On April 25, the White House issued a proclamation noting April 27 as the 70th anniversary of the Lavender Scare, which negatively—and extensively—impacted the LGBTQ+ community.

In 1950, the U.S. State Department fired 91 employees because they were gay or suspected of being gay, JSTOR Daily noted. In the next two years, nearly 200 more state employees were dismissed for the same reason. The man who oversaw the purge was Undersecretary of State James E. Webb (whose name engendered controversy in 2021, when a space telescope named after him was launched on Christmas Day).

However, the anti-gay sentiment was consolidated in 1953, when the firing of LGBTQ+ employees became official policy with an executive order that President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed.

According to the White House proclamation, the Scare "was a decades-long period when 5,000 to 10,000 LGBTQI+ Federal employees were investigated, were interrogated, and lost their jobs simply because of who they were and whom they loved."

The proclamation also stated, "Our Nation was founded on the sacred idea that all of us are created equal and deserve to be treated equally under our laws. But for so many members of the LGBTQI+ community, hate, discrimination, and isolation throughout our country's history have denied them the full promise of America. The Lavender Scare epitomized—and institutionalized—this injustice. As LGBTQI+ employees were forced out of the workforce, the Federal Government attempted to defend its policies by propagating false and hateful stereotypes — accusing this community of being a threat to our national security and unworthy of public trust."

However, there were some heroes as well. As Biden pointed out, "One such trailblazer was Franklin Kameny, an Army astronomer, who after being fired because he was gay, dedicated over 50 years of his life to activism and helping LGBTQI+ workers stand up for their rights. In 2009, I was proud to meet Frank Kameny in the Oval Office as President Obama and I officially expanded many Federal benefits to same-sex partners of government employees."

The full proclamation is at Website Link Here .

—Andrew Davis