The Great Pink Scare

As I type this I remind myself of Carrie Bradshaw from “Sex And The City”. Not because I am making some trite statement about a heterosexual love life, neither do I have a twangy American accent, but I do have a rather cute new laptop to type it on.

My beautiful new equipment may not excite some of you as much as it excites me, but as a fully qualified internet-child and computer-nerd, I’m easily satisfied. For the less technically minded of you, I also got a cute little mouse that lights up and changes colour.

I’ve rattled on before about AfterEllen.com, a fabulous website that gives interesting commentaries on lesbians and lesbianism in the media. Today however I am referring to AfterElton.com (no prizes for guessing) – the male equivalent.

An article on there caught my eye, about a documentary aired in American telling the tale of three Professors at the American Smith University who were arrested and charged in the 1950s for viewing/sharing/possessing male erotica.

While persecution of gays, and lesbians is certainly not news to anyone, what interested me about this was the fact that now two of those Professors charged where speaking candidly about what it did to their lives.

The professionals in question, Dorius, Spofford and Arvin lost their jobs. Dorius entered a mental institution and Spofford was hospitalized numerous times as well,. Arvin was consumed with guilt about his sexuality, and was said to feel relief when punishment came. He died three years later, a convicted felon.

Dorius and Spofford had their convictions overturned in 1963, although by then the damage was done. Both men had difficulty finding teaching positions, eventually finding some in the 1970s.

“The Great Pink Scare” as the documentary is called certainly sounds very interesting, and it is important to see the Independent Television Service telling these stories to a new-thinking generation.

All three men are now sadly dead, Spofford and Dorius passing away earlier this year. However as Spofford sais in the 1990s in his memoirs, “It’s much better now. There is no double life.”