GAY'S THE WORD is shop, which doubles as meeting plact for many groups. In April, HM Customs and Excise raided it, seizing most of the imported stock, as well as mailing lists minutes of meetings. Workers' homes were searched to0, personal belongings taken.
Lesbian/Gay LPYS Since then we've learned the raid code namec 'Operation Tiger' - was planned well in advance The shop has been under surveillance, its mail opened, and its phone tapped. Since Christmas, stock has been allowed in- LICh to the country £11,000-worth which has been paid for.
On 6 June. the shop was informed that HMCE intended to burn 220 'dirty books'. Of the 22 titles invo ved. TWO already published in Britain! Now Gav's The Word must an. peal against the burning If HMCE is successful, no radical material of any sort safe. Lesbian feminist books arriving for the International Feminist Bookfair have already been stopped.
The assault on Gay's The Word goes hand nand with a big increase in police harassment gays. It is an attack on the heart of our movement, on our freedom to publicise our ideas. • The Cuntoulell needs your support: money for the potentially-huge legal costs we face: messages of support for and condemthe HMCE action. For more information contact: Gay's The Word, Marchmont Street, London WCl, or phone 01-278 7654. Gay's The Word
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the London lesbian and gay community's book-
GAI ACTIVE