The Lavender Bans: A Century of Anti-LGBTQ+ Policies in the US Military

There is a long history of discrimination against LGBTQ+ people in the American military and intelligence services, from vice squad stings during World War I to the “Lavender Scare” of the early Cold War through “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” and the Trump administration’s transgender ban. How have the rationales for anti-LGBTQ+ policies changed over time? When and why did these policies shift? What does anti-LGBTQ+ discrimination reveal about the US military, American political institutions, and ...