The Lavender Group

The Lavender Group was founded in 2022 and aims to be the leading forum and community network for all of those involved in the security (physical and cyber), political risk, and intelligence industry who identify as LGBTQIA+ or allies. Membership is free and open to all those who work in the intelligence, security, and political risk industry. Lavender Group members come from both LGBTQIA+ and ally populations and will be employed in intelligence, security, travel, and political risk management. They can be working for firms in the industry directly, they can be embedded into client firms, or can be working in these departments in firms that are not traditionally involved in the security and intelligence space. Membership is free and voluntary, although if you wish to attend events hosted by the group, you should be bound by the expectation that different views, opinions, and approaches within the group are to be respected and valued. In the twentieth century, the “lavender scare” was a campaign and moral panic in the United States and Western Europe, around the employment of LGBTQIA+ people by national governments, security services, and large corporations. It ran concurrently with the “red scare” which targeted communists. Restrictions of LGBTQIA+ people entering some sectors of our industry were only dropped in the late 1990s and early 200s. Therefore this name seeks to memorialise those who were never allowed to join, or who were forced to resign from this industry, whilst providing a connection to our past.