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
• PRINTIAL PROCLAMATN -- LBIAN, GAY, BISEXUAL, AND TRANSGENR PRI MONTH, 2014
• GAY PRI
• ‘PRI,’ SOLIDARY AND THE FUTURE OF THE GAY RIGHTS MOVEMENT

WHEN MERS AND GAY ACTIVISTS UNED: THE REAL STORY OF THE FILM 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 Solidary forever! Some of even film is unashamedly polil, both s reprentatn of the prejudice agast homosexuals at a time was AIDS was vastatg the gay muny and the hostily of misters, media and police to the mers' fight to keep ps open, but the treatment ensur that this is an immensely entertag and often very funny work.

PRINTIAL PROCLAMATN -- LBIAN, GAY, BISEXUAL, AND TRANSGENR PRI MONTH, 2014

Although the movie wears s polil heart on s sleeve, avoids an over-simplistic portrayal of the gay e by showg entrenched opposn to their volvement the mers dispute om sectns of the Welsh muny and challenge om gays themselv as to why they should be volved a workers' strike, although the ntroversy of the lack of a ballot thorisg the strike self is script is a triumph wh every le makg an impact and tellg somethg and there are some wonrful jok. Although GLSM was eventually shunned by the official strike mtee and the mers lost the strike and almost all of Bra's ps have subsequently closed, the ncludg scen of the film and the fal bs of rmative text turn this historic teractn to a succs that should spire the prent day gay muny and labour movement alike. At London’s Gay Pri March on 30 June, leftie activist Mark Ashton (played by Ben Schzer) argu that lbian and gay people should support the mers – for both groups are opprsed by the ernment and the tabloid prs.

It do, however, make accurate nods to the historil ntext, quotg the notor words of Manchter chief nstable Jam Anrton scribg gay men “swirlg about a human csp of their own makg”, and showg the Department of Health’s Don’t Die of Ignorance mercial.

" 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.

GAY PRI

"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. 25, 2014The classic unn anthem “Solidary Forever, ” sung by Pete Seeger, troduc “Pri, ” a stirrg film about the uneasy aln of Brish meworkers and gay and lbian activists durg a labor strike the mid-1980s. “Pri, ” unlike “The Full Monty, ” isn’t a edy, but lghs are harvted om the llisn of macho workg-class mers South Wal and young Londoners, mostly male, who gather at a gay strike was well unrway when Mark Ashton (Ben Schzer, “The Book Thief”), a fervent poli, began recg iends at a gay pri march London to raise money to help the mers and their fai.

The ps were so foced on breakg the strike Wal, he poted out, that their harassment of gay people London had temporarily fledglg anizatn, Lbians and Gays Support the Mers, tri to get touch wh the unn and eventually reach a lol chapter a South Wal village. The first layer of ice is broken when Jonathan (an improbably st Domic Wt, of “The Wire”), an actor and gay party animal, improvis a wild “Saturday Night Fever”-style solo to Shirley & Company’s “Shame, Shame, Shame.

The gay supporters, bis Mark and Jonathan, clu Jonathan’s lover, Geth (Andrew Stt), who grew up Wal, fled to London and hasn’t been home sce, and Joe (Gee MacKay), a shy, semi-closeted llege unn si clus Hefa (Imelda Stnton), a gung-ho, unflappable anizer who enthiastilly wel the gay ntgent, and Cliff (Bill Nighy), the unn’s pole, haltgly shy secretary. Var gre of antigay sentiment are exprsed by the mers, yet the movie ref to monize anyone except Mreen (Lisa Paley), an tractably homophobic mer’s wife who leaks the news of the aln to a tabloid. NOW, THEREFORE, I, BARACK OBAMA, Print of the Uned Stat of Ameri, by virtue of the thory vted me by the Constutn and the laws of the Uned Stat, do hereby proclaim June 2014 as Lbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgenr Pri Month.

‘PRI,’ SOLIDARY AND THE FUTURE OF THE GAY RIGHTS MOVEMENT

Gay activists work to help mers durg their lengthy strike of the Natnal Unn of Meworkers the summer of 1984, 20-year-old closet gay Joe hantly arriv London om Bromley for his first Gay Pri march and is taken unr the llective wg of a group of gay men and Lbian Steph, who meet at the Soho bookshop of flamboyant Jonathan and his Welsh partner Geth. Not only are gays beg threatened by Thatcher, but also the mers are on strike rponse to her p closur, and Northern Irish activist Mark Ashton believ that gays and mers should show solidary. Almost by accint, a mib-load of gays fd themselv the Welsh village of Onllwyn the Dulais valley, and through their scere fundraisg and Jonathan's nifty dis mov persua most of the muny that they are on the same si.

When a bigot tri to sabotage the partnership wh a tabloid smear Mark turns back on her wh a hugely-succsful benef ncert to which most of the villagers, now thoroughly tune wh their gay iends, turn up. Gay Pri, also lled LGBT Pri or LGBTQ Pri, byname Pri, annual celebratn, ually June the Uned Stat and sometim at other tim other untri, of lbian, gay, bisexual, transgenr, and queer (LGBTQ) inty.

Gay Pri typilly volv a seri of events and is often pped by a para volvg marchers and lourful floats om the LGBTQ muny and s the Stonewall rts, LGBTQ dividuals had generally not broadst their sexual orientatn or inty, but the event galvanized the gay muny and sparked greater polil activism (see gay rights movement). In 1970, on the first anniversary of the rts, several hundred monstrators marched along Greenwich Village’s Christopher Street, which ns past the Stonewall, what many nsir the first Gay Pri march (though other memoratns were also held that year). Early Gay Pri events (often lled Freedom Day or Gay Liberatn Day) were often sparsely attend and enuntered protts, particularly bee of the outlandish stum that some marchers wore.

As acceptance of the LGBTQ muny creased among the straight muny, policians sympathetic to the views of the LGBTQ muny and gay-iendly bs and rporatns began participatg the march. The total number of people participatg—both gay and straight—mhroomed, and Pri events were held many part of the globe, cludg ci where they sometim enuntered stiff ristance (e. It's the summer of 1984, Margaret Thatcher is power and the Natnal Unn of Meworkers is on strike, promptg a London-based group of gay and lbian activists to raise money to support the strikers' fai.

The movie got the tails exactly right, I and many of my gay iends were on lots of march cludg the on agast Clse 28 the evil Tory piece of legislatn that outlawed promotn of homosexualy schools and publicly fund mms and art gallerias (among others) I want to say about this film is that young gay and straight people should see . So one big thank you to all volved for makg this 50 somethg gay man remember so vividly, and spe of the dark days portrayed, our youthful stggle and remdg that we really did somethg wonrful and change thgs, as this film is proof posive that we did jt by the fact that is got ma. I hope that young gay people, who still pe wh the same problems we did, isolated, alone, and sred n watch this film and ga strength om and jo the fight agast prejudice still to be won.

Instead, this is really a study of the enormo prejudice and real physil danger faced by the gay and lbian muny London and the untry MacKay ("Sunshe on Leh") plays "Bromley" (real name Joe) – a 20-year old (so therefore unr-age at the time) who is a closet gay.

Helpg him are his assorted iends cludg gay uple Jonathan and Geth (Domic Wt and the brilliant Andrew – "Moriaty" – Stt), Mike (Joseph Gilgun), Jeff (Freddie Fox) and Steph (Faye Marsay… "I'm the 'L' LGSM! In particular (give or take the odd dodgy accent) the characters who make up the Welsh muny are all superb: Paddy Conside ("Hot Fuzz", "The Bourne Ultimatum") plays the open and reasonable envoy first sent to London to meet LGSM; Bill Nighy a quiet and unrstated performance (y, you heard me right) plays Cliff; Imelda Stnton plays the hilar role of Hefa, lear of the mtee group; Jsi Gunng is pch-perfect as Sian – a tea lady wh a feisty attu and Mreen (Lisa Paley) is a lightfully unlikable homophobic mer's wife who stok trouble wh ntemptuo glee.

If so, this seems to be an unnecsary and Hollywood-style ndy-atg too all, for me this is a film that both highlights how far we have e thirty years the area of gay rights and perhaps how far there still is to go.

Gradually the "wele the gays" group gas sway and an effective, funny, heart-warmg and movg arrangement is reached and the village benefs fancially and emotnally om the Gay group's story is a te one and the characters are (or were, AIDS took s toll) real people. And we even have a polil party which stutnalis that spegoatg agast dividuals and groups who don't match up to their nventnal template bee of (among other thgs) their race, natnaly or sexual pri "Pri" is about more than Gay Pri. The dialogu are really good, well though-out, and livered nvcgly by a stellar st, who are always believable their 's not jt "good for an die gay movie" - 's an credibly powerful movie that ranks right up wh the bt of them this year (and wh stars such as Bill Nighy and Imelda Satunton, and a probably fair budget, don't have an "amatr" / "die" feel at all eher), worth the price of admissn (unlike, unfortunately, so many movi the days...