Fellow Travelers dramatically portrays how anti-gay prejudice shaped the lives of gay men and lesbians during the Lavender Scare of the 1950s. Given the tremendous pressures to resist or hide being gay, lesbian, or transgender in those years, it would be easy to think that LGBTQ life disappeared, or was a miserable existence.  But in fact, many people managed to enjoy a fun, if very underground, nightlife in Boston and other cities. Some even organized political and social resistance movements against the laws and customs hemming them in. […]

The overwhelming threat hanging over the heads of the characters in Fellow Travelers was known as Executive Order 10450, which prohibited the federal government from hiring gay and lesbian people. Signed by President Dwight Eisenhower in April 1953, the Executive Order was drafted by Robert “Bobby” Cutler, a noted Bostonian who was the first person appointed as National Security Advisor to the President of the U.S.  It remained in full force until 1973 and was only revoked in its entirety in 2017. […]