Embedded Files
By the late 1940s, even the general public was becoming more aware of homosexuality. Alfred Kinsey's Sexual Behavior in the Human Male, published in 1948, became a bestseller and drew attention for its claim that same-sex experiences were relatively common.
This publicity did not, however, make homosexuality more acceptable, in part because virtually no gay people were open about their sexuality. Also, the country was in the midst of a more general sex-crime panic, stirred up by a few highly publicized cases (eg. the Mattson kidnapping). In this context, greater public awareness of homosexuality coincided with growing unease and, in many parts of the country, an increase in official repression. Certainly this was true in Washington, DC.
In 1947 the U.S. Park Police initiated in the city a "Sex Perversion Elimination Program," targeting gay men for arrest and intimidation. A year later, Congress passed an act "for the treatment of sexual psychopaths" in the nation's capital. That law facilitated the arrest and punishment of people who acted on same-sex desire and also labeled them mentally ill. Homosexuality was perceived as a lurking subversive threat at a time when the country was coping with tremendous social change as well as rising anxiety about another lurking subversive threat: Communism.
Between civilian government employees and members of the military, an estimated 10,000 people were fired for being, or suspect of being, gay.
Just days before the 1965 presidential election, President Lyndon B. Johnson staff was dealing with damage control after one of the President's staff members, Walter Jenkins, was arrested by local police for a public morals offense. He was caught in a Washington D.C. bathroom with another man.
This video contains a recording of a phone call between President Johnson and J Edgar Hoover. The President asks Hoover for help on how to "recognize" a gay man. Hoover says that sometimes you can tell by the haircut.
In 1965 members of the Mattachine Society and Daughters of Bilitis, two of the first national gay rights organizations, marched in front of the White House in Washington D.C.. The man seen here leading the march was Jack Nichols, AKA Warren Adkins. Like most activists of that day, Jack had to use an alias, but also for the reason that his father, Jack Nichols Sr., was an FBI agent.
Below is a letter written by Jack Nichols Jr talking about his relationship with his father.
FBI agent Jack Nichols Sr. was investigated by his employer once it was learned his son was a homosexual. Nichols, Sr. was, for the most part, estranged from his son, although he did know he was queer. He had told his son to be careful when participating in any gay rights events as he was afraid that the FBI might make a connection between them, putting Nichols, Sr.’s job as an agent at risk.
Jack Nichols used a pseudonym, but continued his public exploits with MSW. After some time, the FBI managed to piece the information together with the help of Jack Nichols’ stepfather, who had called to complain about his gay stepson and gave the Bureau his real name. Once Hoover discovered Nichols, Sr. had hidden his knowledge of his son’s sexuality, the director made sure to transfer him out of Washington immediately. Several years down the line, Nichols, Sr. recognized that his career would no longer advance, and he quit after 32 years as an agent.
Source: Fort Hays University Scholars
Police raids on gay establishments continued into the 1970's. It was common in these raids for police to publish in the news the names and booking photos of those arrested for public morals charges.
On 7 March 1970, Diego Viñales, a young, gay Argentinian man jumped from the window of a New York police station after being arrested in a raid on a gay bar called the Snake Pit earlier that evening. He was terrified of being deported, as he had overstayed his visa. He ended up getting impaled on six 14-inch iron spikes and was critically injured, spending three months in hospital, after which police charged him with trying to escape. A protest demonstration organised on March 9 by the Gay Activists Alliance saw 500 people march from the precinct to the hospital and Sheridan Square. Eventually, sustained pressure led officials to drop all charges, and reassign two hundred police officers from harassing LGBT+ people to the narcotics division.
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