CONTENT WARNING: This article contains mentions of homophobia, financial struggles, and suicide. Please read with caution and look after yourself.
From Ancient Rituals to Queer Recognition
For as long as queer people have existed, we have found ways to signal to each other, letting strangers know that we see them and that we are just like them. But what happens when people from outside of our community begin to recognise these signals?
In this instalment of LOTL Lounge's Queer History series, we're talking about the longstanding legacy of lavender within the LGBTQ+ community. We'll dive into how it first came to represent queer people, where it has been used, and where this iconic symbol sits today.
Lavender in this article refers to both the plant and the colour. So, without its queer connotations, what does it mean?
The name lavender is believed to have come from the Latin word lavare, meaning "to wash", as Ancient Romans would use the plant to scent their bathhouses, clothes and hair. In Victorian flower language, the lavender plant symbolised devotion, virtue and distrust. The latter meaning comes from the fact that lavender has often been used to mask bad odours.
However, its meaning of devotion has transcended time. Victorian women would place lavender under their pillows to dream of their future husbands, and sprigs of lavender placed in a man's hat were believed to secure his fidelity.
"For generations, lavender has been more than a colour or a flower. It has been a quiet signal of identity, resilience and belonging."
So, how did it become synonymous with the queer community?
An early known use comes from historian Carl Sandburg in 1926. When writing about former US President Abraham Lincoln, he is quoted as saying that "a streak of lavender ran through [Lincoln]; he had spots soft as May violets".
Some speculate that this "streak of lavender" refers to Lincoln's intimate relationship with Joshua Fry Speed, an American businessman and lifelong friend of the former president. They shared a bed for four years, though same-sex bed sharing was reportedly common at the time. When Speed's departure back to his family estate fell on the same day as Lincoln's wedding, Lincoln called off the engagement and reportedly fell into a state of "depression and guilt".
Lavender, Hollywood and Political Resistance
This link between lavender and queer people gained traction in the early twentieth century. As I mentioned in my Val Eastwood article, being openly gay last century posed several risks, and this sentiment also applied to people in the public eye.
In the 1920s, many Hollywood actors had morality clauses in their contracts. To protect their careers and reputations, many closeted high-profile figures entered marriages of convenience with someone of the opposite sex. These unions were designed to give stars plausible deniability about their sexuality, and they later became known as "lavender marriages".
After the Stonewall Riots, conditions began to improve for LGBTQ+ people. While these unions became less common, they still exist today.
With the connection between lavender and queer people now firmly established, politics further cemented it.
During the 1940s, people had become more exposed to same-sex relationships, and many queer people who had fought during the Second World War met other gay people for the first time. Roughly aligning with the Red Scare, where people were accused of being communists, the Lavender Scare was a moral panic centred around gay men and women.
Queer people were thought to be "mentally ill and morally corrupt", and there was widespread concern that queer federal employees would be more susceptible to blackmail because they were considered to have "weak moral character".
In 1953, President Eisenhower signed Executive Order 10450, which officially banned gay men and women from working in federal government positions. This order was devastating for thousands of people within the queer community.
An estimated five to ten thousand people lost their jobs through either resignation or dismissal, though it is nearly impossible to document the true impact this order had. Many queer people found it difficult to secure other employment and faced financial ruin, with some unfortunately being driven to suicide.
People pushed back against the order, and more than 20 years later, the ban was reversed in 1975. Discriminatory hiring practices, however, continued until they were finally made illegal in 1998.
"What began as a coded reference evolved into a symbol of resistance, surviving everything from Hollywood secrecy to government persecution."
The Lavender Menace and Lesbian Feminist History
For queer women in particular, lavender has a special place in history.
In 1969, Betty Friedan was president of the National Organisation for Women (NOW) in the United States. She believed that feminists having ties to openly gay women would be a setback in achieving meaningful political change.
She began distancing the organisation from openly queer women. When organising the First Congress to Unite Women, Friedan and NOW omitted an invitation to the New York chapter of Daughters of Bilitis, the first lesbian political and civil rights organisation in America, which had also been publicly dropped as a sponsor of the event.
In an interview, journalist and straight feminist Susan Brownmiller quoted Friedan referring to lesbians as the "Lavender Menace". The term was another play on the anti-communist "Red Menace", as both moral panics were occurring during the same period.
Brownmiller attempted to use humour to distance herself from Friedan's homophobia, but many lesbians and queer women saw the article as another attempt by straight feminists to exclude and insult them.
On May 1, 1970, a group of women rallied together at the Second Congress to Unite Women and prepared a ten-page manifesto called The Woman-Identified Woman.
Since the queer community is often one to reclaim negative labels, the group wore shirts dyed lavender and screen-printed with the words "Lavender Menace". They interrupted presentations at the Congress and protested for the inclusion of queer women within the feminist movement, wholeheartedly believing that queer and non-queer feminists were fighting for the same cause.
This action later became known as the "Lavender Menace Zap", and together with the publication of The Woman-Identified Woman, laid the foundations of lesbian feminism in America, which soon rippled across the world.
Though its meaning has shifted over time, lavender remains a powerful symbol of queer love, pride and identity, particularly for sapphic women.
So, the next time you hear someone order lavender syrup in their coffee, you'll know just how far the history of this symbol stretches.
What sapphic symbols would you like to learn the history of next? Comment on the article or send us a message on our socials and have your say.
References
Meaning of flowers | List of Meanings From Flowers
109 Flower Meanings: The Language of Flowers - FlowersLib
Lavender Scare | History, Cold War, & Facts | Britannica
A Streak of Lavender: Queer Spaces and the History of Lavender — The Lavender Network
The secret queer history of flowers | CNN
How Lavender Became a Symbol of LGBTQ Resistance — History News Network
Queer Histories: The Symbols and Meanings of Flowers — GENDER JUSTICE PROJECT
