From the “Lavender Scare” to “Out and Equal”: LGBTQIA+ Diversity in the U.S. Intelligence Community

Abstract

Listen

Translate article

Like most formal organizations in the United States, the agencies in the Intelligence Community (IC) have historically comprised white men and reflected their stories and interests. In the last few decades, however, the agencies have made efforts to diversify the workforce along multiple dimensions of inequality. In response to these initiatives, researchers—to include the agencies themselves—have sought to understand and elevate the experiences of officers who identify outside of the white and male demographics, with race, ethnicity, and gender as the primary targets of these studies. In contrast, it is only in the last few years that the agencies have made efforts to increase the visibility and sense of belonging among the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer or questioning, intersex, asexual or ally, and other sexual and gender minorities (LGBTQIA+) population in the IC. LGBTQIA + intelligence officers work in a career with a particularly fraught history: it began with the so-called Lavender Scare in the 1950s—a period during which gay and lesbian government officers were considered security risks—and it was legal for them to be fired for this reason until 1995. With a short history marked by rapid change, research on this population has been relatively slow and scant to date. What do we know about the experiences of LGBTQIA + intelligence officers, and where do we go next? This article will consider these questions and explore opportunities and challenges that the structures and cultures of the IC present to the LGBTQIA + population.