The purloined Ladder: its place in lesbian history.

This essay traces The Ladder from its initial publication in October 1956 as the official vehicle of the lesbian rights group the Daughters of Bilitis to its final issue as a privately published magazine in August 1972. By excerpting quotes from key lesbian figures of the time, it seeks to trace The Ladder's history from amateur newsletter to a more polished literary magazine--a reflection of the shift in the culture's perspective of itself from "variant" to "lesbian."