United States LGBT History for 1956
Utah
W. Cleon Skousen, former FBI agent and BYU professor took over as Chief of Police and launces his “Morality Crusade.” His administration foreshadowed the Church’s hardening stance against homosexuality. Skousen raids gay bars, repeals liquor licenses, and tries to change state laws involving lewdness or indecent exposure to “enable authorities to commit offenders to the Utah State Hospital for life if medical examination showed them to be mentally ill.”
President Dwight Eisenhower
National
“The Thirsty Evil” is published.
Michigan
Flamboyant Detroit cult leader Prophet Jones is arrested in his home on morals charge.
Prophet Jones
W. Cleon Skousen
State equality and discrimination bills
National
James Baldwin publishes Giovanni’s Room
California
American psychologist Evelyn Hooker shares her paper "The Adjustment of the Male Overt Homosexual" at the American Psychological Association Convention in Chicago. After administering psychological tests, such as the Rorschach, to groups of homosexual and heterosexual males, Hooker's research concludes homosexuality is not a clinical entity and that heterosexuals and homosexuals do not differ significantly. Hooker's experiment becomes very influential, changing clinical perceptions of homosexuality.
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