aris and london, são paulo and san moral arguments against after both Francisco, New York and Toronto—these had been used in 1957 to fire him from a government were just a few of the cities scheduled to job. “He essentially invented what we now know as hold Pride parades later this month, cel- pride,” Dr. Cervini says. “He was the first to take ebrations that would have marked Pride’s the fight for gay rights, or at least the gay purges, to P 50th anniversary and collectively brought the Supreme Court. He was the first openly gay man millions to the streets to show their support for and to testify in Congress; first to demonstrate before the solidarity with the LGBTQ+ community. ; the first to say that ‘Gay is Good.’” COVID-19 has postponed these parades and left Nearly a decade before the first Pride march took uncertain when, or how, they can safely resume. place, Kameny, who served in the US Army dur- Yet Dr. , a Harvard- and Cambridge- ing World War II, filed a memorable petition with trained historian, views this pause as an opportu- the US Supreme Court. “In World War II,” Kameny nity to revisit Pride’s purpose and reconnect with its wrote, “petitioner did not hesitate to fight the Ger- founding spirit. “Before they were parades, they were mans, with bullets, in order to help preserve his marches. They were open to anyone. You could carry In a new book, rights and freedoms and liberties, and those of oth- whatever sign you wanted. Since then it’s become dr. eric cervini ers. In 1960, it is ironically necessary that he fight more like a Macy’s parade,” Dr. Cervini says, allud- spotlights early the Americans, with words, in order to preserve, ing to the growing corporate involvement at Pride gay-rights pioneer against a tyrannical government, some of those events. “When we decide how to rebuild the parade same rights, freedoms and liberties, for himself , a after the pandemic,” he told Brunswick’s Wyatt and others.” Kameny passed away in 2011, at age Yankus recently, “I hope that we return to the origins long-overlooked 86, having seen others enjoy legal victories he was of the event, meaning, let’s resist.” figure who helped unable to win personally. Dr. Cervini captures that spirit of resistance, and launch a global The book took Dr. Cervini seven years to research some of its most over-looked origins, in his new movement. and write. The inspiration to do so came after he book, The Deviant’s War: The Homosexual vs. The Brunswick’s encountered the story of Harvey Milk, California’s United States of America. At the heart of the story is wyatt yankus first openly gay elected official, who was assassi- Frank Kameny, who publicly battled the legal and reports. nated in 1978. Milk’s life had garnered the attention of Hollywood, with Sean Penn playing the titular role in the Oscar-winning biopic “Milk.” In a quest to learn more about Milk’s life, Dr. Cervini encoun- tered, for the first time, the name—and work—of The Grandfather of Frank Kameny.

Frank Kameny, second in line, protesting outside the White House in 1965—five years before the first Pride parade. PRbrunswick review · 2020DE GRANDFATHER OF PRIDE

Dr. Cervini hopes his book can bring similar questioned his own sexuality, which was already court saying “Gay is Good” and really dismantling attention to a gay-rights pioneer. “I see him as the being whispered about at the time. every single element of the rationale for the purges. grandfather of our movement; every single Ameri- can, every LGBTQ person in the world, should know The and other organizations There are transcripts from a 1960s meeting his name, because what he stood for is why we cel- debated about how to get the federal govern- between Kameny and Pentagon officials, some ebrate Pride.” ment to change its policies—do you lobby, edu- of whom sound sympathetic. The bureaucrats cate, take social action? What one worked? say they’re simply following the expectations For those who aren’t familiar, what were the “gay You see within Frank Kameny’s group, and within of society, that it’s not their job to try to change purges”? the entire early gay rights movement, a lot of society. “If you want to change things, you need In the 15 years after World War II, an estimated one experimentation. to talk to society,” is, in essence, their advice. million Americans were arrested for homosexual At first, they were optimistic: They thought that That certainly encapsulates how some business activity: sodomy, holding hands, things like that. they could just go to their Congressmen, to officials leaders feel about their role in societal issues. In the 1950s, 1,000 people were arrested for homo- within the Defense Department. That didn’t work. What lessons can we take from Kameny’s story sexual activity, each year, in Washington, DC alone. And they were the first to picket at the White House and apply to today’s discussions? This was the same time Senator Joseph McCarthy and testify before Congress. What’s interesting about that transcript is that yes, was going after alleged communists in the federal But the real lasting significance, where you see they seemed sympathetic, and yes, they say “Oh, government. For political reasons, they were also the dividends today, is that he was the first to take there is nothing that we can do, it is up to the wider going after so-called sexual deviants, perverts, and that fight to court. He allied with the ACLU, whose world, you have to go to Congress, to the different homosexuals, within the government. DC chapter literally started on the same day as the branches to get things done”—but that’s similar Their reasoning was that some of the In 2019, more than one Space Race. Even for private-sector jobs, the security MSW—that was crucial. Kameny went to every to what officials throughout the American South organizations, which were precursors to gay-rights million people celebrated officers all knew each other and talked about him. single one of those meetings and introduced the would say to civil rights demonstrators: “You’re Pride in London. Above, organizations, had communist roots. So the think- celebrants from the He was in poverty. topic of homosexuality and gay rights as a civil lib- talking to the wrong person, that’s just the way that ing went: if you were a homosexual within the fed- “Disney Pride” float. The first purpose of the organization that he erty issue, on par with the Black Freedom struggle, it is.” And in Birmingham, yes, there was a compel- eral government and you had access to classified created, the Mattachine Society of Washington, with Jewish persecution, with First Amendment ling moral component to Dr. King’s argument, but materials, then communists could find out about (MSW) was to find other plaintiffs like him, who’d infringement. Before then, gay rights was off the there was also an inarguable economic one: Business your homosexuality, threaten to expose you, and get lost their jobs because of their sexuality, and who menu when it came to what the ACLU fought for, owners were eventually forced to confront, thanks you to reveal material to them. “HISTORY were willing to take their cases to court. and he persuaded the ACLU to take it on, and cre- to the boycotts, how costly and counter-productive The rationale to purge employees in non-classi- ated this alliance that continues today. Above, a button from discrimination was. You see versions of that now fied material positions was that homosexuality was HAS SHOWN You write about the role of J. Edgar Hoover’s Frank Kameny’s extensive with the modern-day fight for LGBTQ+ equality, so abhorrent to other federal employees it would FBI and of the DC Metro Police, and the level of The brief that Kameny wrote himself and filed— archives, carrying his the enormous purchasing power of that community, TIME AND TIME most famous slogan. “harm the efficiency of the service,” that was the scrutiny that this tiny organization receives— what made it so memorable? Below, members of the how it responds when a company is supporting a dis- legalese term that they used. At a rate even higher AGAIN THAT IT IS An FBI file of 900 pages. A volunteer attorney had helped Frank take his case Mattachine Society, an criminatory policy or is itself a discriminatory orga- than that of alleged communists, gays were being all the way to the Appeals Court. But the attorney early gay-rights group, are nization. History tells us is that discrimination isn’t IN TIMES OF denied service at a thrown out of their jobs. At least 5,000 “sexual devi- Exactly. It seems out of proportion to the con- abandoned it after that because there was no way Manhattan bar in 1966. just morally repugnant, it is also economically bad. ants” were removed from the federal government in EMERGENCY THAT ceivable threat this organization posed. Was it that the Supreme Court was going to rule in Kame- the 1950s, which is a conservative estimate. I would MARGINALIZED just the communist threat or were there other ny’s favor. estimate that well over 10,000 were purged from dynamics in play? Frank recognized he didn’t have a very good shot the federal bureaucracy, not including the military, GROUPS ARE THE When you first see the FBI getting involved they of winning, but he could still educate the justices. before the Civil Service Commission changed its MOST VICTIMIZED, were looking for a way to prove homophile organi- He called it a Brandeis brief, which has historical policies in 1975. zations were influenced by communists. When they precedent, and he essentially made this claim: If the And once you were purged, that followed you ESPECIALLY BY realized that they weren’t, the FBI kind of drops the government says homosexuality is morally bad, I the rest of your life. That’s what happened to Frank THOSE IN POWER. matter. And then Frank Kameny’s Mattachine Soci- am going to say that homosexuality is morally good. Kameny. He was an astrophysicist, working for the ety popped up in Washington, DC seven years later And you have nothing to prove otherwise because Army Map Service, helping to map the world so that AND IN CRISES, and started sending their newsletter and magazine the only thing that you are basing this on is Scrip- ballistic missiles could have a precise target—prior THEY ARE THE to J. Edgar Hoover, asking for meetings and really ture, and that is unconstitutional. He challenged to that there was no coordinate grid system to use. making a scene. They were trying to get meetings both the morality and legality of it. He was arrested in a public restroom for homosex- ONES WHO with every single Congressperson on Capitol Hill. It wasn’t successful legally, but it ended up being ual activity and kicked out of his job in 1957. Since ARE HURTING J. Edgar Hoover, it’s safe to say, was preoccupied a manifesto for his organization, for him personally, every single astronomy-related job required a secu- by his own image. If it had gotten out that homo- and eventually for the entire gay rights movements, rity clearance, he couldn’t find work. Not even with THE MOST.” sexuals had been sending him materials and orga- all the way up until Stonewall. a Harvard PhD, having graduated top of his class, nizing and thriving in Washington, DC, it wouldn’t Remember, this is 1961, almost a decade before and working in one of the most in-demand profes- have only undermined his image as an effective the supposed beginning of Move- PHOTOGRAPH: FRED W. MCDARRAH/GETTY IMAGES W. FRED PHOTOGRAPH: sions on earth: an astrophysicist at the dawn of the persecutor of gay Americans, but it also would have GETTY VIA IMAGES IMAGES/LIGHTROCKET RECCHIA/SOPA PIETRO BETTMANN TOP, CONTRIBUTOR; / SPREAD, PREVIOUS PHOTOGRAPHS: ment in America, and Frank is already going to

brunswick review · 2020 brunswick review · 2020 GRANDFATHER OF PRIDE

And then there’s the people, the talent, these facing enormous challenges. Trans kids through- organizations lose. You mentioned Kameny, an out the country are being directly targeted, even astrophysicist at the height of the Space Race, in the middle of a pandemic, not allowing them to being out of work. play sports. Trans prisoners are dying because of Exactly. And during the early days of the space COVID-19 and they’re not receiving adequate pro- race, the Americans were getting dominated by the tections. Like I said, 29 states still don’t have any sort Soviets. That they were turning down someone so of comprehensive anti-discrimination legislation. uniquely equipped is unfathomable. But, it is still These are things that we have a moral obligation, happening today: The military is still excluding trans especially those of us who are relatively privileged, to Americans from service, 29 states have no sort of be fighting against. comprehensive anti-discrimination legislation on Now with Pride being sexy, a way to sell products, the basis of , so these same things companies need to realize there is going to be a back- are happening today and states are suffering as a lash by the LGBTQ+ community if they don’t start result; Americans are suffering as a result. recognizing what Pride actually means, and that it is not just a means by which you can sell a product. During the first two years I was in the Navy, it was That means identifying LGBTQ+ organizations to still under “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” and you would donate to, it means putting out policy documents have been thrown out of the service just as surely about discrimination within your own companies as anyone in Frank Kameny’s day if you stood and not doing business in discriminatory states or up and said that you were gay. These problems with discriminatory companies. If companies are clearly linger, so what lessons can you draw from not proactive about taking these measures to begin this history on how to solve them? “COMPANIES with, people within the LGBTQ+ community are A takeaway from my research is that activism works going to get fed up. The time to start these conversa- if you aren’t afraid to embrace every element of your NEED TO REALIZE tions is now. identity. You saw it in the recent Democratic primary THERE IS election, you see it in debates of different LGBT In other words, now that companies can’t have organizations and their political strategies. How GOING TO BE branded rainbow lanyards in a parade, they need far should they go, how much should they demand A BACKLASH BY to show their commitment in other ways? rights not just for ourselves—for gay marriage, for Exactly. Whether it is changing your policies, declar- gay Americans—but for the most marginalized parts THE LGBTQ+ ing your support of an anti-discrimination bill— of their communities? Whether it is Stonewall, or the COMMUNITY there are ways of showing your commitment to early days of the Gay Activist Alliance, the ones with Pride and to our community rather than putting out least to lose are the first ones to fight back. When IF THEY DON’T branded buttons and candies or parade float. And activists or members of the LGBTQ+ movement START RECOGNIZ- now is the time to think about this. don’t recognize that and try to prioritize the most “respectable” elements of our battle, or our iden- ING WHAT What are the other ways that companies could— tity, people fail, because it ends up alienating a silent PRIDE ACTUALLY should, even—celebrate Pride? majority within our community who say, “Yes, you First, do the research. See where discrimination exists may be gay but you are not speaking for me, you are MEANS.” now: against trans Americans primarily, against espe- not fighting for me.” Only when you can articulate cially homeless youth, 33 percent of whom are queer change for the most marginalized parts of the com- and have been kicked out of their homes by their munity will you succeed. You need numbers, you families. Those parts of our community need help. need a critical mass. Bigots and people in the middle And second, after doing that research, find organiza- will be turned off by you no matter how “straight” tions you can contribute the cash towards, because you may seem, so you might as well lean into that nonprofits, just like many companies and individu- difference, or at least embrace your connection and als and those marginalized groups, are struggling and obligation to other marginalized groups so that you they need to fight to stay alive. History has shown can build a following. You see that in politics, in lob- wyatt yankus, an time and time again that it is in times of emergency bying, in Pride. Associate in Brunswick that marginalized groups are the most victimized, Geopolitical, is based in especially by those in power. And in crises, they are Washington, DC. He served How can we think about showing Pride this year the ones who are hurting the most. So if a company as an intelligence officer in when we can’t stage parades and parties? the U.S. Navy for more than wants to prove that they truly support Pride, they There are parts of our community who are still nine years. need to put their money where their mouth is. u

brunswick review · 2020