POD: No Lavender Scare

[Luciano]

So, I'm writing an article on the subject and have been reading David K. Johnson's book and (thus) I'm now acquainted with the lavender scare.

Would it be possible for it not to happen and (specifically) for Washington D.C. continuing to have a vibrant LGBT culture well into the seventies and beyond, eventually becoming a countercultural hub, à la San Francisco, as John dos Passos thought would happen?

 

[Luciano]

JdP's quote:

Observing the cramped living conditions in wartime Washington, John Dos Passos wondered if the city would become a center of alternative lifestyles and radical politics. “It might be in Washington that the Greenwich Village of this war would come into being.” Noting that young men and women from small-town America had migrated to “sleazy lodgings” in the slums of downtown New York after the last war, he wondered if “maybe Washington was the new metropolis in the making.”

 

[Carl Schwamberger]

DC had that government worker/politician population, who were vulnerable to scandal

 

[thorr97]

DC had that government worker/politician population, who were vulnerable to scandal

Bingo!

To this day, DC remains very uptight, socially. Behind closed doors however, is a very different story. But that doesn't make for solid ground to base such an "out" community.

 

[overoceans]

Bingo!

To this day, DC remains very uptight, socially. Behind closed doors however, is a very different story. But that doesn't make for solid ground to base such an "out" community.

Given how negative a lot of average Joe Americans are about DC, one can only imagine what they'd think if, along with heartless bureaucrats and greedy politicians, the city were also thought to be a hotbed of homosexuality.

Mind you, that's probably the image that a lot of conservative regions have of their capital, in places where(unlike the USA) it is also the metropolitan. Weimar Berlin being probably the most famous example.

 

[thorr97]

overoceans,

It's not just "conservative regions " which have that view "of their capital." The combination of power and money that comes with any political center engenders such distrust and contempt. And rightly so. A higher frequency of amorality and lack of ethics are hallmarks of all capitols...

 

[overoceans]

overoceans,

It's not just "conservative regions " which have that view "of their capital." The combination of power and money that comes with any political center engenders such distrust and contempt. And rightly so. A higher frequency of amorality and lack of ethics are hallmarks of all capitols...

Yes, but conservative regions, in the sense of socially conservative, are more likely to also get worked up about sexual "immorality".

An average Manhattanite might not like the power-hungry politicians in DC, but he probably wouldn't care that much if he was told that they were all gay as well. The average person in rural Alabama would probably get worked up about both.