.753
I am ready, willing and able

00:18:39.753 --> 00:18:41.568
to be of service to our country,

00:18:41.568 --> 00:18:44.502
and I appeal to you to give
me the chance to do so.

00:18:46.470 --> 00:18:49.543
Most sincerely yours,
Dr. Franklin E. Kameny.

00:18:54.533 --> 00:18:57.533
(upbeat jazz music)

00:19:01.640 --> 00:19:04.814
- [Narrator] 25 years
earlier, there was no hint

00:19:04.814 --> 00:19:08.139
of the discrimination lesbians
and gay men would face

00:19:08.139 --> 00:19:10.214
in later years.

00:19:10.214 --> 00:19:12.428
Washington was a boom town.

00:19:14.040 --> 00:19:17.010
The government was creating
thousands of new jobs

00:19:17.010 --> 00:19:18.993
to combat the Great Depression.

00:19:20.660 --> 00:19:22.720
Many of the young men and women who came

00:19:22.720 --> 00:19:24.743
for those jobs were homosexuals.

00:19:25.800 --> 00:19:27.810
They grabbed the chance to experience

00:19:27.810 --> 00:19:30.800
a new level of acceptance and friendship

00:19:30.800 --> 00:19:33.766
in a big city far from home.

00:19:38.025 --> 00:19:41.500
(gentle music)

00:19:41.500 --> 00:19:42.940
- [Voiceover] I was living with my parents

00:19:42.940 --> 00:19:45.570
in a small Mississippi River town.

00:19:45.570 --> 00:19:46.900
I heard from a friend

00:19:46.900 --> 00:19:49.450
there were jobs available in Washington.

00:19:49.450 --> 00:19:52.023
I knew this was my chance to escape.

00:19:53.040 --> 00:19:55.998
As soon as I got there, I
found work as a file clerk

00:19:55.998 --> 00:19:58.879
at the Reconstruction Finance Corporation,

00:19:58.879 --> 00:20:01.147
and got a room not far
from the White House.

00:20:02.240 --> 00:20:05.490
I enrolled in classes at
George Washington University,

00:20:05.490 --> 00:20:08.040
and got into a conversation with Ronald,

00:20:08.040 --> 00:20:10.053
a most attractive junior classman.

00:20:10.990 --> 00:20:14.765
He invited me to a dance that
night, held in a former stable

00:20:14.765 --> 00:20:18.430
behind two Victorian
townhouses on P Street.

00:20:18.430 --> 00:20:21.310
When I arrived, I heard
a three‐piece orchestra

00:20:21.310 --> 00:20:23.540
playing "Shine On Harvest Moon"

00:20:23.540 --> 00:20:25.915
and I saw young men like myself

00:20:25.915 --> 00:20:28.498
dancing together cheek to cheek.

00:20:29.650 --> 00:20:31.491
It was a party the likes of which

00:20:31.491 --> 00:20:34.240
I could never have imagined possible.

00:20:35.440 --> 00:20:38.273
I could not hold back tears.

00:20:38.273 --> 00:20:40.673
(romantic orchestral music)

00:20:45.677 --> 00:20:47.392
(bombs booming)
(sirens wailing)

00:20:47.392 --> 00:20:51.977
- [President Roosevelt] December 7, 1941,

00:20:53.901 --> 00:20:57.810
a date which will live in infamy.

00:21:00.250 --> 00:21:03.659
- In some ways, World War II is, perhaps,

00:21:03.659 --> 00:21:06.488
in the 20th century, the
most revolutionary thing

00:21:06.488 --> 00:21:08.618
that happened to lesbians and gay men.

00:21:09.700 --> 00:21:12.310
- [Announcer] America rolls
up its sleeves for action.

00:21:12.310 --> 00:21:14.960
From San Francisco to New
York, enlistment centers

00:21:14.960 --> 00:21:17.140
for the Army, the Navy and the Marines

00:21:17.140 --> 00:21:20.180
are immediately jammed
with long lines of men.

00:21:20.180 --> 00:21:22.205
Men who have found their hearts eager

00:21:22.205 --> 00:21:23.428
to fight for this challenged...

00:21:23.428 --> 00:21:26.707
- Total mobilization has the effect

00:21:26.707 --> 00:21:31.707
of pulling millions of primarily

00:21:32.332 --> 00:21:36.815
young men and women out of their families,

00:21:36.815 --> 00:21:41.815
out of their rural, small‐town,
small‐city environments,

00:21:42.514 --> 00:21:46.180
and taking those men and
women and putting them

00:21:46.180 --> 00:21:51.114
largely in the military,
in same‐sex environments.

00:21:52.080 --> 00:21:54.291
- [Announcer] To these young
men comes a radical change

00:21:54.291 --> 00:21:57.191
in their way of life,
as home ties are broken

00:21:57.191 --> 00:22:01.550
and families, friends, and
sweethearts are left behind.

00:22:01.550 --> 00:22:05.220
- For large numbers of
young men and women,

00:22:05.220 --> 00:22:09.230
the war provides the
opportunity to make friends

00:22:09.230 --> 00:22:12.133
and acquaintances with other
people like themselves.

00:22:13.954 --> 00:22:17.371
(light orchestral music)

00:22:21.430 --> 00:22:25.090
- I didn't realize so many people were gay

00:22:25.090 --> 00:22:27.038
until I joined the Navy.

00:22:28.660 --> 00:22:31.340
And I was just coming out.

00:22:31.340 --> 00:22:35.115
And it kinda shocked me.

00:22:36.910 --> 00:22:40.500
- You were told by your parents,
you were told in school,

00:22:40.500 --> 00:22:42.308
you were told in church,

00:22:42.308 --> 00:22:45.357
you were told by the
mores of your society,

00:22:45.357 --> 00:22:48.774
that you were to marry and have children.

00:22:49.770 --> 00:22:53.228
And I knew, very early on,

00:22:53.228 --> 00:22:56.701
that that's not what I should do.

00:22:56.701 --> 00:22:58.313
But I didn't know what I was.

00:23:00.260 --> 00:23:02.800
You have to understand that
my father and my mother

00:23:02.800 --> 00:23:05.520
were both in World War I, in the Navy.

00:23:05.520 --> 00:23:08.800
My father, my brother, and my sister

00:23:08.800 --> 00:23:11.395
were all in World War II.

00:23:13.384 --> 00:23:15.350
That was the family history.

00:23:15.350 --> 00:23:17.463
It was what we did.

00:23:18.960 --> 00:23:21.977
And (laughs) they kept saying to me,

00:23:21.977 --> 00:23:23.950
"Oh yeah, it'll be fine
when you join the Navy.

00:23:23.950 --> 00:23:27.140
"All those knightly strong men, yeah."

00:23:27.140 --> 00:23:28.870
Oh yeah, it was fine
when I joined the Navy

00:23:28.870 --> 00:23:31.280
and I met my first lover.

00:23:31.280 --> 00:23:35.963
Yes, being in the Navy
was good for me (laughs)

00:23:35.963 --> 00:23:37.521
in many ways.

00:23:40.129 --> 00:23:43.287
(upbeat jazz music)
(crowd cheering)

00:23:45.120 --> 00:23:48.790
- The war ends and it's a
jubilant time for America.

00:23:48.790 --> 00:23:51.913
And we're more powerful
than we've ever been before.

00:23:52.800 --> 00:23:56.467
- The economy is booming, and
we're the only nation on earth

00:23:56.467 --> 00:23:59.509
with an atomic bomb, so
we're feeling pretty secure,

00:23:59.509 --> 00:24:02.510
but that sense of security
doesn't last for long.

00:24:02.510 --> 00:24:04.985
- There is starting to be
panic that we're entering

00:24:04.985 --> 00:24:07.835
a new era of conflict and danger.

00:24:08.718 --> 00:24:10.320
There's a revolution in China.

00:24:10.320 --> 00:24:12.511
The communists are now controlling

00:24:12.511 --> 00:24:15.310
the most populous nation in the world.

00:24:15.310 --> 00:24:18.180
The Soviet Union, our potential enemy,

00:24:18.180 --> 00:24:22.373
has just exploded an atom
bomb, its first nuclear weapon.

00:24:23.516 --> 00:24:26.660
(tense orchestral music)

00:24:26.660 --> 00:24:29.542
- And then the question arises,
how did they get it so fast?

00:24:30.450 --> 00:24:32.320
Certainly they couldn't
have done it on their own.

00:24:32.320 --> 00:24:34.923
So there must be spies
in the United States.

00:24:35.828 --> 00:24:37.300
(grand fanfare music)

00:24:37.300 --> 00:24:39.930
- [Announcer] Are communists
or communist sympathizers

00:24:39.930 --> 00:24:41.740
in the State Department and other branches

00:24:41.740 --> 00:24:42.670
of the government?

00:24:42.670 --> 00:24:44.742
Senator Joseph R. McCarthy of Wisconsin

00:24:44.742 --> 00:24:46.500
insists that such is the case.

00:24:46.500 --> 00:24:50.000
- And even, even if there
were only one communist

00:24:50.000 --> 00:24:51.817
in the State Department,

00:24:51.817 --> 00:24:53.483
even if there were only one communist

00:24:53.483 --> 00:24:55.325
in the State department,
that would still be

00:24:55.325 --> 00:24:57.843
one communist too many!

00:24:57.843 --> 00:24:59.620
(crowd cheering)

00:24:59.620 --> 00:25:03.880
- And so there was suddenly
this new panic in America,

00:25:03.880 --> 00:25:08.150
this fear that there were
communist spies everywhere,

00:25:08.150 --> 00:25:10.053
subversives everywhere.

00:25:12.030 --> 00:25:14.296
- [Narrator] And then an obscure professor

00:25:14.296 --> 00:25:18.675
from Indiana University
dropped a bombshell of his own.

00:25:20.660 --> 00:25:25.180
- In 1948, Alfred Kinsey
published his study

00:25:25.180 --> 00:25:28.333
of sexuality in the American male.

00:25:30.010 --> 00:25:34.460
And what he said was
that 37% of American men

00:25:34.460 --> 00:25:39.403
had had homosexual experiences
to the point of orgasm.

00:25:40.420 --> 00:25:44.113
It was not what most
Americans wanted to hear.

00:25:44.970 --> 00:25:48.450
Edmund Bergler, the
psychologist, actually published

00:25:48.450 --> 00:25:51.980
an article saying that
Alfred Kinsey had destroyed

00:25:51.980 --> 00:25:54.113
the reputation of American men.

00:25:55.510 --> 00:25:56.385
- [Voiceover] If these figures

00:25:56.385 --> 00:26:00.202
are only approximately correct,
then the homosexual outlet

00:26:00.202 --> 00:26:03.840
is the predominant national
disease, overshadowing cancer,

00:26:03.840 --> 00:26:07.453
tuberculosis, heart failure,
and infantile paralysis.

00:26:09.440 --> 00:26:10.960
- [Narrator] Author John Cheever

00:26:10.960 --> 00:26:15.740
called 1948 the year
everybody in the United States

00:26:15.740 --> 00:26:18.163
was worried about homosexuality.

00:26:20.730 --> 00:26:23.460
The threatening image of the homosexual

00:26:23.460 --> 00:26:28.208
lurking in the shadows had
became a national obsession.

00:26:28.208 --> 00:26:31.120
(playful music)

00:26:31.120 --> 00:26:32.900
- [Announcer] Sure
enough, the following day,

00:26:32.900 --> 00:26:35.390
when Jimmy finished playing ball,

00:26:35.390 --> 00:26:36.690
well, the man was there waiting.

00:26:39.040 --> 00:26:41.300
By now, they were using first names.

00:26:41.300 --> 00:26:43.053
Ralph said it was more friendly.

00:26:46.060 --> 00:26:48.840
What Jimmy didn't know
was that Ralph was sick,

00:26:48.840 --> 00:26:51.910
a sickness that was not
visible like smallpox,

00:26:51.910 --> 00:26:54.500
but no less dangerous and contagious.

00:26:54.500 --> 00:26:56.023
A sickness of the mind.

00:26:56.860 --> 00:26:59.283
You see, Ralph was a homosexual.

00:27:01.120 --> 00:27:04.130
One never knows when
the homosexual is about.

00:27:04.130 --> 00:27:05.630
He may appear normal.

00:27:05.630 --> 00:27:08.643
And it may be too late when you
discover he is mentally ill.

00:27:12.496 --> 00:27:14.038
- And then in a sort of perfect storm,

00:27:14.038 --> 00:27:16.140
these two things that
America is concerned about,

00:27:16.140 --> 00:27:19.723
commies and queers, they
suddenly come together.

00:27:19.723 --> 00:27:21.364
(tense music)

00:27:21.364 --> 00:27:23.163
- The committee will please come to order.

00:27:24.460 --> 00:27:28.680
- In 1950, there are hearings in Congress

00:27:28.680 --> 00:27:31.990
about the Cold War, about communists,

00:27:31.990 --> 00:27:35.563
about federal employees
and threats to security.

00:27:38.030 --> 00:27:41.230
- [Narrator] By the 1950s,
very few communists,

00:27:41.230 --> 00:27:43.620
if any, were left in the government.

00:27:43.620 --> 00:27:46.886
But Secretary of State
Dean Acheson and his deputy

00:27:46.886 --> 00:27:49.861
were eager to tell Congress they still had

00:27:49.861 --> 00:27:52.080
an aggressive security system.

00:27:52.080 --> 00:27:54.271
They revealed they had begun to go after

00:27:54.271 --> 00:27:58.520
a different kind of
security risk. Homosexuals.

00:27:58.520 --> 00:28:01.550
91 had already been fired.

00:28:01.550 --> 00:28:03.500
- So the fear of Communists now combines

00:28:03.500 --> 00:28:06.808
with the fear of homosexuals,
and what had been simply

00:28:06.808 --> 00:28:10.950
the Red Scare now morphs
into the Lavender Scare.

00:28:11.920 --> 00:28:13.820
(tense orchestral music)

00:28:15.056 --> 00:28:16.600
- [Voiceover] You can't
separate homosexuals

00:28:16.600 --> 00:28:20.053
from subversives. They're
all tied up together.

00:28:20.920 --> 00:28:23.270
- [Voiceover] How many secrets
of the Government are spilled

00:28:23.270 --> 00:28:26.233
because perverts are tolerated
in the District of Columbia?

00:28:27.290 --> 00:28:29.690
- [Voiceover] These perverts
got into our government

00:28:29.690 --> 00:28:32.290
because Russia wanted them there.

00:28:32.290 --> 00:28:34.625
- [Voiceover] Soviet
agents are enticing female

00:28:34.625 --> 00:28:37.520
civil servants into a life of Lesbianism.

00:28:37.520 --> 00:28:40.343
Something has to be done
to eradicate this menace.

00:28:51.960 --> 00:28:54.851
- [Narrator] In private,
senate investigators admit

00:28:54.851 --> 00:28:58.817
they can't find a single
case of a gay man or lesbian

00:28:58.817 --> 00:29:03.360
who has been blackmailed into
giving up government secrets.

00:29:03.360 --> 00:29:06.080
But they publish a report that declares

00:29:06.080 --> 00:29:08.883
all homosexuals must be removed.

00:29:12.520 --> 00:29:13.590
- I don't care what they have to say,

00:29:13.590 --> 00:29:15.613
I don't how much they scream and squeal.

00:29:17.310 --> 00:29:18.560
As long as I'm in the Senate

00:29:18.560 --> 00:29:22.430
this task is not going
to become a dainty task.

00:29:22.430 --> 00:29:24.000
If anyone wants to come in and remove them

00:29:24.000 --> 00:29:26.310
in some dainty fashion
they're welcome to it.

00:29:26.310 --> 00:29:29.170
But in the absence of that,
(pounding podium)

00:29:29.170 --> 00:29:33.203
if lumberjack tactics are
the only kind of tactics

00:29:33.203 --> 00:29:36.011
that crowd understands,
then take my word for it,

00:29:36.011 --> 00:29:39.127
those are the kind of tactics
we're going to use on them.

00:29:39.127 --> 00:29:41.660
As long as there is one there,

00:29:41.660 --> 00:29:45.447
endangering the lives of
150 million American people.

00:29:45.447 --> 00:29:48.614
(tense orchestral music)

00:29:50.050 --> 00:29:51.492
- [Voiceover] Dear Edna.

00:29:53.420 --> 00:29:55.310
Thank you for the loan of the $50,

00:29:55.310 --> 00:29:56.880
but please don't tell mother

00:29:56.880 --> 00:29:58.733
what bad financial shape I'm in.

00:30:00.920 --> 00:30:03.080
I've always prided myself on my ability

00:30:03.080 --> 00:30:05.020
to take care of myself.

00:30:05.020 --> 00:30:07.980
But my fight with the government
is dragging on and on,

00:30:07.980 --> 00:30:10.190
and my savings are almost gone.

00:30:10.190 --> 00:30:12.870
The days are getting shorter,
the autumn chill has set in

00:30:12.870 --> 00:30:15.133
and I can't afford a decent winter coat.

00:30:15.980 --> 00:30:18.743
The dreary half of the
year is well underway.

00:30:22.141 --> 00:30:25.508
♪ You like Ike, I like
Ike, everybody likes Ike ♪

00:30:25.508 --> 00:30:26.744
♪ For President ♪

00:30:26.744 --> 00:30:28.540
- The 1952 presidential election

00:30:28.540 --> 00:30:31.010
is the first presidential
election since the rise

00:30:31.010 --> 00:30:34.085
of Joseph McCarthy and the
beginnings of the Lavender Scare.

00:30:34.085 --> 00:30:35.240
♪ Let's get in step with the guy ♪

00:30:35.240 --> 00:30:37.280
The Republicans at this
point had been out of office

00:30:37.280 --> 00:30:40.072
for 20 years, since 1932,

00:30:40.072 --> 00:30:42.050
and they're desperate to
win back the White House.

00:30:42.050 --> 00:30:43.053
♪ Bring out the banners ♪

00:30:43.053 --> 00:30:44.261
♪ Beat the drum ♪

00:30:44.261 --> 00:30:46.142
♪ We'll take Ike to Washington ♪

00:30:46.142 --> 00:30:48.210
(tense music)

00:30:48.210 --> 00:30:51.960
- Dwight Eisenhower and Richard
Nixon, his running mate,

00:30:51.960 --> 00:30:54.057
had a campaign slogan that said,

00:30:54.057 --> 00:30:57.170
"Clean House with Ike and Dick."

00:30:57.170 --> 00:31:00.780
And cleaning house meant
getting rid of the Democrats

00:31:00.780 --> 00:31:02.853
who were soft on communism.

00:31:04.020 --> 00:31:06.510
But it also meant getting
rid of the Democrats

00:31:06.510 --> 00:31:10.290
who weren't stern enough
about homosexuality.

00:31:10.290 --> 00:31:13.230
- Their campaign literature
talked about how Eisenhower

00:31:13.230 --> 00:31:16.250
and his running mate, Richard
Nixon, were regular guys,

00:31:16.250 --> 00:31:18.833
they were churchgoing, and
they were for morality.

00:31:20.790 --> 00:31:23.395
- I would far rather
not be elected president

00:31:23.395 --> 00:31:25.468
than to be elected by
the help of those those

00:31:25.468 --> 00:31:27.830
who have lost their
sense of public morals.

00:31:27.830 --> 00:31:31.256
- Who knows whether
Eisenhower deep down believed

00:31:31.256 --> 00:31:35.530
that this was a serious
threat to national security.

00:31:35.530 --> 00:31:38.850
But the gay issue, the homosexual issue

00:31:38.850 --> 00:31:40.760
as it would have been called then,

00:31:40.760 --> 00:31:44.245
was an issue that Republican
politicians played

00:31:44.245 --> 00:31:46.178
for everything that it was worth.

00:31:47.269 --> 00:31:49.769
(tense music)

00:31:52.070 --> 00:31:54.212
- [Announcer] As polls
closed across the nation,

00:31:54.212 --> 00:31:58.040
the New York Times flashed,
"Ike's In, by a Landslide."

00:31:58.040 --> 00:32:00.470
Ike's victory came with
the greatest popular vote

00:32:00.470 --> 00:32:01.620
ever given a president.

00:32:03.865 --> 00:32:06.807
(tense music)

00:32:08.890 --> 00:32:12.331
- One of Eisenhower's
first official actions

00:32:12.331 --> 00:32:15.514
was to sign an executive order that said

00:32:15.514 --> 00:32:17.870
that sexual perverts could not work

00:32:17.870 --> 00:32:19.600
for the federal government.

00:32:19.600 --> 00:32:23.933
And sexual perverts meant
specifically, homosexuals.

00:32:25.865 --> 00:32:28.460
And so, the witch hunts began,

00:32:28.460 --> 00:32:32.483
and homosexuals were drummed
out of jobs everywhere.

00:32:37.010 --> 00:32:41.470
- Whenever the FBI began to
investigate individual people,

00:32:41.470 --> 00:32:44.928
they pushed to get other names.

00:32:44.928 --> 00:32:46.923
So it began to cascade.

00:32:52.500 --> 00:32:54.990
- The sense of community and friendship

00:32:54.990 --> 00:32:56.850
and openness that had been established

00:32:56.850 --> 00:33:00.063
in Washington became a
real liability in the '50s.

00:33:00.910 --> 00:33:03.460
These people became sort of sitting ducks.

00:33:03.460 --> 00:33:06.053
They were easy pickings
for the security officers.

00:33:08.100 --> 00:33:11.070
And it forced people into
the closet in the 1950s,

00:33:11.070 --> 00:33:13.700
in Washington, forced them into a closet

00:33:13.700 --> 00:33:15.946
they hadn't been in before.

00:33:15.946 --> 00:33:17.746
("Secretly" by Jimmy Rogers)
♪ Why must I meet you ♪

00:33:17.746 --> 00:33:22.008
♪ In a secret rendezvous ♪

00:33:22.008 --> 00:33:27.008
♪ Why must we steal away
to steal a kiss or two ♪

00:33:28.500 --> 00:33:32.930
- It was common practice in
those years for many gay men

00:33:32.930 --> 00:33:36.660
and women not to use their real names

00:33:36.660 --> 00:33:38.650
even in social circles.

00:33:38.650 --> 00:33:41.337
They had to be very, very careful.

00:33:41.337 --> 00:33:46.337
♪ Wish we didn't have to meet secretly ♪

00:33:47.351 --> 00:33:52.351
♪ Wish we didn't have to kiss secretly ♪

00:33:53.634 --> 00:33:58.634
♪ Wish we didn't have to be afraid ♪

00:33:58.930 --> 00:34:03.513
♪ To show the world that we're in love ♪

00:34:05.150 --> 00:34:07.450
- I had a house.

00:34:07.450 --> 00:34:10.730
And nobody got into that
house who didn't have

00:34:10.730 --> 00:34:12.480
as much to lose as we had.

00:34:12.480 --> 00:34:14.320
School teachers came in.

00:34:14.320 --> 00:34:17.330
People who were in the military came in.

00:34:17.330 --> 00:34:20.360
But if you didn't have as
much to lose as we had,

00:34:20.360 --> 00:34:22.346
you were not in.

00:34:23.290 --> 00:34:25.330
It became second nature.

00:34:25.330 --> 00:34:26.816
This is how we lived.

00:34:26.816 --> 00:34:31.791
♪ Secretly ♪

00:34:38.347 --> 00:34:42.014
(somber music)

00:34:44.565 --> 00:34:46.156
- When I got the telephone call,

00:34:46.156 --> 00:34:49.620
that said I had been selected for Captain,

00:34:49.620 --> 00:34:52.770
I knew I had just been selected
to hold the highest rank

00:34:52.770 --> 00:34:57.580
a woman could hold in the Navy Reserve.

00:34:57.580 --> 00:35:02.580
After I was promoted, three
women Captains came to me

00:35:02.730 --> 00:35:06.520
and said, "We want to try to make you

00:35:06.520 --> 00:35:10.617
the first woman Admiral
in the Navy Reserve."

00:35:12.630 --> 00:35:15.867
And I thought about it, and I thought,

00:35:15.867 --> 00:35:19.675
but what if, when I try for that,

00:35:19.675 --> 00:35:22.141
when I go for the gold ring,

00:35:22.141 --> 00:35:26.932
somebody goes looking and they find

00:35:26.932 --> 00:35:29.774
what I've been hiding all these years.

00:35:31.300 --> 00:35:35.770
I couldn't do it. I just couldn't do it.

00:35:36.869 --> 00:35:38.773
It was too big a chance to take.

00:35:39.840 --> 00:35:43.370
And so, I had to give up
the possibility of Admiral

00:35:44.210 --> 00:35:47.843
because I was gay, and because,

00:35:47.843 --> 00:35:51.260
I wasn't sure I could hide it well enough.

00:35:52.480 --> 00:35:55.400
I wanted it so badly.

00:35:55.400 --> 00:35:58.873
And had wanted it so badly all of my life,

00:36:00.380 --> 00:36:02.463
and finally got it.

00:36:03.990 --> 00:36:07.323
And then found out, they didn't want me.

00:36:15.669 --> 00:36:19.336
(dramatic orchestral music)

00:36:20.750 --> 00:36:23.570
- Part of what makes it
so hard to tell this story

00:36:23.570 --> 00:36:27.820
as history, is that most of
the people who were targets

00:36:27.820 --> 00:36:32.820
of persecution opted for
invisibility afterwards.

00:36:33.710 --> 00:36:35.453
And so they just disappeared.

00:36:36.610 --> 00:36:40.930
We're talking tens and
tens of thousands of people

00:36:40.930 --> 00:36:44.363
who are actually fired
from or kept from jobs.

00:36:45.690 --> 00:36:48.289
And then, the immeasurable,

00:36:48.289 --> 00:36:52.106
all the people who know that

00:36:53.039 --> 00:36:57.805
"I'm gay, I'm lesbian.
I can't take a chance

00:36:57.805 --> 00:37:00.364
and apply for jobs

00:37:00.364 --> 00:37:02.937
in which my identity might get revealed."

00:37:12.581 --> 00:37:15.040
(gentle music)

00:37:15.040 --> 00:37:18.840
- I learned very early on
that A, I had an Uncle Drew

00:37:18.840 --> 00:37:21.513
and B, about his circumstances.

00:37:22.870 --> 00:37:26.497
When I was little, there was
hushed conversations about,

00:37:26.497 --> 00:37:28.070
"Oh, that was your Uncle Drew.

00:37:28.070 --> 00:37:31.687
He was a fantastic, a
fine, a wonderful man."

00:37:38.820 --> 00:37:41.290
- I followed him around,
like I was his tail,

00:37:41.290 --> 00:37:42.473
any time he was home.

00:37:45.680 --> 00:37:48.267
(chuckling) He told me that a few times,

00:37:48.267 --> 00:37:50.690
he says, well, he says,
"You're acting like my tail."

00:37:50.690 --> 00:37:53.220
He says, "You follow me everything I do."

00:37:53.220 --> 00:37:55.270
But he spent a lot of time with me,

00:37:55.270 --> 00:37:59.453
and he, he was, he was never
in a hurry to chase me away.

00:38:00.310 --> 00:38:05.090
Then Uncle Sam called, and
Drew went into the Army.

00:38:05.090 --> 00:38:07.060
He was a medic in the military.

00:38:07.060 --> 00:38:09.463
Served his time over in France.

00:38:10.580 --> 00:38:11.900
- He knew five languages.

00:38:11.900 --> 00:38:16.610
He knew English, Slovak,
Latin, German and French.

00:38:16.610 --> 00:38:20.160
And so after the war, he
applied to the State Department

00:38:20.160 --> 00:38:22.253
for a job in the Foreign Services.

00:38:23.160 --> 00:38:26.330
And he was off for interviews
and background checks,

00:38:26.330 --> 00:38:28.571
and lo and behold, he got the job

00:38:28.571 --> 00:38:31.380
with the State Department
in the Foreign Services.

00:38:31.380 --> 00:38:34.793
- He would send letters
regularly to Mom and Dad.

00:38:36.090 --> 00:38:38.065
And they always let the whole
family read the letters,

00:38:38.065 --> 00:38:41.056
you know, so everybody
would know what's going on

00:38:41.056 --> 00:38:42.849
and what he had to say.

00:38:42.849 --> 00:38:46.042
(dramatic orchestral music)

00:38:47.150 --> 00:38:48.280
- [Voiceover] Dear Family.

00:38:48.280 --> 00:38:51.830
Christmas in Paris turned
out to be a sunny day.

00:38:51.830 --> 00:38:53.440
Our eggnog party, which we have given

00:38:53.440 --> 00:38:55.820
these past two years, was lots of fun.

00:38:55.820 --> 00:38:57.360
It was an open‐house arrangement,

00:38:57.360 --> 00:38:59.433
and 29 of our friends dropped in.

00:39:02.500 --> 00:39:06.293
- Drew's letters exuded joy and optimism.

00:39:08.200 --> 00:39:09.820
He had very close friendships,

00:39:09.820 --> 00:39:11.833
it seems like he had many friends.

00:39:13.854 --> 00:39:17.453
He talked in particular about
his roommate, Bob Kennerly.

00:39:18.970 --> 00:39:20.290
- [Voiceover] On New Year's Day,

00:39:20.290 --> 00:39:22.344
Bob and I drove to Avignon.

00:39:22.344 --> 00:39:24.120
I had been there during the war

00:39:24.120 --> 00:39:26.900
and was especially eager to revisit.

00:39:26.900 --> 00:39:30.258
That was one of the most enjoyable trips

00:39:30.258 --> 00:39:33.290
that Bob and I have made in France.

00:39:33.290 --> 00:39:37.290
- Bob was known to the
family as a minister's son.

00:39:37.290 --> 00:39:40.000
He was considered to be
a very wholesome guy,

00:39:40.000 --> 00:39:42.623
and there was nothing suspicious, ever.

00:39:44.830 --> 00:39:47.320
- [Voiceover] Before I close,
I must include a thank you

00:39:47.320 --> 00:39:50.400
to Victor for forwarding
the Christmas cards.

00:39:50.400 --> 00:39:54.500
Bob used them for decorations
all around the living room.

00:39:54.500 --> 00:39:57.043
It looked very festive
for the Christmas party.

00:39:58.320 --> 00:40:00.480
Happy New Year to all.

00:40:00.480 --> 00:40:01.313
Andrew.

00:40:03.260 --> 00:40:06.150
- My grandparents thought that Andrew

00:40:06.150 --> 00:40:07.970
was living the American dream.

00:40:07.970 --> 00:40:10.061
They were so proud of him.

00:40:10.061 --> 00:40:13.930
He had shown that education and hard work

00:40:13.930 --> 00:40:17.710
and military service was all worth it.

00:40:17.710 --> 00:40:20.860
For them, the journey
across the Atlantic Ocean

00:40:20.860 --> 00:40:25.526
was coming to fruition, their
dreams were being realized.

00:40:25.526 --> 00:40:28.760
(tense music)

00:40:28.760 --> 00:40:30.810
- [Narrator] But at the embassy in Paris,

00:40:30.810 --> 00:40:33.959
investigators had become suspicious.

00:40:37.120 --> 00:40:39.660
- I worked with Drew Ference
at the American Embassy

00:40:39.660 --> 00:40:41.810
in Paris for several years,

00:40:41.810 --> 00:40:43.485
and was friendly with him,

00:40:43.485 --> 00:40:48.485
and we had a small group of
friends within the embassy.

00:40:48.810 --> 00:40:53.810
And I knew his partner, who
was a diplomatic courier.

00:40:53.810 --> 00:40:55.490
At some point, Drew
told me that he thought

00:40:55.490 --> 00:40:56.700
he was under investigation,

00:40:56.700 --> 00:40:58.820
that he knew he was under investigation

00:40:58.820 --> 00:41:00.283
for his homosexuality.

00:41:02.850 --> 00:41:04.700
- [Voiceover] State Department memorandum.

00:41:04.700 --> 00:41:07.450
Subject, Andrew Charles Ference.

00:41:07.450 --> 00:41:09.730
An investigation concerning
homosexual tendencies

00:41:09.730 --> 00:41:10.743
was instituted.

00:41:11.600 --> 00:41:14.060
Ference was interviewed
in Paris on August 26th

00:41:14.060 --> 00:41:16.287
and August 30th, 1954,

00:41:16.287 --> 00:41:18.453
and he admitted homosexual activities.

00:41:21.410 --> 00:41:24.840
- He was quite upset
about it, and in turmoil.

00:41:24.840 --> 00:41:27.400
He felt it was a disgrace,
that he would have to tell

00:41:27.400 --> 00:41:30.620
his parents why he had
left the Foreign Service

00:41:30.620 --> 00:41:33.300
and that it would be harmful to them

00:41:33.300 --> 00:41:35.153
and certainly to himself.

00:41:36.150 --> 00:41:39.803
And he was just not able
to cope with it all.

00:41:42.710 --> 00:41:47.710
- It was in September, and
my mom took the phone call.

00:41:48.170 --> 00:41:49.560
She was out on the kitchen porch.

00:41:49.560 --> 00:41:52.170
She was out there crying her heart out,

00:41:52.170 --> 00:41:53.895
sitting on the glider
there, and I just happened

00:41:53.895 --> 00:41:56.570
to come outside, and I
said, "What's the matter?"

00:41:56.570 --> 00:41:59.065
She says, "You won't believe
what I got, the phone call."

00:41:59.065 --> 00:42:01.492
And she told me what happened, and I just,

00:42:02.425 --> 00:42:04.837
it didn't seem real.

00:42:09.360 --> 00:42:10.777
- [Voiceover] Subject was found prostrate

00:42:10.777 --> 00:42:13.018
in his residence in Paris by his roommate,

00:42:13.018 --> 00:42:15.167
who had taken subject to a hospital,

00:42:15.167 --> 00:42:18.008
where he was pronounced dead on arrival,

00:42:18.008 --> 00:42:20.483
apparently due to
poisoning by natural gas.

00:42:21.920 --> 00:42:24.530
An investigation by French
police authorities reflects

00:42:24.530 --> 00:42:27.723
that death occurred by
suicide, from gas poisoning.

00:42:30.230 --> 00:42:34.000
- I think Drew must have been in anguish.

00:42:34.000 --> 00:42:37.715
I think that he felt terror.

00:42:37.715 --> 00:42:40.841
And I think the, the breaking point

00:42:40.841 --> 00:42:44.200
were the brutal investigations
that he went through.

00:42:44.200 --> 00:42:47.690
I think he must have
been deeply demoralized

00:42:47.690 --> 00:42:49.773
and humiliated because of that.

00:42:52.560 --> 00:42:54.210
- There was one security officer who knew

00:42:54.210 --> 00:42:56.460
that the person he
interrogated committed suicide

00:42:56.460 --> 00:42:57.640
on the streets in Washington,

00:42:57.640 --> 00:42:58.930
right after the interrogation.

00:42:59.922 --> 00:43:02.389
(dramatic orchestral music)

00:43:50.600 --> 00:43:55.600
- The government purposely
misled my family.

00:43:55.650 --> 00:43:58.630
They said that Andrew
was sick and despondent

00:43:58.630 --> 00:44:02.023
about his health and committed suicide.

00:44:03.660 --> 00:44:05.420
There was no evidence for that.

00:44:05.420 --> 00:44:09.323
I mean, the family did not
believe that from day one.

00:44:10.380 --> 00:44:14.760
And his father, my grandfather,
wanted to pursue the truth

00:44:14.760 --> 00:44:17.440
to the bitter end, and he did.

00:44:17.440 --> 00:44:19.680
He went to his congressman

00:44:19.680 --> 00:44:21.870
and that eventually led to his meeting

00:44:21.870 --> 00:44:23.455
with the State Department
a year and a half

00:44:23.455 --> 00:44:24.980
after Andrew's death.

00:44:28.030 --> 00:44:29.610
- [Voiceover] As I described
the admissions made

00:44:29.610 --> 00:44:32.513
by his son, subject's
father broke down and wept.

00:44:33.570 --> 00:44:36.340
I waited until he had
composed himself and proceeded

00:44:36.340 --> 00:44:39.430
when he said, "Please go ahead.

00:44:39.430 --> 00:44:40.730
I want to hear all of it."

00:44:42.640 --> 00:44:45.020
- My grandfather came
away from that meeting

00:44:45.020 --> 00:44:46.583
with a very heavy heart.

00:44:47.870 --> 00:44:50.123
But he was seeking the
truth and he found it.

00:44:51.906 --> 00:44:56.020
(somber music)

00:44:56.020 --> 00:44:58.403
My mother loved my uncle so dearly.

00:45:00.480 --> 00:45:03.915
And even though it's 60 years later,

00:45:03.915 --> 00:45:07.814
she still hears those mournful,

00:45:07.814 --> 00:45:11.006
mournful taps at the funeral.

00:45:12.960 --> 00:45:15.410
She still hears the gun salute.

00:45:15.410 --> 00:45:18.730
She tells me that she remembers
the two empty suitcases

00:45:18.730 --> 00:45:23.163
in the basement, symbolic of
a life vacated far too early.

00:45:26.900 --> 00:45:30.067
It took a terrible toll on the family.

00:45:40.879 --> 00:45:44.679
(tense music)

00:45:45.740 --> 00:45:49.250
- [Narrator] By the mid-1950s,
support for Joe McCarthy

00:45:49.250 --> 00:45:51.523
and his tactics was fading.

00:45:52.770 --> 00:45:54.160
- This is no time for men who

00:45:54.160 --> 00:45:57.100
oppose Senator McCarthy's
methods to keep silent.

00:45:57.100 --> 00:46:01.390
- But there was no one to come
to the aid of homosexuals.

00:46:01.390 --> 00:46:06.390
Even the ACLU decided that
it was perfectly appropriate

00:46:06.460 --> 00:46:09.950
for homosexuals to be
fired from their jobs

00:46:09.950 --> 00:46:12.710
as a threat to the nation's security.

00:46:12.710 --> 00:46:14.217
- By this time, thousands of people

00:46:14.217 --> 00:46:17.490
had lost their jobs and no
one put up much of a fight.

00:46:17.490 --> 00:46:20.277
And then Frank Kameny came along.

00:46:20.277 --> 00:46:23.270
(hopeful music)

00:46:23.270 --> 00:46:26.040
- I learned to read fairly early,

00:46:26.040 --> 00:46:27.640
when I was about four years old.

00:46:28.800 --> 00:46:33.340
And an uncle of mine gave
me a great, big, thick book

00:46:33.340 --> 00:46:34.947
called "The Knowledge Book."

00:46:35.800 --> 00:46:39.658
I began reading in that, and
became fascinated with science,

00:46:39.658 --> 00:46:43.390
and decided I wanted to
become a scientist in general.

00:46:43.390 --> 00:46:47.250
And a year or two later,
when I was about six or so,

00:46:47.250 --> 00:46:51.410
I narrowed it down to an
interest in astronomy.

00:46:51.410 --> 00:46:56.028
And that stuck with me all the
way through graduate school.

00:46:58.880 --> 00:47:00.804
- I had a discussion with him at one time

00:47:00.804 --> 00:47:05.371
and I said, "What kind of
career is that for a Jewish boy?

00:47:05.371 --> 00:47:09.820
Where will you ever get
anywhere in astronomy?"

00:47:09.820 --> 00:47:14.812
But he wanted astronomy, and
he got a degree in astronomy.

00:47:15.760 --> 00:47:19.380
- I was on the faculty at
Georgetown University for a year,

00:47:19.380 --> 00:47:23.020
and then went, joined the Map Service,

00:47:23.020 --> 00:47:26.513
the federal government,
in the middle of 1957.

00:47:29.230 --> 00:47:33.860
- Imagine yourself being a Harvard Ph.D.

00:47:33.860 --> 00:47:38.860
in astronomy, at the
start of the Space Age.

00:47:38.900 --> 00:47:43.383
In a very literal way, the sky,

00:47:43.383 --> 00:47:47.260
you know, there were no limits
to what you could expect.

00:47:47.260 --> 00:47:50.093
- He had notions that one of these days

00:47:50.093 --> 00:47:53.160
he would become an astronaut.

00:47:53.160 --> 00:47:55.130
He had every reason to think

00:47:55.130 --> 00:47:58.083
that there would be a
brilliant career before him.

00:47:58.930 --> 00:48:00.523
But it was not to be.

00:48:02.590 --> 00:48:07.080
- One day, two civil service
investigators came in

00:48:07.080 --> 00:48:10.829
and they said, "We have
information which leads us

00:48:10.829 --> 00:48:12.346
to believe that you are homosexual.

00:48:12.346 --> 00:48:13.440
Do you have any comment?"

00:48:13.440 --> 00:48:15.090
I said, "What's the information?"

00:48:15.090 --> 00:48:16.548
They said, "We can't tell you."

00:48:16.548 --> 00:48:18.410
I said, "Well, then I have no comment."

00:48:20.230 --> 00:48:23.320
But speaking purely
legalistically and procedurally,

00:48:23.320 --> 00:48:27.550
they had no problems in simply firing me,

00:48:27.550 --> 00:48:29.520
denying me a security clearance,

00:48:29.520 --> 00:48:33.433
so that was denied, and I was out.

00:48:34.570 --> 00:48:38.830
- He could easily have
done what many thousands

00:48:38.830 --> 00:48:41.755
of other people did, which was to give up,

00:48:41.755 --> 00:48:45.160
go away, and be silent.

00:48:45.160 --> 00:48:47.204
That was not Frank Kameny.

00:48:48.104 --> 00:48:51.139
(hopeful music)

00:48:51.139 --> 00:48:53.482
- To the best of my knowledge and belief,

00:48:53.482 --> 00:48:56.133
I was the first person to fight back

00:48:56.133 --> 00:48:59.162
out of all of those large,
huge number of people

00:48:59.162 --> 00:49:01.013
that were fired in the '50s.

00:49:02.920 --> 00:49:04.330
- [Voiceover] Dear mother.

00:49:04.330 --> 00:49:06.900
You might remember that
many, many years ago,

00:49:06.900 --> 00:49:08.810
I made a statement to you and to father,

00:49:08.810 --> 00:49:11.263
which you disparaged as youthful bluster.

00:49:12.670 --> 00:49:16.200
I said, "If the world
and I differ on a matter,

00:49:16.200 --> 00:49:18.793
I will give the matter very
careful second thought.

00:49:19.692 --> 00:49:22.208
If the world and I still differ,

00:49:22.208 --> 00:49:24.500
then I am right, and the world is wrong.

00:49:25.740 --> 00:49:27.330
If one side has to change,

00:49:27.330 --> 00:49:32.080
it will be the world which
will change, because I won't."

00:49:35.530 --> 00:49:40.001
- By 1960 or 1961,

00:49:40.001 --> 00:49:43.376
he had exhausted every possible appeal

00:49:43.376 --> 00:49:46.230
and lost consistently.

00:49:46.230 --> 00:49:50.060
And at that point, rather
than simply pursue justice

00:49:50.060 --> 00:49:54.400
for himself, he decided to
search for the possibilities

00:49:54.400 --> 00:49:58.703
of activism and political
organizing to make change.

00:50:00.180 --> 00:50:03.990
- There was a very, very,
very tiny gay movement

00:50:03.990 --> 00:50:06.473
in those days, five or six organizations

00:50:06.473 --> 00:50:08.700
in the entire country.

00:50:08.700 --> 00:50:10.240
- One of them was the Mattachine Society,

00:50:10.240 --> 00:50:12.490
founded by a group of
gay men in Los Angeles.

00:50:13.900 --> 00:50:15.900
They were named for Mattachinos,

00:50:15.900 --> 00:50:19.491
these Italian Renaissance
court jesters who wore masks

00:50:19.491 --> 00:50:22.683
and were therefore free
to speak the truth.

00:50:22.683 --> 00:50:25.363
But for Frank, they didn't
really speak loudly enough.

00:50:26.240 --> 00:50:30.073
- They weren't sufficiently activist.

00:50:30.073 --> 00:50:33.196
They were too queasy,

00:50:34.250 --> 00:50:37.020
and they were too apologetic.

00:50:37.020 --> 00:50:38.878
- Well, let me say, first of all,

00:50:38.878 --> 00:50:41.403
what type of laws we are not after.

00:50:41.403 --> 00:50:44.940
Because there has been
much to-do that the Society

00:50:44.940 --> 00:50:47.648
was in favor of,

00:50:47.648 --> 00:50:50.448
the legalization of
marriage between homosexuals

00:50:50.448 --> 00:50:52.640
and the adoption of
children and such as that,

00:50:52.640 --> 00:50:55.381
and that is not at all factual at all.

00:50:55.381 --> 00:50:57.608
Homosexuals do not want that.

00:50:58.462 --> 00:51:00.080
- I don't want to be critical of them,

00:51:00.080 --> 00:51:02.740
because it was a very
different era culturally.

00:51:02.740 --> 00:51:06.463
But they didn't kind of
suit my own personality.

00:51:07.650 --> 00:51:10.420
- Their method of making change

00:51:10.420 --> 00:51:15.420
was to try to work quietly
and in the background,

00:51:15.420 --> 00:51:20.240
to bring people together,
to start a dialogue,

00:51:20.240 --> 00:51:22.650
and Frank, I think, was constitutionally

00:51:22.650 --> 00:51:24.333
incapable of dialogue.

00:51:25.170 --> 00:51:29.910
Frank was primarily a person
who engaged in monologues,

00:51:29.910 --> 00:51:34.050
in which he spoke his mind
and said you were wrong,

00:51:34.050 --> 00:51:37.634
and I want you to come
around to my point of view

00:51:37.634 --> 00:51:40.287
or you will be the target of my wrath.

00:51:42.020 --> 00:51:45.240
- So I started the Mattachine Society here

00:51:45.240 --> 00:51:48.790
and I founded the gay
movement here in Washington.

00:51:48.790 --> 00:51:52.960
And in retrospect, that turned
out to be the initiation

00:51:52.960 --> 00:51:56.168
of gay activism and militancy nationally.

00:51:57.196 --> 00:52:00.150
(whimsical jazz music)

00:52:00.150 --> 00:52:01.760
- [Voiceover] Enclosed
is a formal statement

00:52:01.760 --> 00:52:04.933
of the purposes of the
Mattachine Society of Washington,

00:52:06.000 --> 00:52:09.010
a newly formed organization
devoted to the improvement

00:52:09.010 --> 00:52:12.983
of the status of our country's
15-million homosexuals.

00:52:14.170 --> 00:52:16.180
The question of homosexuality,

00:52:16.180 --> 00:52:18.833
and the prejudices against
it, is a serious one.

00:52:19.720 --> 00:52:23.520
We feel the government's
approach is archaic, unrealistic,

00:52:23.520 --> 00:52:26.723
and inconsistent with
basic American principles.

00:52:28.850 --> 00:52:31.230
- He says this is not
about national security,

00:52:31.230 --> 00:52:34.550
this is not about morality,
this is not about blackmail.

00:52:34.550 --> 00:52:35.750
It's about civil rights.

00:52:36.740 --> 00:52:38.563
So he completely reframes the issue.

00:52:41.243 --> 00:52:43.383
- [Voiceover] We will be pleased
to meet with you personally

00:52:43.383 --> 00:52:47.800
at your convenience, to discuss
these and related matters.

00:52:47.800 --> 00:52:51.250
Sincerely yours, the Mattachine
Society of Washington,

00:52:51.250 --> 00:52:54.284
Franklin E. Kameny, President.

00:52:54.284 --> 00:52:56.684
(whimsical jazz music)

00:52:57.810 --> 00:52:59.343
- [Voiceover] Dear Mr. Kameny,

00:52:59.343 --> 00:53:02.334
I am unalterably opposed to your proposal

00:53:02.334 --> 00:53:05.642
and cannot see how any
person in his right mind

00:53:05.642 --> 00:53:09.100
can condone the practices
which you would justify.

00:53:09.100 --> 00:53:14.100
Please do not contaminate my
mail with such filthy trash.

00:53:14.470 --> 00:53:16.973
Paul C. Jones, Member of Congress.

00:53:19.770 --> 00:53:21.345
- [Voiceover] Dear Mr. Kameny,

00:53:21.345 --> 00:53:24.245
your letter of August
28th has been received.

00:53:24.245 --> 00:53:26.811
And in reply, may I state unequivocally

00:53:26.811 --> 00:53:28.828
that in all my six years of service

00:53:28.828 --> 00:53:30.423
in the United States Congress,

00:53:30.423 --> 00:53:33.990
I have not received such
a revolting communication.

00:53:33.990 --> 00:53:36.590
Very truly yours, Charles E. Chamberlain,

00:53:36.590 --> 00:53:38.461
Member of Congress.

00:53:41.847 --> 00:53:43.630
- Dear Dr. Kameny,

00:53:43.630 --> 00:53:46.029
It should be perfectly apparent to you,

00:53:46.029 --> 00:53:50.296
as it was to me upon receipt
of your first letter,

00:53:50.296 --> 00:53:52.490
that I am unable to make any reply

00:53:52.490 --> 00:53:55.270
that will be satisfactory to you.

00:53:55.270 --> 00:53:58.460
I do not intend to
change the present policy

00:53:58.460 --> 00:54:00.210
of the Department of State

00:54:00.210 --> 00:54:03.040
toward the employment of homosexuals.

00:54:03.040 --> 00:54:07.398
I must respectfully suggest
that I can see no usefulness

00:54:07.398 --> 00:54:10.165
to a continuation of this correspondence.

00:54:10.165 --> 00:54:12.185
Sincerely yours.

00:54:15.450 --> 00:54:17.050
- [Interviewer] You felt
very strongly about this

00:54:17.050 --> 00:54:18.317
at that time.

00:54:20.175 --> 00:54:22.420
- Yeah, well, I mean, I, I felt that, that

00:54:22.420 --> 00:54:25.620
I believed in what I said. (chuckling)

00:54:25.620 --> 00:54:29.560
And I think I phrased it reasonably.

00:54:29.560 --> 00:54:31.064
- [Interviewer] How do you
feel about reading this

00:54:31.064 --> 00:54:32.663
all these years later?

00:54:33.610 --> 00:54:36.676
- I'm glad I had good English
teachers at school. (laughs)

00:54:38.030 --> 00:54:39.230
- [Interviewer] Did you ever feel sorry

00:54:39.230 --> 00:54:41.620
for any of the people who lost their jobs?

00:54:41.620 --> 00:54:43.620
They might have been good at their jobs.

00:54:45.870 --> 00:54:49.304
- Yes, they might have
been, but you cannot

00:54:49.304 --> 00:54:52.761
spend your time feeling sorry for people

00:54:52.761 --> 00:54:56.365
when the processes have been

00:54:56.365 --> 00:55:00.363
legal, proper and fair.

00:55:02.520 --> 00:55:05.360
- In September of 1962,
the Mattachine Society

00:55:05.360 --> 00:55:09.510
is granted a license to allow
it to solicit contributions.

00:55:09.510 --> 00:55:12.230
And a congressman from Texas, John Dowdy,

00:55:12.230 --> 00:55:15.093
reads about this in the
newspaper, and he is outraged.

00:55:15.940 --> 00:55:18.558
He introduces a bill
to revoke the license,

00:55:18.558 --> 00:55:21.470
and as he put it, to cripple Mattachine.

00:55:21.470 --> 00:55:26.350
- So we demanded a congressional hearing,

00:55:26.350 --> 00:55:30.091
which to our pleasant
surprise, they gave us.

00:55:33.549 --> 00:55:36.499
(dramatic orchestral music)

00:55:37.730 --> 00:55:40.770
- [Voiceover] Mr. Chairman,
and members of the committee.

00:55:40.770 --> 00:55:43.745
I appear here today as
President of the Mattachine-

00:55:43.745 --> 00:55:45.240
- [Voiceover] Well now
let me interrupt you,

00:55:45.240 --> 00:55:47.020
because in my part of the country

00:55:47.020 --> 00:55:50.330
I don't think we run into
any of these perverts.

00:55:50.330 --> 00:55:52.890
I haven't heard any of
them bragging about it.

00:55:52.890 --> 00:55:55.200
- [Voiceover] This is a matter
on which one doesn't brag

00:55:55.200 --> 00:55:57.830
but one doesn't have to
be ashamed of something

00:55:57.830 --> 00:56:00.403
for which there is no
reason to be ashamed.

00:56:01.260 --> 00:56:04.247
- He has the confidence to declare,

00:56:04.247 --> 00:56:08.440
"I don't care if you tell
me I'm sick or a criminal.

00:56:08.440 --> 00:56:12.440
I know that that is not true
and that that is wrong."

00:56:12.440 --> 00:56:16.718
And it was that attitude that

00:56:16.718 --> 00:56:20.218
labels him as different from the activists

00:56:20.218 --> 00:56:22.450
who had come before him.

00:56:22.450 --> 00:56:24.610
- [Voiceover] And it's your
purpose then that you would like

00:56:24.610 --> 00:56:26.617
to promote your perversion so that

00:56:26.617 --> 00:56:28.379
you have more people in your-

00:56:28.379 --> 00:56:30.353
- [Voiceover] No, no.
Our primary effort is to

00:56:30.353 --> 00:56:32.500
alter present discriminatory policy

00:56:32.500 --> 00:56:34.900
against the homosexual minority,

00:56:34.900 --> 00:56:39.440
a minority perhaps almost as
large as the Negro minority.

00:56:39.440 --> 00:56:41.350
- [Voiceover] You keep
on comparing yourselves

00:56:41.350 --> 00:56:43.230
to the Negro minority.

00:56:43.230 --> 00:56:46.800
Are you trying to pull them
down to your moral level?

00:56:46.800 --> 00:56:48.890
- [Voiceover] We do not
consider our moral level

00:56:48.890 --> 00:56:50.600
to be a low one.

00:56:50.600 --> 00:56:53.290
We consider it to be fully as high a one

00:56:53.290 --> 00:56:58.020
as anybody else's, including
members of this committee.

00:56:58.020 --> 00:57:01.437
(light orchestral music)

00:57:05.488 --> 00:57:07.250
- Ultimately, the next year,

00:57:07.250 --> 00:57:12.250
we gave Dowdy a citation for
his wonderful service to us.

00:57:13.170 --> 00:57:16.214
We sent him an engraved,
on engraved parchment

00:57:16.214 --> 00:57:20.007
a citation for his wonderful service to us

00:57:20.007 --> 00:57:22.617
for having given us publicity

00:57:22.617 --> 00:57:24.913
that we never would have had before.

00:57:32.551 --> 00:57:34.517
("The Times They Are
a-Changin'" by Bob Dylan)

00:57:34.517 --> 00:57:36.722
♪ Come gather 'round, people ♪

00:57:36.722 --> 00:57:39.419
♪ Wherever you roam ♪

00:57:39.419 --> 00:57:41.760
♪ And admit that the waters ♪

00:57:41.760 --> 00:57:46.223
- In the 1960s, there was
this huge upheaval in society.

00:57:47.500 --> 00:57:49.680
There was the black civil rights movement,

00:57:49.680 --> 00:57:52.160
there was the anti-war movement,

00:57:52.160 --> 00:57:54.335
there was the feminist movement.

00:57:54.335 --> 00:57:57.228
Other minorities were
protesting for their rights.

00:57:57.228 --> 00:57:58.826
♪ Or you'll sink like a stone ♪

00:57:58.826 --> 00:58:03.243
♪ For the times, they are a-changin' ♪

00:58:04.170 --> 00:58:06.578
- Everyone was speaking
up for their rights

00:58:06.578 --> 00:58:09.303
except for homosexuals.

00:58:10.536 --> 00:58:12.810
- They're still being entirely excluded

00:58:12.810 --> 00:58:15.980
from the federal government
throughout the 1960s.

00:58:15.980 --> 00:58:18.900
Even some of the '60s social
programs that we think

00:58:18.900 --> 00:58:20.700
of as being liberal, like the Peace Corps

00:58:20.700 --> 00:58:23.093
and the Jobs Corps,
screened out homosexuals.

00:58:24.410 --> 00:58:28.140
- In Washington, D.C., there
was another young gay man

00:58:28.140 --> 00:58:29.910
named Jack Nichols.

00:58:29.910 --> 00:58:33.920
In Philadelphia, there was a
woman named Barbara Gittings,

00:58:33.920 --> 00:58:37.777
and a few others like them, begin to say,

00:58:37.777 --> 00:58:39.930
"We have to push the envelope."

00:58:39.930 --> 00:58:44.679
And by 1964-1965,

00:58:44.679 --> 00:58:46.038
there aren't a lot of them,

00:58:46.038 --> 00:58:49.185
but there are enough of them that they

00:58:49.185 --> 00:58:53.035
can start forming picket lines
outside government buildings.

00:58:55.477 --> 00:58:58.894
(hopeful music)

00:59:01.380 --> 00:59:03.982
- 1965 was our big picketing year.

00:59:03.982 --> 00:59:06.036
We had marched across the street,

00:59:06.036 --> 00:59:09.290
and proceeded to picket, right over there.

00:59:09.290 --> 00:59:11.350
- In the beginning, he
could never get more

00:59:11.350 --> 00:59:15.472
than a handful of people
to join his pickets.

00:59:15.472 --> 00:59:18.070
It was so frightening to be identified

00:59:18.070 --> 00:59:20.733
in public as a homosexual.

00:59:22.900 --> 00:59:25.600
- Well, I'm a poor country
boy from West Virginia,

00:59:25.600 --> 00:59:27.740
and this is amazing to me!

00:59:27.740 --> 00:59:30.220
I mean, I didn't know this
was a problem over here,

00:59:30.220 --> 00:59:31.640
or at least I didn't think anyone

00:59:31.640 --> 00:59:33.780
would have a sign out about it.

00:59:33.780 --> 00:59:36.380
Let's face it, homosexuality is a problem,

00:59:36.380 --> 00:59:38.840
and these people are really advocating

00:59:38.840 --> 00:59:40.600
that we tolerate the problem.

00:59:40.600 --> 00:59:42.790
And I think these people are a fit subject

00:59:42.790 --> 00:59:44.960
for a mental health program.

00:59:44.960 --> 00:59:46.393
These people need help.

00:59:52.600 --> 00:59:57.563
- The first, first time,
there were just 10, just 10.

00:59:59.117 --> 01:00:02.183
I was the only lesbian.

01:00:02.183 --> 01:00:05.316
And it was very exciting
for me, very, very exciting.

01:00:06.797 --> 01:00:09.723
And we looked very good
because Frank had a dress code.

01:00:11.760 --> 01:00:14.320
- He told the people who
picketed along with him

01:00:14.320 --> 01:00:17.750
that they had to wear suits
and ties if they were men,

01:00:17.750 --> 01:00:20.263
and dresses and pumps, if they were women.

01:00:21.390 --> 01:00:25.839
Even butch women who had never
walked around in pumps before

01:00:25.839 --> 01:00:28.922
had to dress up in dresses and pumps

01:00:28.922 --> 01:00:31.980
if they wanted to join his pickets.

01:00:31.980 --> 01:00:36.947
And he said, "If you want to
be employed, look employable."

01:00:38.433 --> 01:00:40.099
- And the State Department, of course,

01:00:40.099 --> 01:00:43.182
had been really zeroed in on by McCarthy,

01:00:43.182 --> 01:00:45.535
a good 12, 15 years before.

01:00:45.535 --> 01:00:48.093
And that's where more
firings I think had occurred

01:00:48.093 --> 01:00:49.909
than any other one single agency.

01:00:49.909 --> 01:00:52.340
And so, we felt it was
appropriate to picket.

01:00:52.340 --> 01:00:55.130
By that time, we had
our procedures down pat,

01:00:55.130 --> 01:00:58.040
we had sent out a news release
a week or so in advance,

01:00:58.040 --> 01:01:01.809
and by sheer good luck,
Secretary of State Rusk

01:01:01.809 --> 01:01:04.773
was having a news
conference the night before.

01:01:05.760 --> 01:01:07.410
- I understand that we are being picketed

01:01:07.410 --> 01:01:09.943
by a group of homosexuals.

01:01:11.550 --> 01:01:15.443
The policy of the department is

01:01:15.443 --> 01:01:18.520
that we do not employ
homosexuals knowingly,

01:01:18.520 --> 01:01:20.986
and that if we discover
homosexuals in our department

01:01:20.986 --> 01:01:22.990
we discharge them.

01:01:22.990 --> 01:01:25.150
So that I don't think
we can give any comfort

01:01:25.150 --> 01:01:28.219
to those who might be tempted
to picket us tomorrow.

01:01:28.219 --> 01:01:32.136
♪ Come senators, congressmen,
please heed the call ♪

01:01:33.560 --> 01:01:36.580
- [Narrator] But Frank
Kameny was undeterred.

01:01:36.580 --> 01:01:38.840
The picket lines were growing.

01:01:38.840 --> 01:01:42.661
The seeds of revolution had been sown.

01:01:42.661 --> 01:01:46.842
♪ The battle outside ragin' ♪

01:01:46.842 --> 01:01:49.214
♪ Will soon shake your windows ♪

01:01:49.214 --> 01:01:51.006
♪ And rattle your walls ♪

01:01:51.006 --> 01:01:55.748
♪ For the times, they are a-changin' ♪

01:02:04.046 --> 01:02:07.713
(tense music)

01:02:09.160 --> 01:02:14.160
- Almost at the very end of
the decade, June 28th, 1969,

01:02:14.170 --> 01:02:17.570
the police raided a bar
in Greenwich Village.

01:02:17.570 --> 01:02:20.620
They'd been raiding bars in
Greenwich Village forever,

01:02:20.620 --> 01:02:24.570
certainly through the
'50s and through the '60s.

01:02:24.570 --> 01:02:26.595
But on this particular night,

01:02:26.595 --> 01:02:29.686
the patrons of the Stonewall Inn

01:02:29.686 --> 01:02:32.269
decided that they
wouldn't take it anymore,

01:02:32.269 --> 01:02:33.720
and they fought back.

01:02:33.720 --> 01:02:38.261
And there was a riot that
went on for several days.

01:02:38.261 --> 01:02:41.550
(tense music)
(sirens blaring)

01:02:41.550 --> 01:02:44.930
That riot started a whole new tenor

01:02:44.930 --> 01:02:47.453
in the homosexual rights movement.

01:02:49.025 --> 01:02:51.658
- (crowd chanting)
Say it loud, gay and proud.

01:02:51.658 --> 01:02:53.616
Say it loud, gay and proud.

01:02:53.616 --> 01:02:55.491
Say it loud, gay and proud.

01:02:55.491 --> 01:02:57.191
- [Narrator] The movement gained momentum

01:02:57.191 --> 01:03:00.890
through the 1970s, '80s and '90s.

01:03:00.890 --> 01:03:02.832
But all during that time,

01:03:02.832 --> 01:03:06.372
government workers
discovered to be homosexual

01:03:06.372 --> 01:03:09.497
would continue to be
denied security clearance

01:03:09.497 --> 01:03:12.438
and removed from their jobs.

01:03:13.763 --> 01:03:17.430
(suspenseful music)

01:03:18.540 --> 01:03:21.323
- I was sitting at my desk at NSA.

01:03:23.000 --> 01:03:24.705
My supervisor came around,

01:03:24.705 --> 01:03:26.755
tapped me on the shoulder and said,

01:03:26.755 --> 01:03:28.946
"You're wanted in security."

01:03:30.805 --> 01:03:34.005
(tense music)

01:03:41.570 --> 01:03:44.903
And sitting there are several officials.

01:03:46.165 --> 01:03:46.998
And they said,

01:03:46.998 --> 01:03:50.200
"We understand you're
leading a gay lifestyle."

01:03:50.200 --> 01:03:53.380
And they took my badge, and they told me

01:03:53.380 --> 01:03:56.733
that I can't be gay and
work there at the same time.

01:03:57.640 --> 01:04:02.193
So immediately, when
I got home that night,

01:04:03.270 --> 01:04:06.410
I called up Dr. Franklin Kameny.

01:04:06.410 --> 01:04:08.993
I'd read about him and I knew

01:04:08.993 --> 01:04:12.033
that he took on cases like this.

01:04:12.033 --> 01:04:14.820
So, I identified myself on the phone.

01:04:14.820 --> 01:04:16.733
I told him what had happened.

01:04:17.910 --> 01:04:20.020
And there was a silence there.

01:04:20.020 --> 01:04:22.070
And then, all of a sudden, boom!

01:04:22.070 --> 01:04:26.490
He said, "How could you
possibly have said anything

01:04:27.530 --> 01:04:28.930
to them about anything!

01:04:28.930 --> 01:04:32.210
You should not have let
them take your badge!

01:04:32.210 --> 01:04:33.873
Why didn't you hold onto it?

01:04:34.840 --> 01:04:37.890
Why didn't you keep your mouth shut!

01:04:37.890 --> 01:04:40.720
Never, never say anything."

01:04:40.720 --> 01:04:43.860
And, oh my gosh, I was just like rattling

01:04:43.860 --> 01:04:45.563
on the phone, listening to this.

01:04:46.920 --> 01:04:50.027
But after he calmed down, then he said,

01:04:50.027 --> 01:04:52.550
"You are not gonna say
another thing to the agency.

01:04:52.550 --> 01:04:56.630
I am now your effective counselor.

01:04:56.630 --> 01:04:58.160
It's in my hands.

01:04:58.160 --> 01:04:59.143
Don't worry."

01:05:00.150 --> 01:05:04.763
And immediately, he's firing
off letters to the agency.

01:05:06.270 --> 01:05:07.595
- Although I wasn't a lawyer,

01:05:07.595 --> 01:05:10.861
I could act administratively
up to a point,

01:05:10.861 --> 01:05:14.253
and I ended up becoming the
authority in the country

01:05:14.253 --> 01:05:16.561
on security clearances for gay people,

01:05:16.561 --> 01:05:19.180
and have mounds of folders at home

01:05:19.180 --> 01:05:20.973
of case after case after case.

01:05:25.330 --> 01:05:27.683
- And, you know, they
were listening to him.

01:05:28.700 --> 01:05:29.751
They were.

01:05:32.143 --> 01:05:35.110
(hopeful music)

01:05:40.640 --> 01:05:42.730
When this decision came through,

01:05:42.730 --> 01:05:46.090
he was absolutely overjoyed.

01:05:46.090 --> 01:05:49.810
He said, "Jamie, this is the
biggest case I've ever had.

01:05:49.810 --> 01:05:54.202
"This is the biggest
success I've ever had."

01:05:58.260 --> 01:05:59.703
- So it's a long struggle,

01:05:59.703 --> 01:06:02.370
and there are several
important victories along way,

01:06:02.370 --> 01:06:05.011
but it's not until August 1995,

01:06:05.011 --> 01:06:07.652
when President Clinton
signs an executive order

01:06:07.652 --> 01:06:10.977
barring the federal
government from excluding

01:06:10.977 --> 01:06:14.187
gays and lesbians from
holding security clearances,

01:06:14.187 --> 01:06:18.020
that the policy begun
under Eisenhower in 1953

01:06:18.020 --> 01:06:20.620
is finally and definitively reversed.

01:06:21.860 --> 01:06:25.560
- When that happened, obviously
I was satisfied, of course.

01:06:25.560 --> 01:06:27.642
But I knew then as I still know,

01:06:27.642 --> 01:06:30.590
that I was right and they were wrong,

01:06:30.590 --> 01:06:33.493
and therefore I would prevail.

01:06:36.600 --> 01:06:39.028
- One of the things that's
so deeply satisfying

01:06:39.028 --> 01:06:41.844
about the way Frank's story turns out

01:06:41.844 --> 01:06:45.177
is that because he didn't go away,

01:06:45.177 --> 01:06:49.668
because he was so stubborn,
and because he didn't give up,

01:06:49.668 --> 01:06:52.600
he got to be there as,
as changed occurred.

01:06:52.600 --> 01:06:55.833
He got to have recognition.

01:06:57.233 --> 01:07:01.083
(hopeful music)

01:07:02.970 --> 01:07:06.461
- At this point, in some ways,

01:07:06.461 --> 01:07:09.086
there have been a, a variety

01:07:09.086 --> 01:07:14.086
of almost storybook
endings on a lot of things.

01:07:14.650 --> 01:07:18.210
For example, when they
renamed a street for me,

01:07:18.210 --> 01:07:21.151
things like that, invitations
to the White House.

01:07:23.040 --> 01:07:25.150
- That's the story of
a civil rights pioneer

01:07:25.150 --> 01:07:27.774
who is here today, Frank
Kameny, who was fired-

01:07:27.774 --> 01:07:30.941
(crowd cheering)

01:07:38.434 --> 01:07:40.450
- Every so often I get letters from people

01:07:40.450 --> 01:07:43.225
I have never met, and never will meet,

01:07:43.225 --> 01:07:45.624
just simply thanking me for things,

01:07:45.624 --> 01:07:48.378
for the past work, and so on.

01:07:49.730 --> 01:07:54.730
- And in 1965, he led a protest
outside the White House,

01:07:55.260 --> 01:07:58.030
which was, at the time,
both an act of conscience

01:07:58.030 --> 01:08:01.110
but also an act of extraordinary courage.

01:08:01.110 --> 01:08:03.140
And so we are proud of you, Frank,

01:08:03.140 --> 01:08:05.148
and we are grateful to you,

01:08:05.148 --> 01:08:10.148
(crowd cheering)
for your leadership.

01:08:10.440 --> 01:08:13.564
- And with the realization that,

01:08:13.564 --> 01:08:15.423
for as many years as there are,

01:08:15.423 --> 01:08:16.623
I'm in the last years of my life,

01:08:16.623 --> 01:08:19.560
and I've come comfortably
to terms with that,

01:08:19.560 --> 01:08:22.016
it's satisfying, yes.

01:08:25.674 --> 01:08:29.607
"True Colors"
by Cyndi Lauper

01:08:35.325 --> 01:08:39.296
♪ With your sad eyes ♪

01:08:39.296 --> 01:08:41.885
♪ Don't be discouraged ♪

01:08:41.885 --> 01:08:45.624
♪ Though I realize ♪

01:08:45.624 --> 01:08:48.511
♪ It's hard to take courage ♪

01:08:48.511 --> 01:08:51.749
♪ In a world full of people ♪

01:08:51.749 --> 01:08:54.577
♪ You can lose sight of it all ♪

01:08:54.577 --> 01:08:57.301
♪ And the darkness inside you ♪

01:08:57.301 --> 01:09:00.038
♪ Makes you feel so small ♪

01:09:00.038 --> 01:09:03.846
♪ But I see your true colors ♪

01:09:03.846 --> 01:09:06.087
♪ Shining through ♪

01:09:06.087 --> 01:09:09.180
- [Carl Rizzi] He called
the Chief Postal Inspector.

01:09:09.180 --> 01:09:12.177
He said, "I know Rizzi's gay."

01:09:12.177 --> 01:09:14.040
He said, "That don't bother his work.

01:09:14.040 --> 01:09:15.417
Leave him alone."

01:09:16.510 --> 01:09:21.510
♪ So don't be afraid to let them show ♪

01:09:22.471 --> 01:09:27.471
♪ Your true colors, true colors ♪

01:09:28.821 --> 01:09:33.821
♪ Are beautiful ♪

01:09:34.682 --> 01:09:39.682
♪ Like a rainbow ♪

01:09:47.636 --> 01:09:49.020
- [Voiceover] Guess what.

01:09:49.020 --> 01:09:53.407
The State Department had
flagged my file: "Lesbian."

01:09:54.530 --> 01:09:57.090
So, they wouldn't give me a passport.

01:09:57.090 --> 01:09:59.401
No passport, no Fulbright.

01:09:59.401 --> 01:10:02.238
♪ And if this world makes you crazy ♪

01:10:02.238 --> 01:10:05.709
♪ And you've taken all you can bear ♪

01:10:05.709 --> 01:10:08.110
♪ You call me up ♪

01:10:08.110 --> 01:10:10.889
♪ Because you know I'll be there ♪

01:10:10.889 --> 01:10:14.415
♪ But I see your true colors ♪

01:10:14.415 --> 01:10:16.977
♪ Shining through ♪

01:10:16.977 --> 01:10:20.990
♪ I see your true colors ♪

01:10:20.990 --> 01:10:24.066
♪ And that's why I love you ♪

01:10:24.066 --> 01:10:27.207
♪ So don't be afraid ♪

01:10:27.207 --> 01:10:30.187
♪ To let them show ♪

01:10:30.187 --> 01:10:35.187
♪ Your true colors, true colors ♪

01:10:36.294 --> 01:10:41.294
♪ Are beautiful ♪

01:10:42.295 --> 01:10:45.353
♪ Like a rainbow ♪

01:10:46.220 --> 01:10:48.586
- If Drew walked in the door today,

01:10:48.586 --> 01:10:52.302
we would probably, with glee,

01:10:52.302 --> 01:10:56.020
both discuss how far
we've come as a society,

01:10:56.020 --> 01:10:59.352
and remember the terrible times
when we lived double lives,

01:10:59.352 --> 01:11:02.414
dichotomous lives in the closet.

01:11:02.414 --> 01:11:04.983
And I'd probably be asking his advice

01:11:04.983 --> 01:11:07.864
on my upcoming wedding plans.

01:11:08.930 --> 01:11:11.020
But probably the most important thing

01:11:11.020 --> 01:11:15.210
that I think Drew would say
if he knew where we've come,

01:11:15.210 --> 01:11:19.525
he would say, "I have my dignity back."

01:11:19.525 --> 01:11:24.525
♪ Your true colors, true colors ♪

01:11:25.532 --> 01:11:30.532
♪ Are beautiful ♪

01:11:32.140 --> 01:11:37.140
♪ True colors shining through ♪

01:11:38.260 --> 01:11:40.976
♪ True colors ♪

01:11:40.976 --> 01:11:43.853
♪ And that's why I love you ♪

01:11:43.853 --> 01:11:47.020
♪ So don't be afraid ♪

01:11:47.020 --> 01:11:49.880
♪ To let them show ♪

01:11:49.880 --> 01:11:53.350
- My feeling always was
that I simply wasn't going

01:11:53.350 --> 01:11:55.683
to adjust myself to society,

01:11:56.620 --> 01:11:59.930
that, with considerable success,

01:11:59.930 --> 01:12:02.890
I had managed to adjust society to me,

01:12:02.890 --> 01:12:04.627
and society is much the better off

01:12:04.627 --> 01:12:06.892
for the adjustments
that I've administered.

01:12:06.892 --> 01:12:11.892
♪ Your true colors, true colors ♪

01:12:12.775 --> 01:12:17.775
♪ Are beautiful ♪

01:12:19.206 --> 01:12:24.173
♪ Like a rainbow ♪

01:12:33.852 --> 01:12:37.649
♪ Lavender blue, dilly-dilly ♪

01:12:37.649 --> 01:12:42.246
♪ Lavender green ♪

01:12:42.246 --> 01:12:47.246
♪ If you were king, dilly-dilly,
you'd need a queen ♪

01:12:50.738 --> 01:12:55.158
♪ Who told me so, dilly-dilly ♪

01:12:55.158 --> 01:12:59.332
♪ Who told me so ♪

01:12:59.332 --> 01:13:03.822
♪ I told myself, dilly-dilly ♪

01:13:03.822 --> 01:13:07.041
♪ I told me so ♪

01:13:07.041 --> 01:13:09.124
♪ If your dilly-dilly heart ♪

01:13:09.124 --> 01:13:11.466
♪ Feels a dilly-dilly way ♪

01:13:11.466 --> 01:13:15.451
♪ If you'll answer yes ♪

01:13:15.451 --> 01:13:17.790
♪ In a pretty little church ♪

01:13:17.790 --> 01:13:20.323
♪ On a dilly-dilly day ♪

01:13:20.323 --> 01:13:25.323
♪ I'll be wed in a dilly-dilly dress of ♪

01:13:28.113 --> 01:13:32.797
♪ Lavender blue, dilly-dilly ♪

01:13:32.797 --> 01:13:36.715
♪ Lavender green ♪

01:13:36.715 --> 01:13:41.496
♪ Then you'll be king, dilly-dilly ♪

01:13:41.496 --> 01:13:44.688
♪ And I'll be queen ♪

01:14:02.929 --> 01:14:07.929
♪ Then you'll be king dilly-dilly ♪

01:14:08.127 --> 01:14:13.102
♪ And I'll be your queen ♪

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The Lavender Scare

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