To reunt the story of how gay activists joed forc wh Brish mers 1984-85, the creators of “Pri” tracked down participants and extracted their stori, warts and all.
Contents:
- WHEN MERS AND GAY ACTIVISTS UNED: THE REAL STORY OF THE FILM PRI
- LGBT HISTORY MONTH: LBIANS AND GAYS SUPPORT THE MERS, 1984-85
- A STORY OF SOLIDARY: MERS AND THE GAY COMMUNY
- LBIANS AND GAYS SUPPORT THE MERS: PRI A LEGACY
- PRI: A HEARTBREAKG BRISH COMEDY ABOUT THE TIME GAYS AND MERS WORKED TOGETHER
- LBIANS AND GAYS SUPPORT THE MERS (LGSM)
WHEN MERS AND GAY ACTIVISTS UNED: THE REAL STORY OF THE FILM PRI
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… * miners support gay pride 1985 *
" 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.
LGBT HISTORY MONTH: LBIANS AND GAYS SUPPORT THE MERS, 1984-85
* miners support gay pride 1985 *
But the nsens was: we have been monised by the prs, maybe we should meet the gay people bee they've also been monised.
A STORY OF SOLIDARY: MERS AND THE GAY COMMUNY
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,... * miners support gay pride 1985 *
"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. Mark Ashton, a gay man and member of the Young Communist League, said that “prevly I had this semi-antagonistic attu towards the anized labour movement, tra unns, macho het bully boys. ” Funds also me om Gay’s the Word bookshop, which was facg s own polil trouble at the time, cludg prosecutns for “cency.
The mers and lbian and gay activists found they had much mon, cludg mistreatment by police, misreprentatn the media, and direct attacks om the nservative ernment. LGSM wrote that “if this strike isn’t won, we as Lbians and Gays have a lot to lose when the Tori and their henchmen e for .
LBIANS AND GAYS SUPPORT THE MERS: PRI A LEGACY
Actor Bill Nighy talks about the importance of his latt movie Pri, which picts the stggle of strikg mers 1984 and the huge support they garnered om the gay rights muny. * miners support gay pride 1985 *
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.
“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.
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
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.
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. As portrayed the 2014 film Pri, the small Welsh mg village of Onllwyn Neath Port Talbot was the settg for the seemgly unlikely llaboratn between a group of lbian and gay activists om London and strikg Welsh mers and their fai durg the year-long UK strike 1984-85.
Followg an ial bucket llectn for strikg mers at the June 1984 Gay Pri march, Lbians and Gays Support the Mers (LGSM) was formed July 1984 after a reprentative om the South Wal Natnal Unn of Meworkers me to speak at a meetg at the Universy of London Stunt Unn. The support beme mutual, wh a large group of mers and their fai om Blaenant Lodge South Wal takg part the 1985 Gay Pri march London.
LBIANS AND GAYS SUPPORT THE MERS (LGSM)
Perhaps more importantly, the Natnal Unn of Meworkers block vote rried a motn to support equal rights for gay men and lbians at the Labour Party nference Bournemouth later that year.