It was thought that gay people were more susceptible to being manipulated, which could pose a threat to the country. Gay men and lesbians were said to be national security risks and communist sympathizers, which led to the call to remove them from state employment. It contributed to and paralleled the anti-communist campaign which is known as McCarthyism and the Second Red Scare.
The ' lavender scare' was a moral panic about homosexual people in the United States government which led to their mass dismissal from government service during the mid-20th century.
