Was sexuality ever a political issue in America before the 1960s?

[darklordoftech]

I know that there were plenty of "moral" political issues throughout American history (prohibition comes to mind), but were there any that involved sexuality before the 1960s?

[WritOfCertiorari]

This is going to be a hot take, but I'll say it: before the mid 20th century, few people outside of the upper class really gave a damn about sexual issues (I'm not including sexual assault or anything like that), and even in the upper class, as long as it was "hidden", people generally didn't publicize it, though it could be brought up as blackmail or in political campaigns. This had both good and bad consequences. "Mistress" is by no means a new conotation, and "lover" is possibly older than that.

An exception would be if it involved race, which it sometimes did, in which case everyone would be up in arms. "Miscegenation" was strictly forbidden... except if you were a slave owner, in which case... there would be a thin veneer of plausible deniability.

However, after the Second Industrial Revolution, a new group of busybodies and gossipers emerged in the expanding middle class, who evidently had nothing better to do than to dictate what was and wasn't allowed sexually.

[David T]

There was a serious debate in the early twentieth century as to whether prostitution should be prohibited or confined and regulated. The prohibitionists won, and unlike alcohol prohibition, their "victory" (in terms of the law on the books, however poorly enforced) has not been reversed (except for some counties in Nevada).

[Amenhotep Bakari-Sellers]

Marilyn Monroe's affair with JFK changed the way sexuality was looked at, with adultry.  As out of wedlock affairs and birth control and planned parenthood began to surface, after that.

[courts]

obviously.even ignoring miscegenation laws you had the eugenics movement.and the crackdown on prostitution in the progressive era...the lavender scare.i could go on and on