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

Contents:

• WHEN MERS AND GAY ACTIVISTS UNED: THE REAL STORY OF THE FILM PRI
• PRI REVIEW – WHEN GAY ACTIVISTS STCK A AL WH MERS
• COAL MERS AND GAY ACTIVISTS PARTNER IN 'PRI'
• THE UNLIKELY ALLIANCE OF GAYS, LBIANS AND MERS UNE AND FIGHT ‘PRI’
• A STORY OF SOLIDARY: MERS AND THE GAY COMMUNY

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…'.

PRI REVIEW – WHEN GAY ACTIVISTS STCK A AL WH MERS

"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. 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.

COAL MERS AND GAY ACTIVISTS PARTNER IN 'PRI'

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.

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

"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".

We knew gay people existed – my dad worked wh a mer who was gay – but nobody openly talked about ; was nsired very personal. As historil geographer Diarmaid Kelliher wr, the mers had a surprisg group of alli: urban gay and lbian anizers. The group took off after a strikg mer spoke to gay activists followg the 1984 Lbian and Gay Pri March London.

A STORY OF SOLIDARY: MERS AND THE GAY COMMUNY

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. Along wh fellow gay activist Mike Jackson, Ashton began llectg donatns for the mers. ” 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 .

After Thatcher cshed the strike, she began phg laws prohibg the “promotn” of homosexualy, known as Sectn 28. 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. 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.

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.