Not all gay people have been supportive of the gay and lesbian cause and securing equal rights and treatment. These people believe that gay people should keep quiet, not make waves, and accept their not so equal position in society. They have never reconciled their own sexual orientation with living in an intolerant society, and often harbor a sad kind of self-hatred. Some of these have even sold out their own people. FBI Director, J. Edgar Hoover is a perfect example of this.
It is widely believed that Hoover and Clyde Tolson, the FBI's Associate Director, were lovers. The two were inseperable for over forty years. They regularly had lunch and dinner five times a week over this same period. The two vacationed together, and Hoover's scrapbooks (found after his death) were almost entirely of Tolson. There were also rumours that people saw the two holding hands, and it has also been implied that the Mafia had compromising photos of Hoover and Tolson which it used to blackmail Hoover into going easy on organized crime.
In the 1950's, when many of the new "homophile" organizations began to spring up, Hoover ordered surveillance and harassment of these organizations. His persecution of these organizations was vicious despite the fact that such a small handful of gay activists couldn't pose any real threat to national security. FBI agents recorded license plates of participants in homophile protests, and even infiltrated and reported on homophile conventions, such as the 1959 Mattachine Society convention.
Hoover was incredibly sensitive about the subject of homosexuality. In the early, 1960's the Washington chapter of the Mattachine Society mailed out copies of their newsletter, The Gazette, to selected government officials, including Hoover. He was quite dismayed at receiving this. An FBI representative contacted Mattachine wanting to know why Hoover was on their mailing list and asked that he be removed from it. They never did. It is ironic that a man who maintained lists and records on everyone else was so concerned he was on Mattachine's mailing list.
Books:
Official and Confidential: The Secret Life of J. Edgar Hoover by Anthony Summers.
Out of the past : gay and lesbian history from 1869 to the present by Neil Miller, Vintage Books, 1995.
Web Sites:
J. Edgar Hoover: Gay marriage role model?