Paud Hegarty ran the LGBT+ bookshop Gay’s the Word during the 1980s and 90s, when it was a hub for gay rights campaigning and other radical causes. In 2018, an archive belonging to Paud, who died in 2000, was rediscovered in a south London attic.

It included pin badges in more than 100 designs, ranging from feminist causes to anarchism, Gay Pride to anti-apartheid slogans, the miners’ strike to the monarchy. Paud’s pins are a snapshot of the radical causes and campaigns of 1980s London – as well as the passions of Paud Hegarty, a significant figure in the community at a pivotal time for the LGBT+ rights struggle.

You are warmly invited to explore this site, where you can view Paud’s entire collection of badges, and then to share your stories and memories of the people, places, causes and events they relate to. It is hoped that this can become a collaborative effort to tell LGBTQI+ history through many voices.

Find out more about taking part.