William Eythe

Lon McCallister

United States LGBT History for 1947

          Washington D.C.
                    President Harry Truman issues Executive Order 9835, also known as the Loyalty Order, which                     mandates that all federal employees be analyzed to determine whether they are sufficiently loyal to                     the government. Actual or perceived homosexuality is considered to be an indication of disloyalty                     due to vulnerability to blackmail, to mental instability, and/or to leftist sympathies. 

          National
                    Gordon Merrick is noted for publishing the first gay themed novel to an easily accessible public                     audience “The Strumpet Wind”

President Harry S. Truman

          National
                    In the aftermath of World War II and the perceived rising threat of the communist Soviet Union, the                     Red Scare becomes a pervasive phenomenon in American culture. The Red Scare leads to a range                     of actions that have a profound and enduring effect on American government and society, including                     directly undermining first amendment rights to freedom of speech, assembly, and the press through                     the pervasion of “guilt by association.” Federal employees are analyzed to determine whether they                     are sufficiently loyal to the government and whether they are vulnerable to blackmail. Perceived or                     actual homosexuality is considered to be a security threat, leading to the firing of many federal                     employees. The House Un-American Activities (HUAC) and U.S. Senator Joseph McCarthy take the                     lead on anti-communist investigations in the government and the Hollywood film industry, considered                     to be a hotbed of leftist activity. McCarthy’s actions are so influential that the Red Scare also is                     known as the McCarthy Era. The Red Scare continues unabated until 1954, when McCarthy’s tactics                     of using hearsay and intimidation finally are denounced by fellow members of the U.S. Senate,                     although by this time McCarthy had used charges of disloyalty at celebrities, intellectuals, and                     anyone who disagreed with his political views to cost many of his victims their reputations and jobs.                     Herbert Hoover, longtime director of the F.B.I., aids many legislative investigations. Hoover’s agency                     compiles extensive files on suspected subversives through the use of wiretaps, surveillance and the                     infiltration of leftist groups. The F.B.I.’s investigations continue into the 1960s, at which time its                     targets included the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and other leaders and activist groups                     associated with the Civil Rights Movement.

Von Johnson

 State equality and discrimination bills

          California
                    Members of the Hollywood film industry publicly denounce the tactics employed by the House Un-                    American Activities Committee (HUAC) during its probe of alleged communist influence in the                     American motion picture business. Formed in 1938, HUAC is an investigative committee of the U.S.                     House of Representatives charged with investigating any alleged anti-American threats. Comprised                     of prominent screenwriters and directors, the Hollywood Ten receive jail sentences and are banned                     from working for the major Hollywood studios. Their defiant stands also place them at center stage in                     a national debate over the controversial anti-communist crackdown that swept through the United                     States. Besides the Hollywood Ten, other members of the film industry with alleged communist ties                     are later banned from working for the big movie studios.

          California
                    The first sex offender registry law was enacted, requiring all persons convicted under California law                     for sexual crimes to register as sex offenders.

          National
                    The first U.S. lesbian magazine, Vice-Versa, was published.

          California
                    William Eythe an actor had many close lady friends but was known for his relationship with Lon                     McCallister which fueled a quick marriage to young 20th Century Fox contract actress, Buff Cobb.                     The marriage was short-lived and was not a happy one, and the couple would divorce in 1949. Once                     divorced he stayed with Lon for the rest of his life.

          National
                    George Nader was not openly gay during his film career, he generally deflected questions by saying                     that he hadn't met "the right one". He lived with his life partner, Mark Miller, whom he met while they                     were acting in a play together. They were very close friends with Rock Hudson.

          National
                    Truman Capote was photographed in his first photoshoot which sparked his fame. The photo was                     presented in “Other Voices, Other Rooms”


Jewish People's Committee
Jewish People's Fraternal Order
Joint Anti-Fascist Refugee Committee
Joseph Weydemeyer School of Social Science, St. Louis
Labour Council for Negro Rights
Labor Research Association
Labor Youth League
League for Common Sense
League of American Writers
Macedonian-American People's League
Maritime Labor Committee to Defend Al Lannon
Massachusetts Committee for the Bill of Rights
Massachusetts Minute Women for Peace
Maurice Braverman Defense Committee
Michigan Civil Rights Federation
Michigan Council for Peace
Michigan School of Social Science
National Association of Mexican Americans
National Committee for Freedom of the Press
National Committee for the Defense of Political Prisoners
National Committee to Win Amnesty for Smith Act Victims
National Committee to Win the Peace
National Conference on American Policy in China and the Far East
National Council for American-Soviet Friendship
National Federation for Constitutional Liberties
National Labor Conference for Peace
National Negro Congress
National Negro Labor Council
Nature Friends of America
Negro Labor Victory Committee
New Committee for Publications
North American Committee to Aid Spanish Democracy
North American Spanish Aid Committee
North Philadelphia Forum
Ohio School of Social Sciences
Oklahoma Committee to Defend Political Prisoners
Pacific Northwest Labor School, Seattle
Palo Alto Peace Club
Peace Information Center
Peace Movement of Ethiopia
People's Drama, Inc.
People's Educational Association (Los Angeles Educational Center)
People's Institute of Applied Religion
People's Programs, Seattle
People's Radio Foundation, Inc.
Philadelphia Labor Committee for Negro Rights
Philadelphia School of Social Science and Art
Photo League
Pittsburgh Art Club
Political Prisoners' Welfare Committee
Polonia Society of the IWO
Proletarian Party of America
Protestant War Veterans of the USA
Provisional Committee of Citizens for Peace, Southwest Area Provisional Committee on Latin American Affairs
Quad City Committee for Peace
Queensborough Tenants League
Revolutionary Workers League
Romanian-American Fraternal Society
Russian American Society, Inc.
Samuel Adams School, Boston
Santa Barbara Peace Forum
Schappes Defense Committee
Schneiderman-Darcy Defense Committee
School of Jewish Studies
Seattle Labor School
Serbian-American Fraternal Society
Serbian Vidovidan Council
Slavic Council of Southern California
Slovak Workers Society
Slovenian-American National Council
Socialist Workers Party including: American Committee for European Workers' Relief
Southern Negro Youth Congress
Syracuse Women for Peace
Tom Paine School of Westchester, New York
Trade Union Committee for Peace
Trade Unionists for Peace
Tri-State Negro Trade Union Council
Ukrainian-American Fraternal Union
Union of New York Veterans
United American Spanish Aid Committee
United Committee of Jewish Societies and Landsmannschaft
United Committee of South Slavic American
United Defense Council of Southern California
United Harlem Tenants and Consumers Organization
United May Day Committee
United Negro and Allied Veterans of America
United World Federalists
Veterans of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade
Virginia League for People's Education
Voice of Freedom Committee
Walt Whitman School of Social Science, Newark, New Jersey
Washington Bookshop Association
Washington Committee for Democratic Action
Washington Committee to Defend the Bill of Rights
Washington Commonwealth Federation
Washington Pension Union
Wisconsin Conference on Social Legislation
Workers Alliance Yiddisher Kultur Farband
Young Communist League
Yugoslav-American Cooperative Home, Inc.
Yugoslav Seamen's Club, Inc.

          Communist front groups investigated by the HUAC
Abraham Lincoln Brigade
Abraham Lincoln School, Chicago, Illinois
Action Committee to Free Spain Now
Alabama People's Educational Association
American Association for Reconstruction in Yugoslavia Inc.
American Branch of the Federation of Greek Maritime Unions
American Committee for Protection of Foreign Born
American Committee for Spanish Freedom
American Committee for the Settlement of Jews in Birbidjan, Inc.
American Committee for Yugoslav Relief Inc.
American Committee to Survey Labor Conditions in Europe
American Committee for a Democratic Greece
American Council on Soviet Relations
American Jewish Labor Council
American League Against War and Fascism
American League for Peace and Democracy
American Peace Crusade
American Peace Mobilization
American Poles for Peace
American Polish Labor Council
American Polish League
American Rescue Ship Mission
American Russian Institute
American Russian Institute, Philadelphia
American Russian Institute of San Francisco
American Russian Institute of Southern California, Los Angeles
American Slav Congress
American Women for Peace
American Youth Congress
American Youth for Democracy
Armenian Progressive League of America
Benjamin Davis Freedom Committee
Boston School for Marxist Studies
Bridges-Robertson-Schmidt Defense Committee
Bulgarian American People's League of the United States of America
California Emergency Defense Committee
California Labor School Inc., San Francisco
Carpatho-Russian People's Society
Cervantes Fraternal Society
China Welfare Appeal Inc.
Chopin Cultural Center
Citizens Committee for Harry Bridges
Citizens Committee of the Upper West Side, New York City
Citizens Committee to free Earl Browder
Citizens Emergency Defense Committee
Citizens Protective League
Civil Liberties Sponsoring Committee of Pittsburgh
Civil Rights Congress
Comite Coordinador Pro Republica Española
Comite Pro Derechos Civiles
Committee for a Democratic Far Eastern Policy
Committee for Constitutional and Political Freedom
Committee for Peace and Brotherhood Festival in Philadelphia
Committee for the Defense of the Pittsburgh Six
Committee for the Negro in the Arts
Committee for the Protection of the Bill of Rights
Committee for World Youth Friendship and Cultural Exchange
Committee to Abolish Discrimination in Maryland
Committee to Defend the Rights and Freedom of Pittsburgh's Political Prisoners
Committee to Uphold the Bill of Rights Commonwealth College, Mena, Arkansas
Communist Party, USA, its subdivisions, subsidiaries and affiliates
Communist Political Association, its subdivisions, subsidiaries and affiliates including:

Florida Press and Educational League
Oklahoma League for Political Education
People's Educational and Press Association of Texas
Virginia League for People's Education

Congress against Discrimination
Congress of American Revolutionary Writers
Congress of American Women Congress of the Unemployed
Connecticut Committee to Aid Victims of the Smith Act
Connecticut Ste Youth Conference
Council for Jobs, Relief and Housing
Council for Pan-American Democracy
Council of Greek American
Council on African Affairs
Daily Worker Press Club
Dennis Defense Committee
Detroit Youth Assembly
East Bay Peace Committee
Emergency Committee to Save Spanish Refugees
Everybody's Committee to Outlaw War
Families of the Baltimore Smith Act Victim
Families of the Smith Act Victims
Finnish-American Mutual Aid Society
Frederick Douglass Educational Center
Freedom Stage, Inc.
Friends of the Soviet Union
George Washington Carver School, New York City
Harlem Trade Union Council
Hawaii Civil Liberties Committee
Hellenic-American Brotherhood
Hollywood Writers Mobilization for Democracy
Hungarian-American Council for Democracy
Hungarian Brotherhood
Idaho Pension Union
Independent Party, Seattle
Industrial Workers of the World
International Labor Defense
International Workers Order, its subdivisions, subsidiaries and affiliates
Jewish Culture Society

          National
                    Van Johnson an actor and dancer was married to Eve Abbott. According to a statement by Eve that                     was published after his death, their marriage had been engineered by MGM to cover up Johnson's                     homosexuality: "They needed their 'big star' to be married to quell rumors about his sexual                     preferences and unfortunately, I was 'It', the only woman he would marry.