Washington's Gay Rights Pioneers

December 10, 2015  •  Leave a Comment

Beginning in 1950, during the Lavender Scare, any federal worker suspected of homosexuality could find themselves out of work. Astronomer Frank Kameny was fired from his job at the Army Map Service in 1957 and decided to fight back. He established the Mattachine Society of Washington in 1961 to help individuals interrogated by federal investigators. In 1965 Mattachine co-founder Jack Nichols led the first public protest in Washington with pickets at the White House.

Washington, DC outlawed discrimination based on sexual orientation in 1973, but took another 20 years for the federal government to do so.

 


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