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."