Local
Doc on 1950s-era ‘war on gays’ premieres
Looking back at Hoover-era discrimination
Former FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover depicted homosexuals as ‘sex perverts’ and a dire threat to national security. (Photo public domain)
More than 150 people turned out at D.C.’s E Street Cinema Monday night for the premiere showing of the documentary film “Uniquely Nasty: The U.S. Government’s War on Gays.”
The 30-minute film produced by Yahoo News and its chief investigative correspondent Michael Isikoff depicts a little-known 1950s-era campaign by the FBI and other federal government agencies to purge gays from the federal workforce.
Isikoff, a former investigative reporter for ABC News, takes viewers on a dramatic ‘tour’ of some of the thousands of documents unearthed by the recently resurrected gay rights group Mattachine Society of Washington and its leader Charles Francis. The documents, including several written by former FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover, depict homosexuals as “sex perverts” and a dire threat to national security.
“Each Supervisor will be held personally responsible to underline in green pencil the names of individuals mentioned in any report, letter, memorandum, newspaper article or other communication who are alleged to be sex deviates,” Hoover wrote in one of the FBI documents shown in the film.
In an interview in the film, Francis notes that gays were referred to repeatedly as “sex deviates” in many of the documents, which his group obtained through multiple Freedom of Information Act requests from government agencies. The group obtained other documents by persuading the presidential libraries of Presidents Dwight D. Eisenhower and Lyndon Johnson, among others, and the National Archives, to release them.
Actor George Takei of “Star Trek” fame, who’s gay, speaks in the film as Hoover’s voice, reciting in a somber and angry tone Hoover’s writings warning of the threat gays posed for the government.
Francis has credited the law firm McDermott, Will & Emery with providing pro bono legal help for the Mattachine Society in its effort to secure the release of many of the documents through its Freedom of Information Act requests.
In a panel discussion moderated by Washington Post editorial board member Jonathan Capehart, which took place after the film viewing, Isikoff said he was taken aback by the degree of animus directed at gays in the documents Francis showed him.
One document – a 1964 memo written by then-U.S. Civil Service Commission official John W. Steele – is representative of the views of gays shared by many government officials, Isikoff told the gathering.
“Some feel that ‘once a homo, always a homo,’” Steele wrote in the memo. “Our tendency to ‘lean over backwards’ to rule against a homosexual is simply a manifestation of the revulsion which homosexuality inspires in the normal person,” Steele wrote.
The film reports that thousands of gay men and lesbians were fired from or refused jobs with federal government agencies during the height of the anti-gay purges that took place from the 1940s through the 1960s.
Others speaking on the panel were Francis; Douglas Charles, author of the recently released book “Hoover’s War on Gays: Exposing the FBI’s ‘Sex Deviates’ Program”; and JoDee Winterhof, the Human Rights Campaign’s vice president for policy and political affairs.
Yahoo News says it will release the film for nationwide viewing on June 22 on Yahoo.com.
Photos
PHOTOS: Helen Hayes Awards
Gay Men’s Chorus, local drag artists have featured performance at ceremony
The 41st Helen Hayes Awards were held at The Anthem on Monday, May 19. Felicia Curry and Mike Millan served as the hosts.
A performance featuring members of the Gay Men’s Chorus of Washington and local drag artists was held at the end of the first act of the program to celebrate WorldPride 2025.
The annual awards ceremony honors achievement in D.C.-area theater productions and is produced by Theatre Washington.
(Washington Blade photos by Michael Key)
District of Columbia
Laverne Cox, Reneé Rapp, Deacon Maccubbin named WorldPride grand marshals
Three LGBTQ icons to lead parade
WorldPride organizers announced Thursday that actress and trans activist Laverne Cox, powerhouse performer Reneé Rapp, and LGBTQ trailblazer Deacon Maccubbin will serve as grand marshals for this year’s WorldPride parade.
The Capital Pride Alliance, which is organizing WorldPride 2025 in Washington, D.C., revealed the honorees in a press release, noting that each has made a unique contribution to the fabric of the LGBTQ community.
Cox made history in 2014 as the first openly transgender person nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award in an acting category for her role in Netflix’s “Orange Is the New Black.” She went on to win a Daytime Emmy in 2015 for her documentary “Laverne Cox Presents: The T Word,” which followed seven young trans people as they navigated coming out.
Rapp, a singer and actress who identifies as a lesbian, rose to prominence as Regina George in the Broadway musical “Mean Girls.” She reprised the role in the 2024 film adaptation and also stars in Max’s “The Sex Lives of College Girls,” portraying a character coming to terms with her sexuality. Rapp has released an EP, “Everything to Everyone,” and an album, “Snow Angel.” She announced her sophomore album, “Bite Me,” on May 21 and is slated to perform at the WorldPride Music Festival at the RFK Festival Grounds.
Deacon Maccubbin, widely regarded as a cornerstone of Washington’s LGBTQ+ history, helped organize D.C.’s first Gay Pride Party in 1975. The event took place outside Lambda Rising, one of the first LGBTQ bookstores in the nation, which Maccubbin founded. For his decades of advocacy and activism, he is often referred to as “the patriarch of D.C. Pride.”
“I am so honored to serve as one of the grand marshals for WorldPride this year. This has been one of the most difficult times in recent history for queer and trans people globally,” Cox said. “But in the face of all the rhetorical, legislative and physical attacks, we continue to have the courage to embrace who we truly are, to celebrate our beauty, resilience and bravery as a community. We refuse to allow fear to keep us from ourselves and each other. We remain out loud and proud.”
“Pride is everything. It is protection, it is visibility, it is intersectional. But most importantly, it is a celebration of existence and protest,” Rapp said.
The three will march down 14th Street for the WorldPride Parade in Washington on June 7.
2025 D.C. Trans Pride was held at Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial Library on Saturday, May 17. The day was filled with panel discussions, art, social events, speakers, a resource fair and the Engendered Spirit Awards. Awardees included Lyra McMillan, Pip Baitinger, Steph Niaupari and Hayden Gise. The keynote address was delivered by athlete and advocate Schuyler Bailar.
(Washington Blade photos by Michael Key)
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