Once a Year on Blackpool Sands follows two al mers and secret gay lovers durg one night 1953 – Disver great gay stori.

Contents:

• WHEN MERS AND GAY ACTIVISTS UNED: THE REAL STORY OF THE FILM PRI
• A SURPRISG SPECT EMERG IN DEATH OF OPENLY GAY COAL MER
• A STORY OF SOLIDARY: MERS AND THE GAY COMMUNY
• ONCE A YEAR ON BLACKPOOL SANDS FOLLOWS TWO AL MERS AND SECRET GAY LOVERS DURG ONE NIGHT  1953
• COAL MERS AND GAY ACTIVISTS PARTNER IN 'PRI'
• BRISH COALMERS STRIKE WH A GAY COALN IN 'PRI,' A CROWD-PLEASER
• LBIANS AND GAYS SUPPORT THE MERS

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. 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. She explas how the gay muny ted the mg muny: "Their stggle is siar to our own.

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. Now his ey she as he remembers the Welsh mers who me to London to march wh Gay Pri June 1985. 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.

A SURPRISG SPECT EMERG IN DEATH OF OPENLY GAY COAL MER

Our first sightg of him is wh fox fur and whistle outsi Gay's the Word book shop. "Wh the South Wal mers at the 1985 Labour party nference, we put gay rights on the agenda.

But the nsens was: we have been monised by the prs, maybe we should meet the gay people bee they've also been monised. " It was not long before Welsh mers warmed to their e: "They started wearg gay badg on their lapels. "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? We know about blacks and gays and nuclear disarmament and we will never be the same. 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".

A STORY OF SOLIDARY: MERS AND THE GAY COMMUNY

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

Growg up as an openly gay man a small village of Lewisville, Oh, McGarry had a difficult childhood. “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. 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.

ONCE A YEAR ON BLACKPOOL SANDS FOLLOWS TWO AL MERS AND SECRET GAY LOVERS DURG ONE NIGHT  1953

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.

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.

COAL MERS AND GAY ACTIVISTS PARTNER IN 'PRI'

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.

So, thanks to the selfls acts of solidary shown by the LGBT muny, the mers accepted placg gay rights to the Labour party’s agenda, statg their slogan, ‘Mers supports Gays and Lbians’. In 1984, a group of gay and lbian activists Bra formed a group to llect money for strikg mers. 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.

BRISH COALMERS STRIKE WH A GAY COALN IN 'PRI,' A CROWD-PLEASER

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. My support for the mers actually had very ltle to do wh me beg gay, but wh my social background. “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.

Were you aaid to for a group of gay and lbian people to show up a remote village? They did live a seclud area and did not know much about lbians and gays – but we did not know much about them eher. Shortly after, the Conservative ernment passed Sectn 28, which banned “promotg homosexualy” schools.

LBIANS AND GAYS SUPPORT THE MERS

It was not until 1997 unr Tony Blair that state persecutn agast gays and lbians end. 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.

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. Today’s LGSM members get the same reactns om the gay scene that we got back then.

In the 80s, gays and mers were both hated groups – but today the suatn is different. 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.