Today’s agenda: The Purple Pamphlet— A Look Into the Past, a Reflection of the Present

In 1964, one of the most influential yet overlooked pieces of anti-homosexual propaganda was published: Homosexuality and Citizenship in Florida, also known as the “Purple Pamphlet”.

Produced during the heyday of the Lavender Scare, when thousands of gay men and women lost their jobs, and were considered public threats due to looming fears of communism and the destruction of “the American way of life”, the Purple Pamphlet was made as a window for straights to look into the gay lifestyle, learn their mannerisms and slang, and the danger they posed to America’s youth.

The pamphlet was received poorly due to its “obscene and pornographic nature”, but a shocking amount of it remains relevant to this day as a parallel to today’s anti-gay sentiments. Join us as we take a deep dive into the pamphlet, reading and discussing every page in the fourth and final part of a four-part series.

In this episode, we finish reading the glossary of gay slang, then discuss how harmless fetishes and immoral acts (such as bestiality or rape) are lumped together in the same category of “deviate and psychopathic sex crimes”.

Finally, we summarize the pamphlet as a whole, and how despite garnering a strong negative reaction from the public, its anti-sex AND anti-queer rhetoric are still seen today in the form of gays being labeled as groomers, and even queer youths harassing each other on the internet over identities and fictional fetishes.