The Lavender Scare
"It is the opinion of this subcommittee that those who engage in acts of homosexuality and other perverted sex activities are unsuitable for employment in the federal government. This conclusion is based upon the fact that persons who indulge in such degraded activity are committing not only illegal and immoral acts but they also constitute security risks in positions of public trust."
- Employment of Homosexuals and Other Sex Perverts in Government, Interim Report, 1950
For more information on how the historical context of the Lavender Scare contributes Spies are Forever, see this video by Silvana Ltd.
The "lavender scare" was a moral panic about homosexual people in the United States government which led to their mass dismissal from government service during the mid-20th century. It contributed to and paralleled the anti-communist campaign which is known as McCarthyism and the Second Red Scare.Â
It was thought that gay people were more susceptible to being manipulated, which could pose a threat to the country. Lesbians were at less risk of persecution than gay men, but some lesbians were interrogated or lost their jobs.
Former U.S. Senator Alan K. Simpson wrote: "The so-called 'Red Scare' has been the main focus of most historians of that period of time. A lesser-known element and one that harmed far more people was the witch-hunt McCarthy and others conducted against homosexuals."