![]() ![]() More to the point, however, the “lavender scare” of the ‘50s is emblematic of the public’s perception of homosexuality as an abomination-a perception which gave helped give rise to the atmosphere of virulent homophobia in which Jack and Ennis lived. Similarly, Annie Proulx suggests the challenges men, who fail to abide by societal norms, face about their sexual identity in the story of Brokeback Mountain. This ban led to over 5,000 firings and would have been in effect during the time of Ennis and Jack’s employment with the Forest Service, a government agency. Eisenhower signed into law Executive Order 10450, which barred “sexual perverts” from working for the government in any capacity. ![]() McCarthy and his supporters accused these “lavender lads” of being communist sympathizers who were open to blackmail. government, which has been deemed the “Red Scare.” Less well known is the “Lavender Scare” that sought to persecute people accused of being homosexuals from working in government, schools, the military, and many other occupations. Annie Proulx figured no magazine would touch her short story 'Brokeback Mountain,' the tale of two Wyoming cowboys whose romance is so intense, it sometimes leaves them black and blue. In 1950, Senator Joseph McCarthy and lawyer Roy Cohn began a campaign to expose and expunge supposedly communist or communist-sympathetic people working in the U.S. ![]()
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