Bayard Rustin Arrested for Homosexuality, Career Disrupted

In January 1953, Bayard Rustin, one of the most brilliant strategists of the civil rights movement, advisor to King, trained in Gandhian nonviolence, is arrested in Pasadena, California on a morals charge for homosexual conduct. He pleads guilty and serves 60 days. The arrest is used for decades to sideline Rustin: Adam Clayton Powell threatens to tell the press that Rustin and King have a sexual relationship unless King withdraws from a march. Rustin is pushed to the background despite organizing the 1963 March on Washington. His homosexuality renders him uniquely vulnerable to political attack.