LGBT Code Badge

Rebecca Gillett

Decoder’s quite literally are about revealing otherwise typically secret information, and still involve a circular shape that could apply to multiple wearable pieces. The centre includes a violet or other flowers representing the LGBTQ+ community. The idea of a badge relates to how LGBTQ+ people wore violets in their lapels in the 1920s to protest the banning of a play in which two lesbians gave each other violets. The intended look of the materials and theme of coding was incorporated as a reference to the proximity of the 1920s to WW1 and the Enigma Codebreaker. ‘Still love’ is written in morse code around the badge, and the middle ring spins. It refers to the fact that LGBT love is love, and the consideration that in public, LGBTQ+ romances would have typically had to ‘pause’ for safety to avoid being outed in a homophobic environment, hence the double-meaning of the word ‘still’ love.