Lavender Scare

The Lavender Scare was a government program that happened in the 1950s. It was designed to remove people who were thought to be homosexual from government jobs. The government was afraid that if people who were homosexual worked in government jobs, they would be able to give away government secrets. So the government decided to fire anyone they thought was homosexual from their jobs. Even if there was no evidence that the person was actually homosexual, they could still be fired. This is why it is called the "Lavender Scare"-- the color lavender is sometimes associated with homosexuality. The program lasted until the early 1960s and it was a big part of the fear and discrimination that people who were homosexual faced during that time.