‘Pri,’ solidary and the future of the gay rights movement - The Washgton Post

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. 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.

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

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,’ SOLIDARY AND THE FUTURE OF THE GAY RIGHTS MOVEMENT

“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. 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.