The Lavender Scare is an example of what sociologists refer to as a “moral panic,” which happens when a perceived social threat is singled out and exaggerated until the public comes to regard it as a serious danger to physical safety and to society’s core values. The response to a moral panic typically involves the enactment of laws and policies designed to “root out” the source of the perceived threat. Recent anti-LGBT legislation and policy directives coming from U.S. federal and state governments provide a more recent example of a moral panic, only this time the threat is gender—specifically transgender—identity.