The Lavender Scare
For more information on how to teach about the persecution of LGBTQ+ individuals, visit Handling Sensitive Topics from Stanford University.
Lesson Plan
In this two-day inquiry lesson, students will use primary sources such as political cartoons, congressional reports, and testimony from hearings to analyze both the Red Scare and the Lavender Scare. Students will be tasked with examining a time when government policy both implicitly and explicitly sought to marginalize LGBTQ+ Americans, and evaluate the issues of equity, power and justice created when society gives in to fear and paranoia.
This free download includes:
- Lesson plan
- Primary sources
- Student worksheets
- Answer key
...By that time, I had decided that basically what this amounted to was a declaration of war against me by my government. “A,” I don’t grant my government the right to declare war against me. And “B,” I tend not to lose my wars.
The Lavender Scare was a period of persecution and discrimination against LGBTQ+ individuals in the federal government, coinciding with, and arguably outlasting, the Red Scare and McCarthyism. At this time, homosexuality was equated with Communist subversion and led to the firing and forced resignation of thousands of federal employees. At the insistance of Senator Joe McCarthy and his followers, Congress held two notable investigations into whether or not federal employees who were homosexual were more susceptible to blackmail, making them targets for espionage. The outcomes of these hearings might surprise you and serve as a reminder that government policy should rely on facts instead of fear.
Content Standards
MI USHG – 8.2.2 Policy Concerning Domestic Issues – analyze major domestic issues in the post-World War II era and the policies designed to meet the challenges by:
- describing issues challenging Americans, such as domestic anticommunism (McCarthyism), labor, poverty, health care, infrastructure, immigration, and the environment.
- evaluating policy decisions and legislative actions to meet these challenges.
MI USHG – 8.3.4 Civil Rights Expanded – evaluate the major accomplishments and setbacks in securing civil rights and liberties for all Americans over the 20th century.
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