Vol. 35 (1995)
Articles

"Character Weaknesses" and "Fruit Machines": Towards an Analysis of The Anti-Homosexual Security Campaign in the Canadian Civil Service

Published 1995-01-01

How to Cite

Kinsman, G. (1995). "Character Weaknesses" and "Fruit Machines": Towards an Analysis of The Anti-Homosexual Security Campaign in the Canadian Civil Service. Labour Le Travail, 35, 133–161. Retrieved from https://www.lltjournal.ca/index.php/llt/article/view/4963

Abstract

This investigation interrogates state documents that were part of organizing the anti-homosexual security campaign in the late 1950s and 1960s in the Canadian civil service that led to hundreds of men and women being dismissed and transferred from their jobs. This critical analysis provides an entry point into the textually-mediated social organization of this security campaign. Crucial to this were ideological conceptualizations of 'national security' and 'character weakness' that were used to mandate practices of surveillance, dismissal, and transfer. This security campaign led to the identification of thousands of suspected gay men and lesbians that moved far beyond the civil service; to state-funded research on identifying homosexuals called the 'fruit machine'; to debates within the security regime over how broad-ranging this campaign should be; and to non-cooperation from lesbians and gay men. Résumés Cette recherche examine des documents étatiques faisant partie de l'organisation de la purge anti-homosexuelle de la Fonction publique canadienne de la fin des années 1950 et du début des années I960, qui amena le congédiement ou le transfert de centaines d'hommes et de femmes. Cette analyse critique offre un point d'entrée dans l'organisation de cette campagne de sécurité. Des concepts tels que la «sécurité nationale» et la «faiblesse de caractère» furent cruciaux pour autoriser les pratiques de surveillance, les congédiements et les transferts. Cette campagne de sécurité entraîna un processus d'identification de milliers de personnes soupçonnées d'être gay ou lesbiennes qui déborda le cadre de la Fonction publique canadienne; elle provoqua des débats au sein de l'appareil de sécurité su l'étendue de la campagne et entraîna la non-coopération des lesbiennes et des homme gay.