Explanation: In the 1950s, homosexuality was illegal in all the states of the USA. Prosecution, however, was spotty and highly dependent on local politics. Rising along with the "Red Scare" politics of Joseph McCarthy, wherein anyone who wasn't a complete bootlicking capitalist was regarded as a potential Soviet spy, a renewed wave of homophobia swept through the US during the 1950s, known as the "Lavender Scare".

Under the 'logic' of the Lavender Scare, since homophobia was illegal and socially taboo, gay people were security risks who could be easily blackmailed by Foreign Powers(tm), and thus could never be trusted. This witch hunt led to thousands of government employees losing their jobs, and many being effectively blacklisted from their industries by the Very Important Investigations of the FBI, who totally had nothing better to do with their time and resources other than persecute gay people.