"For the Uplift of Humanity"

On the Newport sex scandal of 1919, and our long history of persecuting difference

The above photo is from 1908, when Homer Baker was convicted under general anti-sodomy laws that would catch many members of the US military in the coming years. This post is about an episode a decade later, when the government expressly entrapped sailors through a “catfishing” scheme involving other servicemen.

Today, we’re looking at an episode from a …