When mers and gay activists uned: the real story of the film Pri | Pri | The Guardian

Contents:

• WHEN MERS AND GAY ACTIVISTS UNED: THE REAL STORY OF THE FILM PRI
• PRI: A HEARTBREAKG BRISH COMEDY ABOUT THE TIME GAYS AND MERS WORKED TOGETHER
• LBIAN AND GAY PRI PARA, LONDON, JUNE 1985
• LONDON LBIAN AND GAY CENTRE REFED GRANT – ARCHIVE, 1985

WHEN MERS AND GAY ACTIVISTS UNED: THE REAL STORY OF THE FILM PRI

" He acknowledg now that this is a le you n only e once a pch and explas that he went on to tell the story of mers the Dulais valley South Wal durg the 1984-5 strike – the longt Brish history – and a gay and lbian group om London that donated more money (£11, 000 by December 1984) to their e than any other fundraiser the UK, along wh a mib emblazoned wh the logo LGSM: Lbians and Gays Support the a when a gree of homophobia was the norm, LGSM drove a uple of mib om Hackney Communy Transport and a clapped-out VW mper van to a bleak mg town South Wal to prent their donatns, uncerta what sort of wele to expect.

Three years later and the film, shot Banwen, Wal, and London, and directed by Tony-wng Matthew Warch (rponsible for Matilda the Mil, and soon to be artistic director of the Old Vic), is might assume a rom about strikg mers and 80s gays was unlikely to be big box-office, but the same was probably said of Billy Ellt. "In the homema LGSM documentary, we also glimpse a tall, handsome fellow wearg groovy leather troers, shakg a donatns bucket outsi Gay's the Word bookshop London's Marchmont Street – this is Jonathan Blake.

Cliff, an olr mer ( the film, a killgly funny and affectg Bill Nighy) appears the documentary sayg: "The lbians and gays have been super duper. One hope is that the film might revive polil tert bee the activism of the left has been siled, the tra unns are weak, gay rights issu aren't there. But the nsens was: we have been monised by the prs, maybe we should meet the gay people bee they've also been monised.

PRI: A HEARTBREAKG BRISH COMEDY ABOUT THE TIME GAYS AND MERS WORKED TOGETHER

"Mike marvels at how tim have changed for homosexuals the metropolan first world: "It is unbelievable, we have ma such progrs. And when he has to make a speech a gay bar wh a clientele whose look is more S&M than M&S, you fear for him – how is all gog to pan out? Twenty-seven gay people ( the film is a dozen) slept on his floor – the morng, his six-year-old dghter "uldn't put her foot down".

LBIAN AND GAY PRI PARA, LONDON, JUNE 1985

We knew gay people existed – my dad worked wh a mer who was gay – but nobody openly talked about ; was nsired very personal. Gay Pri March, subsequently re-brand as Pri March and now Pri Paras (see Pri) have been held London sce the early 1970s, normally on the neart Saturday to 28 June, the anniversary of the Stonewall rts.

1971: There was a small march 1971, anised by the GLF youth Group, startg wh a Gay Day Hy Park and then a march down Oxford Street and Regents Street to Trafalgar Square.

LONDON LBIAN AND GAY CENTRE REFED GRANT – ARCHIVE, 1985

The number of marchers went up to an timated 15, 000, cludg mg muni showg solidary return for gay support durg the mers' strike.

[6] Capal Gay timated attendance at 10, 000 and lled , “the biggt gatherg of homosexuals Bra has ever seen. 2004: march om Hy Park to Victoria; rally Trafalgar Square; ftival ("Big Gay Out") Fsbury Park[25][26].

2022: An 'alternative' Pri event was held on 1 July to mark 50 years sce the first Gay Pri march London. ↑ Gay News issue 27 page 3 'More a whimper than a bang', & Gay News issue 37 page 7 Article by Roger Baker. In the 18th and 19th century, certa London pubs and ffeeho beme popular gay meetg plac, known as "Molly-ho".