Sex

Executive Order 10450 rallied a nascent gay and lesbian rights community. Scientist and Federal employee Frank Kameny, fired for being gay in 1957, sued all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. They rejected his claim in 1961, but it was the first such case ever heard. Kameny was unknown outside of a small circle of LGBTQ rights scholars and advocates for years. But by the time he died in 2011, his efforts were honored by many.

Among Kameny’s many activities in support of civil rights, in 1961, he started a Washington, D.C. branch of the Mattachine Society to specifically fight Executive Order 10450. The Mattachine Society originally founded in 1950 in Los Angeles by progressive activist Harry Hay, became one of the leading pioneer gay rights organizations.