rss-bridge 2023-08-10T14:15:02+00:00

The Lavender Scare

One day in late April 1958, a young economist named Madeleine Tress was approached by two men in suits at her office at the U.S. Department of Commerce. They took her to a private room, turned on a tape recorder, and demanded she respond to allegations that she was an "admitted homosexual." Two weeks later, she resigned. Madeleine was one of thousands of victims of a purge of gay and lesbian people ordered at the highest levels of the U.S. government: a program spurred by a panic that destroyed careers and lives and lasted more than forty years. Today, it's known as the "Lavender Scare." In a moment when LGBTQ+ rights are again in the public crosshairs, we tell the story of the Lavender Scare: its victims, its proponents, and a man who fought for decades to end it.

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The Lavender Scare

August 10, 202310:15 AM ET

[Rund Abdelfatah headshot]

Rund Abdelfatah

[Ramtin Arablouei, co-host and co-producer of Throughline.]

Ramtin Arablouei

Lawrence Wu

[Headshot of Julie Caine]

The Lavender Scare

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Transcript](https://www.npr.org/transcripts/1192980071)

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Transcript](https://www.npr.org/transcripts/1192980071)

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