The Lavender Scare was an event that took place during the Cold War and in many ways was very similar to the Red Scare. In the Lavender Scare, thousands of government employees were fired or forced to resign because they were accused of being homosexuals. This event was happening at the same time as the crusade against communists took place. It was believed that homosexuals were security risks in the government and that the Soviet Union would target them and blackmail them with that information to get US secrets from them. Just as communists were viewed as threatening American democracy, homosexual people were also viewed as morally corrupt people who created a national security threat in this country. The connection between the two scares highlights how Cold War paranoia extended beyond political boundaries and was now containing moral and social norms. The Lavender Scare had a huge impact on the homosexual community, taking away careers and ruining lives of many individuals and being viewed as an act of discrimination against an entire group of people. Many of those targeted found themselves blacklisted from government work and unable to ever get a stable job again.
The smearing of Senator Joseph McCarthy’s credibility offers a prominent example of how anticommunism and homophobia were deeply in connection during the time of the Cold War. McCarthy made many aggressive and sometimes reckless accusations, which at first caught the eye of the public and of the media, but quickly lost him a lot of support. Political opponents and journalists used the Lavender Scare to their advantage and created homosexual rumors about his personal life in hopes to turn the American public against him. Some people created rumors about McCarthy’s close relationship with Roy Cohn, his chief counsel who was also rumored to be homosexual. The rumors that the media created about McCarthy were very similar to the rumors McCarthy had created against his opponents. This event showed how politics in the Cold War time period were more about breaking someone down and making your opponent look bad rather than who would actually help the American people more. Ultimately, the downfall of McCarthy after such a quick rise showed how powerful the fear of going against moral values could be used as a political weapon and could impact anyone, even the people who used this power for themselves earlier.
I think that sexual innuendos still play a large role in politics today. I think that homosexuality doesn’t play as big of a role because it has become more acceptable today, but other areas of sexual morality are still used. I have seen many times when it is approaching an election, past issues are brought up containing information about affairs, sexual misconduct, or other issues like these in a way to discredit opponents. These attacks are usually meant to make the person look immoral and that they don’t treat women with respect. While these attacks are different from the attacks during the time of the Lavender Scare involving homosexuality, the idea still comes from the same place. The underlying strategy of using the public’s fear of people going against moral values continues to be a centerpoint in political attack. We still see many times that campaigning sometimes seems like it’s more about who can make the other person look worse, rather than trying to show off yourself and why people should vote for you. I wish that politics would focus on this part more rather than putting others down because every single person makes mistakes and you could find something bad to say about everyone. When I choose who to support, I want to know who will support my beliefs.
Will Wright 
I like how you make a connection between homosexuality being used in the past to ruin political careers and the use of sexual immorality by political opponents today. I agree with you, they do come from the same place. However, I’m going to have to partially disagree with you about this: “I wish that politics would focus on this part more rather than putting others down because every single person makes mistakes and you could find something bad to say about everyone.” While it is true that all people make mistakes, I, as a woman, want to know if someone in power has raped or sexually assaulted anyone. Even if we believe in the same things, sometimes actions speak louder than words. Because women make up the majority of victims of sexual violence, I refuse to condone that behavior as a woman and a sister. I want to be able to look up to the leaders of this country and I do not look up to someone that I would be scared to be left alone in the same room as. Whereas people have become more accepting of sexual orientation, which I see as a positive, I truly hope that we as a nation do not become so desensitized to physical and sexual violence against women that it becomes easily overlooked when choosing leaders.
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I like how you point out the fact that at the time politics often relied on breaking your opponent down and making them look bad. I feel like that hasn’t changed though, from that election to the most recent one, politicians are constantly attempting to undermine the image of their opponents by releasing shady information and making accusations. That is where the idea that the election is a popularity contest comes into play, whoever is made to look worse, will most often have less supporters resulting in an effective campaign tactic.
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