a woman in military uniform carries a sign that says "rights for LGBTQ we have always been here"
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Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell

The History of the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell Military Policy You might be familiar with the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy from the 1990s, but have you ever wondered how we got there? In the early 1950s, Senator Joseph McCarthy, leader of the fear-based anti-communism campaign known as the “Red Scare,” launched the “Lavender Scare.” A…

a gloved hand holds two full test tubes full of blood samples
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AIDS Epidemic

The time between when AIDS was first recognized as an epidemic and when President Reagan finally publicly acknowledged it was approximately four years. When it was first publicly acknowledged by the White House staff in 1982, the Press Secretary, Larry Speakes, took the opportunity to crack a homophobic gay “joke” rather than answer the question professionally, and asking the reporter,…