The Lavender Scare

The Lavender Scare

In partnership with the Lilth and Albert Small Capital Jewish Museum

In 1953, President Eisenhower declared gay men and lesbians to be a threat to the security of the country and therefore unfit for government service.  In doing so, he triggered the longest witch hunt in American history. Over the next four decades, tens of thousands of government workers would lose their jobs for no reason other than their sexual orientation.

But the actions of the government had an unintended effect.  They inadvertently helped ignite the gay rights movement.

In 1957, after thousands had lost their jobs, a Harvard-trained astronomer named Frank Kameny became the first person to fight his dismissal.  His attempts to regain his job evolved into a lifelong fight for the rights of LGBTQ people.

The Lavender Scare is a compelling story of one man’s fight for justice. And it is a chilling reminder of how easy it can be, during a time of fear and uncertainty, to trample the rights of an entire class of people in the name of patriotism and national security.

Conversation with Thomas Mallon, Matt Nosanchuk and Sarah Leavitt following the screening.

Matt Nosanchuk, an independent consultant, most recently served as the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Operations and Outreach in the Office for Civil Rights at the U.S. Department of Education in the Biden-Harris Administration. Throughout his career – in the executive branch, the Senate and House, and in the non-profit and private sectors – Matt has worked on a wide range of key domestic, national security, and foreign policy matters, with a particular focus on civil rights and civil liberties issues. He has also worked to combat antisemitism and other forms of bigotry and hate, including most recently at the Department of Education in connection with the implementation of the National Strategy to Counter Antisemitism and the unprecedented Title VI enforcement efforts in response to rising antisemitism in America.

Matt served during the Obama-Biden Administration in multiple senior roles, including serving as President Obama’s liaison to the American Jewish community, as well as at the Department of Homeland Security, the Civil Rights Division at the Department of Justice, the National Security Council, and the State Department. On Capitol Hill, Matt worked for Senator Bill Nelson and on the House Judiciary Committee staff.

Before joining the Biden-Harris Administration, Matt led the New York Jewish Agenda (NYJA), a startup non-profit organization in New York, and spearheaded Jewish and LGBTQ+ outreach efforts for the DNC and the Biden-Harris campaign. As head of NYJA, Matt led efforts to respond to antisemitic incidents in New York and engaged with many Members of Congress and the Biden administration on developing effective national responses to antisemitism.

Originally from Michigan, Matt attended Stanford University and Stanford Law School, where he was a Truman Scholar, Senior Note Editor on the Stanford Law Review, and won the Stephen M. Block Civil Liberties Award. He clerked for Judge Walter Cummings, Jr., on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit and was a Skadden Fellow at the ACLU of Illinois.

Matt’s recognition for his civil rights work includes the Stephen M. Block Civil Liberties Award at Stanford Law School, the Attorney General’s Distinguished Service Award, and the American Bar Association’s inaugural Stonewall Award.

Thomas Mallon’s eleven books of fiction include Henry and Clara, Fellow Travelers, Watergate (a Finalist for the PEN/Faulkner Award) and Up With the Sun. He has also written volumes of nonfiction about plagiarism (Stolen Words), diaries (A Book of One’s Own), letters (Yours Ever) and the Kennedy assassination (Mrs. Paine’s Garage), as well as two books of essays (Rockets and Rodeos and In Fact). A collection of his personal journals, The Very Heart of It: New York Diaries, 1983-1994, was published by Knopf in June 2025.

Mallon’s work appears in The New Yorker, The New York Times Book Review and other publications. He received his Ph. D. in English and American Literature from Harvard University and taught for a number of years at Vassar College. His honors include Guggenheim and Rockefeller fellowships, the National Book Critics Circle citation for reviewing, and the Harold D. Vursell Memorial Award of the American Academy of Arts and Letters, for distinguished prose style. He has been literary editor of Gentlemen’s Quarterly and deputy chairman of the National Endowment for the Humanities, and in 2012 he was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. An eight-part dramatic adaptation of his novel Fellow Travelers is now streaming on Showtime/Paramount+, and an opera based on the novel has had a dozen productions throughout the United States. He is Professor Emeritus of English at The George Washington University and lives in Washington, D. C

Dr. Sarah Leavitt is the Director of Curatorial Affairs at the Capital Jewish Museum. She holds an MA in Museum Studies and a PhD in American Studies from Brown University and has worked in museums for over 30 years. Since moving to the DC area in 2000, she has worked at the museum of the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda and for 13 years at the National Building Museum in DC. Her previous exhibitions have covered a range of subjects: from women’s sports, to the history of the parking garage, to the border wall between the US and Mexico. Sarah’s publications include several books and articles; some of her favorites cover the history of the pregnancy test, America’s first successful water-powered cotton spinning mill, St. Elizabeths mental health hospital, and the history of domestic advice manuals. Sarah is a member of Temple Shalom, and lives in Silver Spring, MD.