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.