Franklin Edward Kameny was an American gay rights activist. He has been referred to as "one of the most significant figures" in the American gay rights movement.
Page from Petition for Writ of Certiorari – Number 676 – Kameny v. Brucker, National Archives
Letter from Kameny to President Kennedy, JFK Library
Kameny in front of signs used during protests. June 2009
DC Statehood advocates Hector Rodriguez and Frank Kameny at the Palisades neighborhoods' annual July 4 parade, 2011. Photo by Ann Loikow.
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. Gay men and lesbians were said to be national security risks and communist sympathizers, which led to the call to remove them from state employment. 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.
Joseph McCarthy and Roy Cohn during the Army–McCarthy hearings