Lucas Schleusener, the CEO of Out In National Security, has warned that the current atmosphere around LGBTQ+ federal employees amounts to a return of the Lavender Scare and the anti-LGBTQ+ sentiments of the 80s and 90s. Suggesting that this goes beyond the well-known executive orders, Schleusener claims that there are teams conducting anti-LGBTQ+ witch hunts in the federal government and that MAGA influencer and Trump confidante Laura Loomer is the new Joe McCarthy.Like the original Lavender Scare, this is a manufactured moral panic weaponized through bureaucracy, Schleusener told the Washington Blade. Back then, the State Department bragged about driving queer employees to suicide; now were seeing trans service members taking their lives under the pressure of these policies. The difference today is that social media makes the harassment instantaneous and far-reaching, even as queer visibility also makes it harder to shove an entire community back into the closet. Related It has been 70 years since the Lavender Scare & our political leaders are still after us There have been surface signs of the sort of harassment and discrimination that might be going on against federal employees. The temperature is clear from certain incidents that have been made public, like when an FBI agent was fired for having a Pride flag on his desk and the administrations decision not to commemorate World AIDS Day.However, Schleusener indicates that behind these already shocking headlines, the situation for federal employees is even more horrifying. Insights for the LGBTQ+ community Subscribe to our briefing for insights into how politics impacts the LGBTQ+ community and more. Subscribe to our Newsletter today Schleusener, who was formally employed at the Pentagon and was a national security associate under President Obama, highlighted the harassment that LGBTQ+ workers are facing in the government. Theres an overwhelming bureaucratic trauma happening a destabilization that feels intentional. And underneath that, were seeing a return of different flavors of workplace harassment across national security agencies, from the CIA to the Import-Export Bank.This isnt a Dont Ask, Dont Tell situation, but a more active push to out LGBTQ+ federal employees, with Schleusener pointing to members of the Republican Party who are conducting digital witch-hunts. Theres an organization called STARRS that combs through Instagram and LinkedIn looking for minority service members who show any pride in their identity, Schleusener explained. If youre LGBTQ, a person of color, or even an ally who took your kids to Pride, they will tag and harass you and they have a direct line into the Pentagon. People have been removed from their posts because of this, including the Navys top West Coast endocrinologist, whose only offense was having a rainbow banner and pronouns on LinkedIn.Its not clearances being denied so much as it is targeted harassment, he continued. 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.While this harassment is going on, theres less support for those being targeted as well, as the effects of Trumps executive order Defending Women from Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government. One example Schleusener cites is an LGBTQ+ resource group for government workers of U.S. foreign affairs agencies, GLIFAA. After that order, the groups whole board resigned, and its website has since been stripped of most content and contact lists. This absolutely constitutes a second Lavender Scare, Schleusener said. The federal government is saying trans people dont 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 ERGs, human rights reporting, and attempts to purge queer employees, it mirrors the patterns of the Cold War era.This Lavender Scare is escalating: the NDAA moving through Congress includes a ban on trans women at service academies, and the administration is using Cold War statutes like the Walter McCarran Act to bar trans foreign nationals from entering the country. Every opportunity theyve had to go further, they have taken and theres no indication they plan to stop at trans people.Schleusener says that theyre trying to legally document the harassment to file suits against it, but theyre finding sometime insurmountable hurdles in the process. Even when we find a legal path everything is designed to be slow, difficult, and demoralizing. And the frightening question is always whether fighting back could result in a bad Supreme Court precedent that hurts queer workers nationally.Subscribe to theLGBTQ Nation newsletterand be the first to know about the latest headlines shaping LGBTQ+ communities worldwide.