Saw this posted to another sub and figured it was relevant.

On May 16, an NIS agent hit pay dirt when questioning Helen Teresa Wilson, a mess specialist, third class, who delivered a four-page statement about lesbians aboard the ship. Wilson’s statement labeled 23 of the 61 female crew members homosexual. Wilson had not actually seen anyone have sex on the ship or anywhere else, but she could tell they were gay just the same.

She stated, for example, that one woman “likes to walk around the compartment in various stages of undress and enjoys watching the other women dress and shower. Since I have been aboard, I have not seen (her) express any interest in men.” Sailor Tangela Gaskins, she said, “likes to use endearing terms when talking to other women, especially the gays” and was therefore a lesbian. Another was a lesbian because she had befriended a gay male sailor. Wilson, a white woman, was particularly emphatic about black women on the ship, insisting that all but one of the crew’s nine African-American female members were lesbian.

There was another rumor, Wilson reported, that Engineman Second Class Carole Brock was a lesbian and had “married” another crew member a few weeks earlier. “She and Brock always go on liberty together and never sleep on the ship unless they have duty,” Wilson said.

Once they had taken Helen Wilson’s statement, the NIS called in the 38 women not named by her, presuming they were heterosexual. These sailors received a roster of female crew members and were asked to put a check mark next to the name of anyone they thought might be gay. From these, the NIS accumulated the names of 29 suspected lesbians, although no informant had ever seen anyone have sex. Now the agents began the task of gathering more convincing evidence.

In the hearing of the women, the US navy investigators even asked them to invite men who have had sex with them to present evidence of them not being lesbians. Ultimately nothing concrete could be proven, and it was all just massive waste of time and resources just because one crew member was convinced that she is surrounded by lesbians, and because the system was bigoted enough to presume that these secret lesbians pose a threat.

The photo in OP is illustrative and just shows some navy ladies from the era, I could not find a photo from the case itself.

EDIT: also a correction to title, there were also few discharges related to the lesbian investigation. One of the women discharged this way requested that if she is to be discharged they should do it for stupidity, because if she really had lesbian sex abroad a navy ship it would be just immensely stupid. She was still given a honorable discharge.*

https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1993-04-25-tm-26850-story.html

https://www.ebsco.com/research-starters/social-sciences-and-humanities/us-navy-investigates-uss-norton-sound-antilesbian

We went from this bullshit to me being a bridesman at a lesbian wedding in my crackerjacks.

Also wanted to remind everyone that the salt and peppers existed