1953-04-27 President Eisenhower issues Executive Order 10450.

President Eisenhower issues Executive Order 10450. The order defined the types of behavior on the part of federal employees that might endanger national security and therefore warranted the termination of employment. “Sexual perversion,” commonly understood to include any form of homosexual behavior, was one of the categories of proscribed behavior. The order led to the investigation and firing of many thousands of lesbians, gay men, and bisexuals over the next two decades.

1953-08-20 Kinsey study of female sexuality published

Alfred Kinsey’s study, Sexual Behavior in the Human Female, is released. Based on interviews with thousands of women, it sharply challenged conventional beliefs about sexual behavior in the U.S., and revealed that sex outside marriage was far more common than typically believed.