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On this day, April 17, 1965, the first pickets in DC for gay rights took place in front of the White House.
1965 First Gay Rights Pickets at the White House
The White House and President's Park
A picket line at the White House in October 1965 protesting government discrimination of gay people
New York Public Library
Quick Facts
Location: 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
In 1965, the first pickets for gay rights in Washington, DC happened in front of the north side of the White House. These pickets, some of the first protests for gay rights in the country, were organized by the DC chapter of the Mattachine Society, a gay rights organization founded in 1950.
The first picket on April 17,1965 saw 10 people (7 men and 3 women) march in front of the White House. They carried signs that protested the federal government’s discrimination against gay people in the United States. Subsequent pickets that year had a similar message.
The United States Government had never been friendly to LGB Americans in the past. This prejudice became the law of the land in 1953 when President Dwight D. Eisenhower issued Executive Order 10450, kickstarting what later came to be known as the “Lavender Scare.” Eisenhower’s Executive Order, set new security requirements for federal employees, stating that one of the criteria disqualifying someone from working for the federal government was “any criminal, infamous, dishonest, immoral, or notoriously disgraceful conduct ... sexual perversion.” Though specific words were not used, this criterion was used to rid the federal government of gay employees. The new regulation not only effectively barred any gay person from working for the US Government, but it also resulted in the firing of over 5000 federal employees under suspicions of being gay.
Dr. Franklin Kameny was one of those federal employees. Fired from his job as an astronomer for the US Army in 1957 for suspected homosexuality, he became a prominent gay rights activist, co-founding and serving as President of the Mattachine Society of Washington, DC. Kameny organized the first White House picket, as well as multiple other White House pickets for gay rights that took place later in 1965, including the October picket pictured above. Other prominent DC gay rights activists who participated in the first picket include Dr. Lili Vincenz and Paul Kuntzler, while later White House pickets saw gay and lesbian rights activists like Barbara Gittings and Ernestine Eckstein join (first and fourth pictured in the picket line above from right to left).
The White House pickets in 1965 are one of the origins for United States LGB rights activism and opened the door for many LGB rights protests and celebrations that came after.
{snip}
The White House and President's Park
A picket line at the White House in October 1965 protesting government discrimination of gay people
New York Public Library
Quick Facts
Location: 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
In 1965, the first pickets for gay rights in Washington, DC happened in front of the north side of the White House. These pickets, some of the first protests for gay rights in the country, were organized by the DC chapter of the Mattachine Society, a gay rights organization founded in 1950.
The first picket on April 17,1965 saw 10 people (7 men and 3 women) march in front of the White House. They carried signs that protested the federal government’s discrimination against gay people in the United States. Subsequent pickets that year had a similar message.
The United States Government had never been friendly to LGB Americans in the past. This prejudice became the law of the land in 1953 when President Dwight D. Eisenhower issued Executive Order 10450, kickstarting what later came to be known as the “Lavender Scare.” Eisenhower’s Executive Order, set new security requirements for federal employees, stating that one of the criteria disqualifying someone from working for the federal government was “any criminal, infamous, dishonest, immoral, or notoriously disgraceful conduct ... sexual perversion.” Though specific words were not used, this criterion was used to rid the federal government of gay employees. The new regulation not only effectively barred any gay person from working for the US Government, but it also resulted in the firing of over 5000 federal employees under suspicions of being gay.
Dr. Franklin Kameny was one of those federal employees. Fired from his job as an astronomer for the US Army in 1957 for suspected homosexuality, he became a prominent gay rights activist, co-founding and serving as President of the Mattachine Society of Washington, DC. Kameny organized the first White House picket, as well as multiple other White House pickets for gay rights that took place later in 1965, including the October picket pictured above. Other prominent DC gay rights activists who participated in the first picket include Dr. Lili Vincenz and Paul Kuntzler, while later White House pickets saw gay and lesbian rights activists like Barbara Gittings and Ernestine Eckstein join (first and fourth pictured in the picket line above from right to left).
The White House pickets in 1965 are one of the origins for United States LGB rights activism and opened the door for many LGB rights protests and celebrations that came after.
{snip}
Fired for Being Gay, Frank Kameny Spent the Rest of His Life Fighting Back