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'''Lavender Menace''' was a gay bookshop in [[Edinburgh]] which opened in 1982.<ref>[https://www.gayinthe80s.com/2013/09/1982-bookshop-lavender-menace/ ''Gay in the 80s'']</ref> It was set up by [[Sigrid Nielsen]] and [[Bob Orr]]
[[File:LavenderMenace.png|thumb|logo for the Community Interest Company]]'''Lavender Menace''' is a former gay bookshop in [[Edinburgh]], now re-constituted as an archive, located at St Margaret’s House, 151 London Road, Edinburgh.
and developed from the [[Open Gaze]] boookstall created by Bob Orr in 1976 as part of the [[Scottish Homosexual Rights Group]]’s Gay Information Centre in Broughton Street. Lavender Books was set up as a collective, and began selling lesbian and gay books and paraphernalia at conferences and marches across the UK between 1980 and 1981.<ref>[https://lavendermenace.org.uk/lgbt-bookselling-in-scotland "LGBT+ Bookselling in Scotland" on the Lavender Menace website.]</ref>


[[Lavender Menace]] is also the name of an LGBT youih project in [[Dumfries and Galloway]].
The original bookshop, in Forth Street, Edinburgh, opened in 1982.<ref>[https://www.gayinthe80s.com/2013/09/1982-bookshop-lavender-menace/ ''Gay in the 80s'']</ref><ref>[https://theculturetrip.com/europe/united-kingdom/scotland/articles/turning-the-page-the-radical-story-of-scotlands-first-lgbtq-bookshop Turning the Page: The Radical Story of Scotland’s First LGBTQ Bookshop]</ref>. It was set up by Sigrid Nielsen and Bob Orr and developed from the [[Open Gaze]] bookstall created by Bob Orr in 1976 as part of the [[Scottish Homosexual Rights Group]]’s Gay Information Centre in Broughton Street. Lavender Books was set up as a collective, and began selling lesbian and gay books and paraphernalia at conferences and marches across the UK between 1980 and 1981.<ref>[https://lavendermenace.org.uk/lgbt-bookselling-in-scotland "LGBT+ Bookselling in Scotland"] on the Lavender Menace website.</ref>
 
The current Lavender Menace company is "a Community Interest Company established to promote and benefit the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, non-binary, intersectional (LGBT+) community and their allies. Company Number SC663479."<ref>[https://lavendermenace.org.uk/become-a-menace Lavender Menace website]</ref>
 
In 2006, an exhibition entitled "Past Shelves: Histories of Queer Reading" was held in the Museum of Edinburgh, as a collaboration between the Museum and Lavender Menace.<ref>https://www.edinburgh.gov.uk/news/article/14370/new-exhibition-explores-the-power-of-books-to-build-community</ref>
 
Lavender Menace Queer Books Archive and Blog appears on Facebook.<ref> https://www.facebook.com/lavendermenacereturns accessed 16 February 2023</ref>.
 
The name "Lavender Menace" had previously been used around 1970 by a group of lesbian radical feminists in New York.
 
"Lavender Menace" was also the name of [[Lavender Menace (youth group) |an LGBT youth project]] in [[Dumfries and Galloway]].


==References==
==References==
<references>
<references/>


[[Category:Bookshops]]
[[Category:Bookshops]]
[[Category:Edinburgh]]
[[Category:Edinburgh]]

Latest revision as of 12:38, 14 July 2026

logo for the Community Interest Company

Lavender Menace is a former gay bookshop in Edinburgh, now re-constituted as an archive, located at St Margaret’s House, 151 London Road, Edinburgh.

The original bookshop, in Forth Street, Edinburgh, opened in 1982.[1][2]. It was set up by Sigrid Nielsen and Bob Orr and developed from the Open Gaze bookstall created by Bob Orr in 1976 as part of the Scottish Homosexual Rights Group’s Gay Information Centre in Broughton Street. Lavender Books was set up as a collective, and began selling lesbian and gay books and paraphernalia at conferences and marches across the UK between 1980 and 1981.[3]

The current Lavender Menace company is "a Community Interest Company established to promote and benefit the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, non-binary, intersectional (LGBT+) community and their allies. Company Number SC663479."[4]

In 2006, an exhibition entitled "Past Shelves: Histories of Queer Reading" was held in the Museum of Edinburgh, as a collaboration between the Museum and Lavender Menace.[5]

Lavender Menace Queer Books Archive and Blog appears on Facebook.[6].

The name "Lavender Menace" had previously been used around 1970 by a group of lesbian radical feminists in New York.

"Lavender Menace" was also the name of an LGBT youth project in Dumfries and Galloway.

References