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Attempted Book Bans: The Censorship Of Queer Themes In The 1950s, María J. Quintana-Rodriguez
Attempted Book Bans: The Censorship Of Queer Themes In The 1950s, María J. Quintana-Rodriguez
Swarthmore Undergraduate History Journal
This article aims to explore queer book banning during the 1950s in response to Cold War national defense tactics. The decade witnessed the formation of the first public LGBTQ+ rights organizations in the United States as well as a rise in queer literature and publications. This publicization of queerness in society was seen as a rejection of traditional societal norms and threatened the Cold War-imposed gender ideology. In addition, the fear of Communist expansion led to the conflation of homosexuals and Communists, categorizing queerness and queer-related themes as immoral and as an interference in the United States' fight for democracy. …