LGBTQ+ advocates and a national security expert are warning that a new “lavender scare” is on the rise against federal employees. The original lavender scare began in the mid-20th century when LGBTQ+ people were driven out of the government based on the belief that homosexuality was a “security risk,” according to Them.
Lucas F. Schleusener, cofounder of Out in National Security and a former Department of Defense employee, says “an overwhelming bureaucratic trauma has entered federal work ranks as well as “a return of different flavors of workplace harassment across national security agencies,” in an interview with The Washington Blade.
“This absolutely constitutes a second lavender scare,” Schleusener says. “The federal government is saying trans people don’t belong in the military, even after spending billions training them for an all-volunteer force, which is both dangerous and absurd. Combined with attacks on (employee resource groups), human rights reporting, and attempts to purge queer employees, it mirrors the patterns of the Cold War era.”
Multiple groups that advocate for LGBTQ+ workers’ rights have been disempowered by the Trump administration. The board of Gays and Lesbians in Foreign Affairs Agency (GLIFAA) was forced to resign under Trump’s anti-trans executive order declared on the first day of his second term.
“It’s not clearances being denied so much as it is targeted harassment,” Schleusener says. “Laura Loomer has essentially declared herself the new Joe McCarthy, going through the Plum Book to identify anyone with ‘LGBT,’ ‘DEI,’ ‘equity,’ or ‘trans’ in their job titles and doxxing them.” (The Plum Book is a database of leaders and support positions within the federal government, according to Them.)
These “digital witch hunts” have been ongoing. Chaya Raichik, the person behind the anti-LGBTQ+ Libs of TikTok, has often searched public profiles of federal employees for “woke” messaging, then would report it the Trump administration to have the person fired. Dr. Janelle Marra, an osteopathic doctor and former Director of Medical Services at Expeditionary Medical Facility, was a victim of this process. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth claimed that Dr. Marra was fired after Raichik flagged the account. He writes: “Pronouns UPDATED: She/Her/Fired.”
“There’s definitely concern in the federal government, especially the FBI, that a Lavender Scare has been sparked,” David Maltinsky, a gay former FBI specialist who sued the Trump administration for being fired for his sexuality, says.
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