Editing Stonewall riots (section)

===Homosexuality in 20th-century United States===
{{further|LGBTQ history in the United States|Lavender scare}}
{{LGBTQ sidebar|history}}
Following the social upheaval of [[World War&nbsp;II]], many people in the United States felt a fervent desire to "restore the prewar social order and hold off the forces of change", according to historian [[Barry Adam]].{{sfn|Adam|1987|p=56}} Spurred by the national emphasis on [[anti-communism]], Senator [[Joseph McCarthy]] conducted hearings searching for communists in the U.S. government, the [[U.S. Army]], and other government-funded agencies and institutions, leading to a national paranoia. Anarchists, [[communist]]s, and other people deemed un-American and subversive were considered security risks. Gay men and lesbians were [[lavender scare|included]] in this list by the [[U.S. State Department]] on the theory that they were susceptible to [[blackmail]]. In 1950, a Senate investigation chaired by [[Clyde R. Hoey]] noted in a report, "It is generally believed that those who engage in overt acts of perversion lack the emotional stability of normal persons",{{sfn|Edsall|2003|p=277}} and said all of the government's intelligence agencies "are in complete agreement that sex perverts in Government constitute security risks".<ref>David K. Johnson (2004). ''The Lavender Scare: The Cold War Persecution of Gays and Lesbians in the Federal Government''. University of Chicago Press, pp. 101–102, 114–115 {{ISBN|0226404811}}</ref> Between 1947 and 1950, 1,700 federal job applications were denied, 4,380 people were discharged from the military, and 420 were fired from their government jobs for being suspected homosexuals.{{sfn|Adam|1987|p=58}}

Throughout the 1950s and 1960s, the [[Federal Bureau of Investigation]] (FBI) and police departments kept lists of known homosexuals and their favored establishments and friends; the [[U.S. Post Office]] kept track of addresses where material pertaining to homosexuality was mailed.{{sfn|Edsall|2003|p=278}} State and local governments followed suit: bars catering to gay men and lesbians were shut down and their customers were arrested and exposed in newspapers. Cities performed "sweeps" to rid neighborhoods, parks, bars, and beaches of gay people. They outlawed the wearing of opposite-gender clothes and universities expelled instructors suspected of being homosexual.{{sfn|Adam|1987|p=59}}

In 1952, the [[American Psychiatric Association]] listed homosexuality in the ''[[Diagnostic and Statistical Manual]]'' (''DSM'') as a mental disorder. A large-scale study of homosexuality in 1962 was used to justify the inclusion of the "disorder" as a supposed pathological hidden fear of the opposite sex caused by traumatic parent–child relationships. This view was widely influential in the medical profession.{{sfn|Edsall|2003|p=247}} In 1956, the psychologist [[Evelyn Hooker]] performed a study that compared the happiness and well-adjusted nature of self-identified homosexual men with heterosexual men and found no difference.{{sfn|Edsall|2003|p=310}} Her study stunned the medical community and made her a hero to many gay men and lesbians,{{sfn|Marcus|2002|pp=58–59}} but homosexuality remained in the ''DSM'' until 1974.<ref>{{cite book|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=drBejRLWkHkC&pg=PA76 |chapter=The Transformation of Mental Disorders in the 1980s: The DSM-III, Managed Care and "Cosmetic Psychopharmacology" |page=76 |title=Medicating Children: ADHD and Pediatric Mental Health |first1=Rick |last1=Mayes |first2=Catherine |last2=Bagwell |first3=Jennifer L. |last3=Erkulwater |publisher=Harvard University Press |date= 2009 |access-date=April 7, 2019 |isbn=978-0-674-03163-0}}</ref>