Lawsuit seeks records tied to anti-gay US order

(AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta) (Copyright by WSLS - All rights reserved)

WASHINGTON (AP) - A prominent law firm is suing the Justice Department for failing to produce hundreds of pages of documents related to a 1950s executive order meant to purge gays from the federal workplace.

The suit filed Wednesday accuses the government of conducting an inadequate search for the material and of groundlessly withholding some records on the basis of national security.

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The Freedom of Information Act suit comes from the law firm McDermott Will and Emery LLP, on behalf of the Mattachine Society.

Since 2013, the gay rights research and education organization has tried to obtain records on an order signed in 1953 by President Dwight Eisenhower that empowered federal agencies to investigate and fire employees thought to be gay.

There's no immediate comment from the Justice Department on the suit.

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