The Out of the Closet and Onto the Screen series at Ithaca College will host a showing of the documentary “The Lavender Scare” on Tuesday, Nov. 5. Free and open to the public, the film will be shown at 6 p.m. in Textor 103.
In 1953, President Eisenhower declared gay men and lesbians to be a threat to the security of the country and therefore unfit for government service. Over the next four decades, thousands of government workers would lose their jobs for no reason other than their sexual orientation. But the actions of the government had an unintended effect: helping ignite the gay rights movement.
“The Lavender Scare” is the compelling story of astronomer Frank Kameny, who became the first person to fight his dismissal. And it is a chilling reminder of how easy it can be, during a time of fear and uncertainty, to trample the rights of an entire class of people in the name of patriotism and national security.
The Out of the Closet and Onto the Screen series is sponsored by the Ithaca College Center for LGBT Education, Outreach, and Services. For more information, visit Ithaca.edu/lgbt.