A story of Solidary: Mers and the Gay Communy – HISTORY AT NORTHAMPTON

Contents:

• WHEN MERS AND GAY ACTIVISTS UNED: THE REAL STORY OF THE FILM PRI
• TO DO LIST: CHILEAN MERS, GAY SOLDIERS CAN FALLY COME OUT
• WAS STT MERD GAY? WHAT STT’S DEATH?
• A SURPRISG SPECT EMERG IN DEATH OF OPENLY GAY COAL MER
• THE HIDN GAY LIV FALLY BEG UNVERED
• A STORY OF SOLIDARY: MERS AND THE GAY COMMUNY
• COAL MERS AND GAY ACTIVISTS PARTNER IN 'PRI'
• LBIANS AND GAYS SUPPORT THE MERS
• JONATHAN BLAKE: “MERS PUT GAY RIGHTS ON THE POLIL AGENDA”

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.

TO DO LIST: CHILEAN MERS, GAY SOLDIERS CAN FALLY COME OUT

It is really illogil to say, 'I'm gay and I'm to fendg the gay muny but I don't re about anythg else…'. "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.

WAS STT MERD GAY? WHAT STT’S DEATH?

"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".

We knew gay people existed – my dad worked wh a mer who was gay – but nobody openly talked about ; was nsired very personal. We’ve heard mors that Jenna Ortega, John Ducey, and many other famo people are gay or lbian, like this mor. “But he showed that you n be an openly gay man and still be able to do physil labor like straight guys and that’s kd of what he was wantg to do is change the stereotype.

Gay activists work to help mers durg their lengthy strike of the Natnal Unn of Meworkers the summer of 1984. Gay activists work to help mers durg their lengthy strike of the Natnal Unn of Meworkers the summer of productn, box office & pany Vios56More like thisReview Incredible effort, but oh do h so hardI saw this yterday at a preview and was particularly imprsed by the amazg productn valu shown this film, as well as the powerful warmth of the ensemble st wh this. My personal favoure performanc are probably Domic Wt's bee of his wonrful energy, fantastic livery and that the fact that he was playg a gay men (and was signifintly ls creepy than his Fred Wt performance) and Jsi Gunng's who played her play wh such warmth and fire.

A SURPRISG SPECT EMERG IN DEATH OF OPENLY GAY COAL MER

On top of this there is a plethora of tragic LGBT issu that further h the viewer like a fist throughout, be a fay not acceptg their gay son, the Mers' refal to fully support the LBGT muny when the gog gets tougher (the bleakns of those scen are particularly vastatg), the start of AIDS and the knowledge that the men's liv will never be the same, the ocsnal vlence shown to the gay men… the list really do go on. But when I heard people ravg about the show, wrten by Rsell T Davi, I was stck by how many of them admted to knowg ltle about the epimic – and the stctn wreaked among the gay muny.

THE HIDN GAY LIV FALLY BEG UNVERED

That’s bee, even today's much more acceptg society, the history of the gay and lbian muny is largely a fotten history. For a long time, the mastream public didn't want to hear our Ca's The Secret Life of Albert Entwistle tells the story of a secretly gay postman searchg for a lost love om his youth (Cred: Headle Review)"I would venture to say that the public were disgted and outraged, " says thor Crystal Jeans. It's about a lonely, socially awkward and secretly gay postman livg a fictnal town the north of England who hs retirement, realisg he wants to turn his life around and fally be happy – but to do this, he needs to fd the love of his life, a man he hasn’t seen for nearly 50 years.

My novel is ridg on a wave of tert that dat back the UK to 2017 and the 50th anniversary of the begng of crimalisatn of homosexualy. That same year, the so-lled "Alan Turg law" offered pardons to 49, 000 Brish gay men who’d been nvicted of homosexual acts – followg a mpaign arguably bolstered by the greater awarens brought about by The Imatn Game, the h film that picted the nvictn and chemil stratn of the Enigma-breakg puter scientist. Over on Instagram, The Aids Memorial shar photos and stori of people – predomantly gay men – who died of the disease, wrten by those who loved them.

A STORY OF SOLIDARY: MERS AND THE GAY COMMUNY

You’d not tch many queer al mers jottg down their memoirs – Crystal JeansHowever, 's fictn that’s very much drivg the phenomenon of brgg "lost" stori of gay life om the past to light. Over the last five years, a tr of Irish wrers have livered stunng gay-themed novels set predomantly perds of history that didn't wele them – John Boyne (The Heart’s Invisible Furi), Graham Norton (Home Stretch), and Sebastian Barry (the Costa Award-wng Days Whout End). In the theatre, Matthew Lopez's exploratn of gay male history The Inherance triumphed London before transferrg to New York, where opened the year after a well-received revival of Mart Crowley's semal 1968 play Boys the Band.

Most recently, the ter explod wh behd-the-scen photos of Harry Styl om the shoot of new film My Policeman, an adaptatn of Bethan Roberts's 2012 novel starrg the pop superstar as a closeted gay man the 1950s. However, as a way of explag the mystery surroundg why Harry left behd everythg he knew, Gale imaged a suatn which he was forced to leave as a rult of a gay affair beg exposed.

Crystal Jeans's latt novel is The Inverts, which tells the story of two bt iends – one a lbian, the other a gay man – who enter to a fake marriage the 1920s. This was another reason I wrote The Secret Life of Albert Entwistle; I wanted to tell the story of one ordary young gay man tryg to exprs his love for another at a time when this would not have been accepted.

COAL MERS AND GAY ACTIVISTS PARTNER IN 'PRI'

But I also wanted to ntrast this disturbg, sometim horrifyg picture wh what life n be like for a gay man wh today’s much more acceptg society the UK – and celebrate how much progrs we’ve ma. My spiratn was a seri of terviews I nducted wh olr gay men whilst I was Edor--Chief of Attu magaze, as part of our celebratn of the 50th anniversary of the start of crimalisatn.

LBIANS AND GAYS SUPPORT THE MERS

Pop star Harry Styl is starrg new film My Policeman as a closeted gay officer the 1950s (Cred: Getty Imag)"What we see all through history is that people are nied their past as part of a way to ntrol them, " says Hornby. 35 years ago, on the 29th June 1985, London’s gay pri para received some very unlikely supporters who saw their duty to show their support for a muny who had helped them survive durg tumultuo tim. The supporters were b loads of Welsh mers whom had been touched by the overwhelmg generosy of the group, ‘Lbians and Gays Support the Mers’ or LGSM.

JONATHAN BLAKE: “MERS PUT GAY RIGHTS ON THE POLIL AGENDA”

Thanks to Mike Jackson and Mark Ashton, foundg members of LGSM, a llectn was formed to raise money to sta the mers and their fai, this money was llected at gay pubs and clubs as well as om buckets the streets. LGSM stands to be one of the cleart acts of solidary gay history, stead of simply ignorg the issue, the muny band together to help another distrs. After the strike end, a motn was fally passed to place Gay and Lbian rights to the Labour party manifto, though this had been raised before, had never been approved due to a block vote om one key unn- The Natnal Unn of Meworkers.