Biden issues first presidential statement recognizing ‘Lavender Scare’

President Biden signed the first presidential order to recognize the effects of the “Lavender Scare.” This was a time when LGBTQ Americans were not allowed to work in the federal government, starting in the 1950s and lasting for decades.

Joe Biden said that he made tremendous progress toward LGBTQ:

The US president said in a statement on Wednesday that the country has made “tremendous progress” toward equality for the LGBTQ community but needs to “reflect honestly on the darkest chapters of our story.”

The National Archives says that President Dwight Eisenhower signed an order more than 70 years ago that banned LGBTQ people from working for the government.

Over the course of decades, thousands of government workers were probed, forced to come out, and fired because of this order.

Biden said, “On this anniversary, we recognize how important it is to tell the full history of our country, to think about how this discrimination changed people’s lives, to honor the brave Americans who fought to end this wrong, and to celebrate the contributions of today’s proud LGBTQI+ public servants, including those in our Armed Forces.”

What led to the Red Scare and the Lavender Scare?

During the 1950s, Sen. Joseph McCarthy (R-Wis.) helped spread fears about communist sympathizers, which led to the Red Scare and the Lavender Scare.

Starting in the 1970s, parts of the order were slowly taken away. Before he left office in 2017, former President Obama also signed an order that officially canceled the first executive order.

Karine Jean-Pierre is the first LGBTQ person to work as the White House press secretary. She wrote that the anniversary of the first executive order is “personally important” to her.

She said, “It’s a reminder of how far we’ve come and the work that’s still going on under this Administration to give LGBTQI+ Americans full inclusion and equal protection.”

More statements by Biden:

In his proclamation, the US president said that each generation needs to make a new promise to end the hate and abuse that LGBTQ Americans face, such as laws that ban transgender youth from getting the care that fits their gender identity.

“Great nations face their history openly and honestly: the good, the bad, and the truth,” the proclamation says. “Today, we have a simple message for every public servant who was hurt by the Lavender Scare’s un-American policies and discrimination: We see what you’ve done.”

“We know what you lost and what you had to go through wrongly,” it says.

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