Pink triangles at the Peace Centre - 1981-4
1981
"circa 1981-1984 - the indie/hippy/lefty 'Peace Centre' Shop at the back of what
is now the Pavilions Shopping Centre would sell Gay News, Square Peg,
Spare Rib, along with books. Later (I think) they had Pink Paper, although I
could be remembering wrongly, perhaps it closed by the time of Pink Paper?
In the window they would have badges, inc. 'We Are The People Our Parents
Warned Us About' and 'pink triangle' badges. I guess that was about all they
could get away with displaying in a public shop window, in the climate of
the early 1980s. If one wanted a better selection of books one went to
the peace shop in Leamington Spa (a similar bookshop to the one in
Birmingham, but larger), the huge Compendium in Camden Town (London). Mail
order was, of
course, rather risky while living with parents. The Birmingham
central reference library, by the early 1990s, also had a small section of
lesbigay books on the shelves (although for reference only)." Ref: Central Library
Contributed by: Dick