This week, Pete Hegseth and Kash Patel started the frightening return of the Lavender Scare

I am a firm believer in history stupidly repeating itself, particularly bad history, because for some reason men in power don’t think history applies to them. Or they think something that was universally agreed upon as bad is something good they want to bring back and shove down people’s throats.

After World War II and the horrific destruction caused by the Nazi Party, the world said never again, so much so that the party was banned in Germany. But now you have the AfD, which works around the edges in the country and is shockingly but not surprisingly endorsed by Elon Musk.

The Trump administration is the U.S. version of a quasi-Nazi Party that also works around the edges or goes right up to the line. That happened this week when Defense Secretary (I refuse to say “War”) Pete Hegseth and FBI Director Kash Patel made it abundantly clear that they want a redux of the Lavender Scare of the 1950s, returning to a time in history when queer workers were not welcomed in the federal government.

Related: Is the U.S. government turning back to the 'Fellow Travelers' era for LGBTQ+ people?

The original Lavender Scare was a twin to McCarthyism, when suspected communists were purged from government ranks. In parallel, queer men and women were hounded, questioned, and fired because they were deemed “security risks.” If you saw Fellow Travelers, that gives you an idea of what happened.

The rationale was appalling — that being gay made you weak, vulnerable to blackmail, and untrustworthy. The federal government destroyed thousands of careers and lives. Some of those targeted never recovered, and many didn’t live long enough to see things change. And only a few could fight back.

One of those was Frank Kameny, a World War II veteran and Harvard-trained astronomer. He was fired from the Army Map Service in 1957 simply for being gay. Rather than retreat into the shadows, Kameny fought back, becoming one of the fiercest pioneers of the LGBTQ+ rights movement.

“They told me I was a pervert. I told them they were the perverts for using government power to persecute people like me,” Kameny once said. He spent the rest of his life fighting so that the government acknowledged the dignity of LGBTQ+ people..

When I began working on Capitol Hill in 1987, the AIDS epidemic was ravaging the community while the Reagan administration turned its back. The Lavender Scare may not have been official policy anymore, but the effects of remaining hidden lingered.

Related: 1987 looms as a year of fear, fortitude, and firsts for the AIDS Quilt, Nancy Pelosi, and me

To so many of us, being out was unthinkable. I’ve written before about how I snuck around to date men, meeting on street corners, slipping into movie theaters only after the lights dimmed, leaving before the credits rolled.

Life as a closeted gay man was interesting, to say the least. It was also suffocating, and worse, frightening. And the irony was that there were plenty of closeted gay men in the Reagan administration.

A couple of years ago, I spoke with James Kirchick, when his book Secret City: The Hidden History of Gay Washington was released. It chronicled being gay in different eras and administrations in Washington, D.C., and how being exposed could destroy a career.

In a nutshell, what Kirchick told me was that there was an unwritten rule in the 1980s federal workplace that was simple: “Don’t get caught.” Even then, people were still being fired. In 1988, for example, the General Accounting Office reported that employees at the National Security Agency could be denied clearances if they were suspected of being gay, and some were indeed dismissed on that basis. Queer life in government was still filled with fear, Lavender Scare or not.

That fear is back. Pete Hegseth’s speech this week to military generals was littered with patriotic babble befitting a Fox News weekend host. But it also included homophobic dog whistles.

Related: Pete Hegseth is a waste of time, and Trump is a disgraceful “Sleepy Don” at meeting for military leaders

He railed against “woke” culture, insisting the armed forces needed warriors and “no more dudes in dress.” What he was trying to say was that the military was for only straight white men. There will be no inclusion in Hegseth’s military since, to him, it is a weakness. LGBTQ+ service members will once again be the victims of paranoia.

Meanwhile, Kash Patel made the Lavender Scare literal. As FBI director, he personally fired a lowly trainee for displaying a Pride flag on their desk.

First of all, doesn’t he have anything better to do? Oh, yes, he does! Keeping America safe. Patel showing his leadership skills by firing a trainee is as bad as Hegseth preaching against “dudes in dresses.”

I’m sure our adversaries are paying attention to what the priorities are of America’s “war” secretary and FBI director.

Patel gets his knickers in a twist over a flag. A small symbol of identity and belonging was treated by Patel as an act of betrayal. Think about the message that sends across the workforce. It’s terrifying, and it’s wrong, and somehow I think most of the agents probably realize it’s wrong too. At least I hope they do.

This isn’t new under Trump, The administration is scrubbing LGBTQ+ content from government websites, erasing transgender protections, and enforcing a toxic culture of silence and fear.

But the actions this week feel like an escalation. .

The danger is not just for queer federal workers but for everyone. In the 1950s and even in the ‘80s, merely associating with a colleague who was known to be gay could draw suspicion. That logic can return in an instant.

If a Pride flag can cost you your job, what else will be forbidden tomorrow?

Here’s another worry. Trump is threatening to fire thousands of government workers during the current shutdown. It doesn’t take much imagination to see how his lieutenants and lackeys, men like Patel and Hegseth, might seize on that mandate to target queer employees in particular.

Are dark times returning? Will federal workers, gay, straight, or otherwise, be forced into closets or isolation? Once more, LGBTQ+ people are being cast as weak links. We’ve been here before, and we know how awful it can get.

I, for one, think federal employees can summon the courage of Frank Kameny and the countless others who refused to vanish. My guess is that strength is in numbers, and that courage will prevail.

And good luck to Patel and Hegseth if they try to push their LGBTQ+ employees too far.

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