Barriers to Security Clearances for Gay Men and Lesbians: Fear of Blackmail or Fear of Homosexuals?

Abstract

Federal policies denied security clearances to lesbians and gay men until the 1980s and subjected gay applicants to intrusive questioning about their sex lives until the 1990s. Administrators argued that homosexuals made poor risks because of their susceptibility to blackmail, but the government has never made a strong public case for that claim. The courts rejected a charge of immorality as a legitimate basis for firing gay federal employees by the mid-1970s, but they deferred to administrative expertise on the issue of security risks even though arguments about blackmail and immorality have always been intertwined. Public opinion data from the 1990s shows that those who disapprove of homosexuality and would limit the civil liberties of gay people are much more reluctant to issue security clearances to them, providing further evidence that morality concerns work their way into at least some federal personnel decisions. Though Executive Order 13087 prohibits discriminating against federal employees on the basis of sexual orientation, the continuing high levels of disapproval of homosexuality suggest that eliminating such discrimination will be difficult.