The renewed effort to pass the Employment Non-Discrimination Act launched last week came days before the 60th anniversary of a defining moment in LGBT history, when thousands of employees and contractors were purged from the federal government because they were gay or lesbian.

On April 27, 1953, President Dwight D. Eisenhower issued an executive order calling for the removal of homosexuals from all federal agencies. Gay and lesbian government workers were immediately fired or resigned out of fear of being publicly outed.  Even LGBT people working in the private sector whose jobs required them to have a federal security clearance were also fired or resigned.

The supposed justification for the purge was that homosexuals were a godless, immoral group who would work with communists to overthrow the government, thereby posing an imminent threat to national security.

While many remember the “Red Scare” of the mid-20th century, the purging of LGBT government employees, dubbed the “Lavender Scare,” today rarely receives its due as a catalyst for the LGBT equality movement. In 2004, David K. Johnson helped bring the historical moment to light in his book The Lavender Scare: The Cold War Persecution of Gays and Lesbians in the Federal Government.

This summer, a documentary titled “The Lavender Scare” is set to hit theaters and film festivals. Gay Politics spoke with Producer/Director Josh Howard and Executive Producer Kevin Jennings about the making of the film and the importance of the Lavender Scare, both 60 years ago and today.

GP: What was your motivation in creating the film?

JH: Our aim is to shed light an important aspect of LGBT history that has never received the attention it deserves.  There are many, many movies and books about the Cold War and the McCarthy Era, but the story of how gay men and lesbians were systematically driven from their government jobs during that time has never been fully told.  Thousands and thousands of LGBT people fired; by contrast, only a couple of hundred suspected Communists lost their jobs.  The history books don’t acknowledge this, and as a result few very people know about it.  It’s a dramatic example of the ways in which the role of the LGBT community is often overlooked and marginalized in the telling of American history. The Lavender Scare will help to correct the historical record and bring this story to a broad audience.  As we have learned all too well, if our community doesn’t speak out on its own behalf, nobody is going to do it for us.

KJ: We also felt that if we didn’t make this film now, it could never be made.  Fewer and fewer people who lived through the witch hunts are still alive.  In order to tell this story, we need the first-hand accounts of both the victims of the witch hunts and the government officials who were in charge.  We have been successful in locating and interviewing enough key players to be able to construct a compelling film, but we knew our window of opportunity was closing.  In fact, one of the key players in the story is Frank Kameny, who became the first person to fight back against the government’s policy of firing LGBT people, and went on to devote his entire life to the fight for LGBT rights.  We spent three days filming interviews with Frank.  Sadly, he passed away shortly thereafter.

Continue reading »

Eric Fanning, an openly gay man, was confirmed Thursday by the U.S. Senate as under secretary of the Air Force, the second-highest ranking civilian position.

Fanning was appointed by President Barack Obama last August, and previously served as Deputy Under Secretary and Deputy Chief Management Officer of the Department of the Navy.  He has deep experience both within the Pentagon and on Capitol Hill, where he worked on the House Armed Services Committee.

According to the U.S. Air Force Web site, the Under Secretary for the Air Force is responsible for “the organizing, training, equipping and providing for the welfare of…more than 333,000 active duty men and women, 178,000 Air National Guard and the Air Force Reserve members, 182,000 civilians, and their families.”

Fanning served on the board of directors for the Gay & Lesbian Victory Fund from 2004 to 2007.

As we celebrate Women’s History Month, Gay Politics congratulates Judge Pamela Ki Mai Chen, who became the first openly LGBT Asian American to sit on the federal bench this week when the U.S. Senate confirmed her to serve on the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York.

Chen was born in Chicago in 1961 to Chinese-immigrant parents. Her father was born near Shanghai, and her mother near Changsha. She studied at the University of Michigan, where she earned her Bachelor’s of Arts in 1983. Three years later, she earned her law degree from Georgetown University Law Center.

After earning her J.D., Chen worked as an associate in the law firm of Arnold & Porter for three years and in the criminal defense law firm of Asbill, Junkin, Myers & Buffone for another three years. Next, as a trial attorney for the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice, Chen she worked to reform prisons, juvenile detention centers, and facilities for people who are developmentally disabled.

In her most recent position as an assistant U.S. attorney in the Eastern District of New York, Chen’s fight against human trafficking made her an internationally renowned prosecutor. She worked on an array of civil rights and crime cases, and was described by Sen. Charles Schumer as a woman with “a lifelong dedication to justice.”

In 2008, while briefly leaving her work as assistant U.S. attorney, Chen served as the Deputy Commissioner for Enforcement at New York State’s Division of Human Rights. She supervised discrimination cases in housing, employment, health care and public benefits. Chen is “a trailblazer in every sense of the word,” and “a fantastic choice for a position on the Eastern District Court,” Schumer said.

Upon the retirement of Judge Raymond Dearie, Sen. Schumer recommended Chen for appointment to the federal district court, and President Obama nominated her without hesitation. “Pamela Chen has a long and distinguished record of service, and I am confident she will serve on the federal bench with distinction,” President Obama said in a statement.

Her confirmation hearings were devoid of questions related to her sexual orientation, according to the Washington Blade.  ”No one accused me of ever making a decision based on any kind of political ideology, and I think my record speaks for itself over the last 20 years,” Chen told a Senate Judiciary Committee panel.

Chen is now the fifth openly LGBT federal judge in U.S. history.

Ben Panico is a Victory Congressional Intern, serving in the office of Rep. Dan Kildee, D-Mich.

Eleven of 137 U.S. cities evaluated scored a perfect 100 on the first-ever Municipal Equality Index released today by the Human Rights Campaign Foundation, in partnership with the Equality Federation and the Gay & Lesbian Victory Institute.

Among the cities with perfect scores were Boston, St. Louis and Long Beach, Calif., site of this week’s LGBT Leaders 2012 conference.

According to HRC:

The MEI rates cities based on 47 criteria falling under six broad categories: non-discrimination laws; relationship recognition; the municipality’s employment practices; inclusiveness of city services; law enforcement; and municipal leadership.  Key findings from the MEI create a snapshot of LGBT equality in 137 municipalities of varying sizes drawn from every state in the nation – these include the 50 state capitals, the 50 most populous cities in the country, and the 25 large, 25 mid-size, and 25 small municipalities with the highest proportion of same-sex couples.  Seattle and other 100-point cities serve as shining examples of LGBT inclusivity, with excellent policies ranging from non-discrimination laws, equal employee benefits, and cutting-edge city services.

Go here to read the rankings and to download a copy of the MEI.

President Barack Obama has announced his intention to appoint Eric Fanning as the next Under Secretary of the Air Force, the White House announced this week.  Fanning, who currently serves as Deputy Under Secretary and Deputy Chief Management Officer of the Department of the Navy, has deep experience both within the Pentagon and on Capitol Hill, where he previously worked on the House Armed Services Committee.

According to the U.S. Air Force Web site, the Under Secretary for the Air Force is responsible for “the organizing, training, equipping and providing for the welfare of…more than 333,000 active duty men and women, 178,000 Air National Guard and the Air Force Reserve members, 182,000 civilians, and their families.”  The under secretary serves as the Chief Management Officer of the Air Force, its senior energy official, and the focal point for space within Air Force Headquarters, according to the web site.

“I am honored by the President’s announcement, and look forward to working with the Congress and continuing to serve the Department of Defense during the confirmation process,” said Fanning, whose nomination must be confirmed by the U.S. Senate.

Fanning is among hundreds of openly LGBT Americans appointed during the Obama administration.  Find out more about out presidential appointees here.

UPDATE:  We neglected to mention in our initial post that Mr. Fanning is a former board member of the Gay & Lesbian Victory Fund.  Fanning served on the Fund’s board of directors from 2004 to 2007.