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

lesbian and gay miners

<strong>Alex von Tunzelmann:</strong> Gay mpaigners jo 80s Bra’s strikg mers this well-rearched film that still skips around thorny issu of socialism and a n- wh the Sun

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LBIANS & GAY MEN SUPPORT THE MERS

Lbians and Gay Men Support the Mers * lesbian and gay miners *

It won’t change overnight, but now a hundred and forty thoand mers know … about blacks and gays and nuclear disarmament and we will never be the same.

The re-formed Lbians and Gay Men Support the Mers (LGSM) cid on 9 October 2015 that we would wd down as a current mpaigng force and foc on the task of keepg alive the legacy of our work 1984-85 and puttg together a digal historil archive of documents, photos, personal stori, vios, d rerdgs and all other wrten material nnected to the strike. Their support for the strike prompted the Natnal Unn of Mers to mpaign for the rights of gay people and mand that sexual equaly be clud the program of the Labour Party. The real protagonists were surprised by the film’s mercial succs: 30 years later, a tearjerker about the class stggle beme an ternatnal blockbter, while tellg the te story of Lbians and Gays Support the Mers.

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

To mark LGBT History Month the School will host speakers Profsor Marc Ste and Nila Field on 'From the 1969 Stonewall Rts to Lbian & Gays Support the Mers Group: A history of revolt, fiance and solidary'. * lesbian and gay miners *

“Milant”, the group to which I belonged at the time, nsired gay rights a bourgeois ncern and imaged that the workers would not be able to handle . Ever sce then, I do not accept the ia that workers are particularly homophobic – even though sometim they say thgs more bluntly. We jt started llectg money om the pri march or gay pubs, and the most we were expectg was a thank you letter om the village we supported.

LGBT HISTORY MONTH: 'FROM THE 1969 STONEWALL RTS TO LBIAN & GAYS SUPPORT THE MERS GROUP'

Pri, the wonrful new movie about a group of London-based lbian and gay activists who raised money for Welsh mers durg a major 1984-85 strike,... * lesbian and gay miners *

They did live a seclud area and did not know much about lbians and gays – but we did not know much about them eher. We were still personal ntact wh the people Wal – but the memory of the 80s solidary movements, even left and gay circl, fad wh time.

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

'Pri' is an irristibly upliftg film. It’s both funny and sad, emotnally spirg, and based on an extraordary te story about people g together a show of class pri and gay pri to fight a mon enemy. * lesbian and gay miners *

The funnit reactns me om the mastream gays: Bee the movie was so succsful, they had to pretend that they hadn’t spised all along. Your story has also spired a new anizatn, Lbians and Gays Support the Migrants, which not only llects money for migrant projects but has also ma a name for self wh darg actns, cludg the blocka of an airplane on which refuge were beg ported. It still puzzl me that exploative pani n march pri paras and prent themselv as gay-iendly while treatg their workers, cludg their LGBT staff, atrocly.

THE UNLIKELY ALLIANCE OF GAYS, LBIANS AND MERS UNE AND FIGHT ‘PRI’

* lesbian and gay miners *

On the eveng of March 28, 2017, 15 activists cludg Lbians and Gays Support the Migrants (LGSM) cut a hole the fence surroundg London’s Standsted Airport. " 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.

A STORY OF SOLIDARY: MERS AND THE GAY COMMUNY

This report is by Joseph Price, one of our first year unrgraduate stunts.  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… * lesbian and gay miners *

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.

"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".

LGBT HISTORY MONTH: LBIANS AND GAYS SUPPORT THE MERS, 1984-85

A short history of the Lbian and Gay Mers' Support Group, who were set up durg the 1984-85 mers' strike and, as a rult, challenged prejudic held by many the labour movement. * lesbian and gay miners *

We knew gay people existed – my dad worked wh a mer who was gay – but nobody openly talked about ; was nsired very personal.

The Stonewall Rts, also lled the Stonewall Uprisg, began the early hours of 28 June 1969 when New York Cy police raid the Stonewall Inn, a gay club loted Greenwich Village New York Cy. The London Lbians and Gays Support the Mers (LGSM) group was formed July 1984, four months to the year-long mers’ strike of 1984-5.

*BEAR-MAGAZINE.COM* LESBIAN AND GAY MINERS

Pri, about London gays helpg Welsh mers the 1984-85 strike, reviewed. .

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