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Former senator to participate in mock trial of Joe McCarthy
Accused of blackmailing colleague over son’s gay sex scandal
Joe McCarthy and Roy Cohn. (Photo public domain)
Former U.S. Sen. Alan Simpson (R-Wyo.) and gay former Assistant U.S. Attorney General Robert Raben will be among a cast of prominent attorneys participating in a “mock trial” in D.C. of the late U.S. Senators Joe McCarthy (R-Wis.), Styles Bridges (R-N.H.), and Herman Welker (R-Idaho).
The three deceased senators are to be “charged” at the trial with blackmailing and causing the suicide of fellow Sen. Lester Hunt (D-Wyo.) over a 1954 gay sex scandal involving Hunt’s son, who was arrested for allegedly soliciting an undercover D.C. police officer for sodomy. The mock trial, to be performed as a “readers’ theater” play, is scheduled to take place Oct. 23 at All Souls Unitarian Church at 16th and Harvard Streets, N.W.
According to a newly published book on which the mock trial is based, “Dying For Joe McCarthy’s Sins: The Suicide of Wyoming Senator Lester Hunt,” McCarthy and the other two senators hatched a scheme to force Hunt to resign and withdraw from running for re-election to the Senate. The book says the senators threatened to publicize the arrest of Hunt’s son at a time when homosexuality was considered taboo and a mental disorder.
Hunt emerged as a vocal critic of McCarthy and his notorious crusade in the 1950s against what he claimed were communists working in prominent roles in the U.S. government, including the State Department and the Army, to subvert the government. In a less publicized crusade, McCarthy also pushed hard for exposing and expelling gays who worked for the government, according to historians that have studied McCarthy’s career as a senator.
Author Rodger McDaniel reports McCarthy and the other two senators wanted to force the highly popular Hunt into dropping out of his re-election bid at a time when Democrats controlled the Senate by just one vote. Hunt’s ouster was expected to result in the appointment and later the election of a Republican to replace him, enabling Republicans to gain control of the Senate and strengthen McCarthy’s hand at what critics called communist witch hunts.
In addition to Simpson and Raben, others scheduled to participate in the mock trial are gay Republican attorney and U.S. elections finance expert Trevor Potter, who will play the prosecutor; D.C. lesbian attorney Mindy Daniels, who will act as the defense attorney; retired Wyoming Supreme Court Justice Michael Golden, who will preside over the mock trial; and Verizon legislative affairs executive Ed Senn, who will play McCarthy.
The Mattachine Society of Washington, co-founded by the late D.C. gay rights pioneer Frank Kameny, is sponsoring the event at the direction of gay rights advocate Charles Francis. Francis and gay activist Rick Rosendall reinstated the corporate charter for the Mattachine Society of Washington as a new organization after Kameny allowed the charter to expire shortly before his death.
WorldPride 2025 concluded with the WorldPride Street Festival and Closing Concert held along Pennsylvania Ave., N.W. on Sunday, June 8. Performers on the main stage included Doechii, Khalid, Courtney Act, Parker Matthews, 2AM Ricky, Suzie Toot, MkX and Brooke Eden.
(Washington Blade photos by Michael Key)
Celebrating the transgender community, Baltimore Safe Haven, an organization committed to empowering LGBTQ individuals in Baltimore City, plans to host their fourth annual Baltimore Trans Pride on Saturday.
Instead of the usual parade and march, this year’s Trans Pride will be a block party on Charles Street and between 21st and 22nd Streets. The event will start at 1 p.m. with a ribbon-cutting ceremony and last until 10 p.m.
Community members can go on guided tours, enjoy refreshments by local vendors, listen to presenters, and watch performances by special guests.
Sukihana, the event’s headliner, plans to take to the stage to entertain the crowd, along with a variety of local performers, according to Melissa Deveraux, Baltimore Safe Haven’s executive assistant to Executive Director Iya Dammons.
“Some (are) prominently known, some (are) just making a name for themselves,” Deveraux said. Iya is always making sure that community talent is showcased at all of our functions.”
In company with Pride on Saturday, Baltimore Safe Haven will be opening its new building on Friday from 1-4 p.m.
“That is sort of going to be the prelude to pride,” Lau said. “Thanks to Sen. Mary Washington and the Weinberg Foundation, we were able to purchase the building outright, and it’s going to be a community hub of administrative buildings and 12-bedroom apartments.”
Renee Lau, administrative assistant for special projects coordinator for Baltimore Safe Haven, said the planning process for Baltimore Trans Pride began in January, and putting it all together was a collaboration of multiple city agencies and organizations.
“Safe Haven is an LGBT community organization, but we service the entire community, and that’s the message we try to spread,” Lau said. “We’re not just here for the LGBT community. We’re here to spread goodwill and offer harm reduction and housing to the entire community.”
Lau said the organization’s biggest goal for the event is to gain exposure.
“(We want) to let and let people know who we are and what our community is about,” she said. “Right now, because of what’s happening in DC, there’s a lot of bad untruths going on, and the total thing is bringing out the truth.”
Deveraux said having a place of inclusivity, acceptance, and togetherness is important in today’s political climate and the current administration.
“This event will have people seeing the strength and resilience of the transgender community, showing that no matter what we are going through, we still show up,” Deveraux said. “We are here, we will not be erased.”
The 2025 WorldPride Parade was held in Washington, D.C. on Saturday, June 7. Laverne Cox and Renée Rapp were the grand marshals.
(Washington Blade photos by Michael Key and Robert Rapanut)
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