RCAHMW | LGBT History Month: Lbians and Gays Support the Mers, 1984-85

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
• COAL MERS AND GAY ACTIVISTS PARTNER IN 'PRI'
• LGBT HISTORY MONTH: LBIANS AND GAYS SUPPORT THE MERS, 1984-85
• THE UNLIKELY ALLIANCE OF GAYS, LBIANS AND MERS UNE AND FIGHT ‘PRI’

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.

"Mike marvels at how tim have changed for homosexuals the metropolan first world: "It is unbelievable, we have ma such progrs.

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

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. Gay activists work to help mers durg their lengthy strike of the Natnal Unn of Meworkers the summer of 1984.

COAL MERS AND GAY ACTIVISTS PARTNER IN 'PRI'

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 An amazg story that brgs two very different worlds together for a great films when they are pre-release have so much hype and advertisg nng behd them that by the time the film is actually released we have seen three or four different trailers that have ually given away all the bets bs of the film leavg a sour and disappotg taste our mouths and a feelg as though we have jt wasted our time once we get around to actually seeg them. Pri is a te life story based around the Brish Mer's Strike 1984, Margaret Thatcher was Prime Mister and not very popular, not wh mers and pecially not wh the gay and lbian muny eher. Joe, a young naïve closeted gay boy arriv London to take part his first gay pri march, soon after arrivg Joe is taken by a lol gay and lbian rights activist group who do their part to raise funds to fight their foe Thatcher and her evil ways.

Soon after the group realise that both the Mer's and the gay muny have a lot mon they make the cisn to start raisg funds for the fai of the mers a ltle Welsh town lled Onllwyn. The mers reject the gay and lbian activists money believg will do more harm than good for their e so the group unfazed but a ltle perplexed ci to take the money personally to the town to hand over and expla their suatn and hopefully form a new alliance agast the untri Prime Mister and her party… Pri is set a very bleak and dark time of Brish history but I feel that 's never actually shown that way, sure thgs are dark and gray but I wish the director jt add more hardship to his fal ed for the film, not beg a part of personally but rememberg how harsh was om school study and other films I have seen over time.

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

Blake, an actor om London, was part of an unlikely missn: A small group of gays and lbians were on their way to liver money and food they had llected for a town of mers who were on strike to fight p closgs proposed by Prime Mister Margaret Thatcher. Blake and his iends had no ia whether their donatns would be met wh gratu, homophobia or distst of all thgs London their first meetg wh the mers.

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

Blake, who is played by Domic Wt (“The Wire”), as well as several mers and their wiv, portrayed by the lik of Bill Nighy (“Love Actually”) and the Osr nomee Imelda Stnton (“Vera Drake”) the yearlong strike by the Natnal Unn of Meworkers is still wily remembered Bra, as both a high pot of Thatcherism and the begng of the end of the untry’s tra unn movement, neher the creators of “Pri” nor s leadg actors were aware of the helpg hand om the gay aln back then, they said recent terviews. Warch — bt known as a theater director for the hs “Matilda the Mil” and “God of Carnage” — also sought to avoid easy lghs om the strange-bedfellows plot, for stance, by askg the actors to drop their enargly nervo grs the scene where the gay activists arrive at the mers’ rult is a film that tak a light touch to s eply polil and heart-tuggg ntent, stead offerg a closely observed character study that by s tears hontly.

Berford, who was 10 years old when the mers’ strike began, said the spiratn for “Pri” me the mid-1990s, when he was havg an argument wh an olr boyiend about whether gays were a polil force. “He told me about the donatns, and also about how the Welsh al mers me to the aid of gay people later on, ” Mr. ”He thought would make a great film that uld have mastream appeal, given that the movie is as much as about the straight mers as the gay activists.

But movi wh sympathetic gay central characters were equent the ’90s, and, as an aspirg actor and wrer his early 20s, he had no clout or nnectns.

Berford’s first feature, yet he had no clear ia how to wre GordonHe did know about a rough documentary about the group, Lbians and Gays Support the Mers, but that film did not intify s terview subjects and only listed a few nam the creds. Berford then met Mike Jackson, one of the early lears of the group, who had an archive’s worth of anecdot and Jackson, a garner who is now 60, said he beme “a b of the keeper of the flame” the years after the strike, as wrers for rad and theater sought him out for possible projects about the gays and the mers.

“She was one of the first people who told me the full story, that someone among the mers did say, ‘I don’t want the gays my hoe bee of AIDS, ’ and another person lled the thori and said, ‘My neighbor has six lbians the livg room. Jam, now 55, was a wi-eyed new bri durg the strike, and she was one of the first to embrace the gays, part, she said, bee she was thrilled fally to see men on the dance floor of the unn hall. “Ined, the nict thg our relatnship wh the gay men is that they were the first supportive men our liv who weren’t fay.