BEWARE the LAVENDER MENACE

The late 1960s was a time of feminist momentum, but not everyone was ready for the full spectrum of empowerment. Betty Friedan, then-president of the National Organization for Women (NOW), infamously coined the term “Lavender Menace” to describe lesbian activists, fearing their presence would tarnish the feminist movement’s credibility. The implication? That queerness was a liability rather than a force of power. A tragic miscalculation. Fast forward to 1970, when a fierce group of radical lesbian feminists—known as the Radicalesbians—decided to take that insult and turn it into a revolution. At the Second Congress to Unite Women in New York City, they made their entrance in the most dramatic fashion: storming the event in T-shirts boldly emblazoned with “Lavender Menace.” The message was clear—no more erasure, no more exclusion. This wasn’t a request; it was a demand. And to drive the point home, they presented a groundbreaking manifesto, “The Woman-Identified Woman,” a declaration of