Queer History 113: The Hays Code

How a morality code erased LGBTQ+ people from American cinema for over three decades

Let's get one thing straight - Hollywood wasn't always the rainbow-waving, Pride-celebrating industry it pretends to be today. For over thirty fucking years, from 1934 to 1968, American cinema operated under a draconian censorship system called the Hays Code that deliberately erased LGBTQ+ people from the silver screen. This wasn't some subtle suggestion to tone things down - it was a systematic, ruthless campaign to make queer people literally disappear from American culture.

When you wonder why older films seem so weirdly straight and sanitized, this is why. Hollywood didn't just "prefer" straight stories - they were legally bound by a moral censorship code that explicitly forbade showing LGBTQ+ characters except as goddamn villains, perverts, or cautionary tales who had to be punished by the film's end. This cultural erasure has shaped American cinema and television in ways we're still unpacking today.