The Boise homosexuality scandal refers to a sweeping investigation of a supposed "homosexual underground" in Boise, Idaho that started in 1955. Beginning with the arrest of three men in October 1955, the investigation broadened to encompass allegations that more than 100 young men and teenage boys had been involved in sexual acts with a ring of adult homosexual men. By the time the investigation wound down in January 1957, some 1,500 people had been questioned, sixteen men faced charges, and fifteen of them were sentenced to terms ranging from probation to life in prison.
Reportage of the investigation and arrests set off a moral panic in Boise, fueled by incendiary editorials in the city's newspaper. Although framed in terms of "protecting children" from adult predators, the probe was not confined to investigating charges of men having sex with underage boys and some of those convicted and sentenced to prison were found guilty only of sexual encounters with other consenting adults. The scandal highlighted the tension between the perception of homosexuality as a mental illness requiring treatment and homosexual sex as a criminal act mandating punishment and led to an examination of the problems of juvenile delinquency.
The reasons behind both the start and the end of the investigation are unclear. In his book on the scandal, The Boys of Boise: Furor, Vice and Folly in an American City, journalist and academician John Gerassi suggests that the investigation began as a means for the wealthy elite of Boise to assert and maintain economic control of the city and the state. He asserts that a gay millionaire known as "The Queen" was the target of the probe, although he was never charged. With the son of the loudest proponent of the investigation implicated, Gerassi suggests that the forces behind the probe realized that homosexuals were at every level of society and that their wealth and power would not necessarily insulate them, leading them to quietly halt the investigation.
D'Emilio and Freedman, who are historians of sexuality, situate the Boise investigations within national Cold War politics that led to a national obsession with homosexuality across the US.
Investigation and first arrests The first arrests in the scandal came on October 31, 1955, following an investigation by private detective Howard Dice at the behest of an unnamed client.Gerassi, p. 2 Those arrested were Ralph Cooper, a 33-year-old shoe repairman; Charles Brokaw, a 29-year-old freight worker; and Vernon Cassel, a 51-year-old store clerk. Cooper and Brokaw were charged with "lewd conduct with a minor child" (Cooper based on an incident from June 1954) and Cassel with "infamous crimes against nature",Gerassi, p. 1 in other words, sodomy. When the arrests were announced, Ada County Probation Officer Emery Bess stated, without offering supporting evidence, that the investigation had only "scratched the surface" of "child molestation activities" in Boise involving several adults and over 100 teenagers.
According to Jim Brandon, at the time the chief of the Boise Police Department, the investigation began when the local YMCA became concerned about the number of transients who were staying at the facility and possible sexual improprieties. Dice's "unnamed client", a lawyer connected with the YMCA and who was connected to the power elite of Boise, hired Dice to investigate. Dice initially discovered nothing, then began speaking with some youths who told him about "juvenile delinquents" who congregated at the YMCA and who engaged in homosexual acts with adult men. With the involvement of underage males, probation officer Bess became involved and, according to Brandon, compiled a list of 75 youths supposedly involved in homosexual activity. Bess refused to turn over the list to the police or the prosecutor and Dice, operating under the direction of a local organization, the Allied Civic Group, continued the investigation that led to the three initial arrests.Gerassi, pp. 21–22
The reasons behind the investigation are murky and complex. Gerassi asserts that a "power elite" in Boise, whom he refers to as the "Boise gang", sought to use the investigation (and the resulting scandal) as a means of maintaining control over the city of Boise and, by extension, the entire state of Idaho. He suggests that different members of this elite sought to aim the investigation at different targets. The editor of the Idaho Statesman, Jim Brown, and others wanted to undermine the current reform-minded mayor and his administration. Others targeted the Boise City Council, specifically Councilman Harold T. "Buck" Jones,Gerassi identified Buck with the pseudonym "Henry Morton" in 1966. In his 2001 introduction, Gerassi revealed Buck's identity because Buck was dead (Gerassi, p. xx). whose son, Frank,Gerassi identified Frank with the pseudonym "Jim Morton" in 1966. In his 2001 introduction, Gerassi revealed not only Frank's identity, but also that Frank had committed suicide in 1982 (Gerassi, p. xxi). was one of the youths involved in the scandal. Still other "Boise gang" members were after a fellow member, a wealthy homosexual known as "The Queen", who they believed was too powerful to be brought down by any other means.Gerassi, pp. 20–21 It is equally unclear what triggered the investigation. According to attorney J. Charles Blanton, who had worked in the County Prosecutor's office until September 1955 and who represented Cassel, the office did not routinely search for homosexual activity to prosecute. Between early September and late October, something unknown happened that caused the heightened pursuit leading to the three initial arrests.Gerassi, pp. 5–6
"Crush the Monster" The Idaho Statesman, Boise's only daily newspaper, reported the arrests on November 2. News of the arrests ignited a panic in the citizens of Boise. In particular, mothers called the high school, the police and each other, turning in the names of suspected "perverts" and feeding their own and each other's fear.Gerassi, p. 3 On November 3, the paper ran an editorial under the headline "Crush the Monster". In it, the editors called homosexuality everything from "moral perversion" to a "cancerous growth... calling for immediate and systematic cauterization". The Statesman then called for "the whole sordid situation" to be "completely cleared up, and the premises thoroughly cleaned and disinfected" using "the full strength of county and city agencies".Quoted in Gerassi, pp. 3–4 The editorial increased the panic among Boise citizens, who decided that if the normally-staid Statesman was so alarmed at the situation then there must be good reason to be alarmed.Gerassi, p. 4
The panic increased anew with the announcement of the arrest of Joe Moore. Moore, then the vice-president of the Idaho First National Bank, was arrested for an "infamous crime against nature" committed with Lee Gibson, a 15-year-old boy who had also been the complaining witness against Cooper. With his arrest, the Statesman published another inflammatory editorial under the headline "This Mess Must Be Removed". The editors characterized homosexuals as a "scourge" that "ravage our youth", lamenting the "number of boys [who] have been victimized by these perverts". Claiming that those so "victimized" would "grow into manhood with the same inclinations of those who are called homosexuals", the Statesman concluded, "No matter what is required, this sordid mess must be removed from this community."Quoted in Gerassi, p. 13 Anonymous calls to the police turning in the names of any man who in the opinion of an observer seemed to pay too much attention to any young male flooded in and the city's gay residents realized that a witch hunt was in full swing. One man, a teacher, was so terrified upon reading of Moore's arrest over breakfast that he abandoned the city for San Francisco without informing the school or even finishing his eggs.Gerassi, p. 14
With Boiseans terrified of the "monster" in their midst and Ralph Cooper sentenced to life in prison, the Statesman abruptly reversed itself. In a November 20 editorial, the newspaper called for "shock and disgust" to be "replaced with calm and calculated analysis and consideration". Noting that homosexuality existed in every community and had existed "as long as the weaknesses of the human mind have been evident", the Statesman declared that homosexuals were not criminals and that incarceration was not an appropriate solution. It claimed that as long as the focus was on punishing the adult homosexual, then the involved boys, who had been "infected" by the adult men in the same way that the men had themselves been "infected" as children, would "travel the same path and carry the identical threat to the next generation of youth". The paper concluded that homosexuals should still be pursued "before they do more damage to youth", but with a goal of psychiatric treatment rather than imprisonment, and that plans for assistance to the boys must be made immediately "in order that they do not grow into manhood to become homosexuals".Gerassi, pp. 15–17 The editorial did nothing to abate the panic and the investigation continued.Gerassi, p. 18
National news coverage On December 12, 1955, Time magazine published an article called "Idaho Underworld" in which it recounted the initial arrests and convictions and claimed that a "widespread homosexual underground" had "preyed on hundreds of teen-age boys for the past decade". Time followed up on January 2, 1956, reporting additional arrests and sentencing and the suggestion from Boise psychiatrist John L. Butler, who had been appointed director of the Idaho Department of Mental Health in December 1955, that rather than sentencing the homosexual adults to prison terms, the state should instead "build up community supports for them... One alternative might be to let them form their own society and be left alone."
On December 22, 1955, the Boise city council issued a statement in which it announced the hiring of a new private investigator to take over the investigation, William Fairchild.Because the investigator was still operating in an undercover capacity in 1965, Gerassi assigned him the pseudonym "Bill Goodman". Fairchild was known for his work investigating homosexuals employed by the State Department; the city, the county and the prosecutor's office jointly paid for his services.Gerassi, p. 23 Fairchild expanded the investigation and quickly developed a list of 500 suspected homosexuals.Gerassi, p. 40
The boys When news of the arrests broke, Probation Officer Emery Bess claimed that close to 100 underage boys had been involved in sexual activity with adult men. Gerassi interviewed 28 men who had been enrolled in Boise High School during the scandal. They all disputed the notion that 100 underage boys were involved with adult men. Psychiatrist Butler agreed, stating his belief that only 65 boys were involved in any same-sex sexual activity, including mutual masturbation.Gerassi, p. 34 There were only four or five boys whose sexual involvement with adults went as far as oral-genital contact. These boys were characterized by Butler as "tough gang members",Gerassi, p. 35 who engaged in prostitution, making $5–$10 each time they engaged in sex, and blackmail, threatening to expose the men to the police if they refused to pay.