Rustin was a controversial figure inside and outside the movement. Biographer John D’Emilio writes that Rustin has been largely left out of the simple story we tell ourselves about civil rights because of “three liabilities.” Rustin was a pacifist, a socialist (and an ex-Communist), and a homosexual. Indeed, throughout the 40s, 50s, and 60s, Rustin was attacked again and again by segregationists, and the national security state, on all three fronts.
