Solidary and Sexualy: Lbians and Gays Support the Mers 1984–5 | History Workshop Journal | Oxford Amic

Contents:

• WHEN MERS AND GAY ACTIVISTS UNED: THE REAL STORY OF THE FILM PRI
• MERS' STRIKE: VALLEY MUNY AND GAY ACTIVISTS' ENDURG IENDSHIPS
• MATTHEW WARCH: WHY I MA A ROM ABOUT GAY ACTIVISTS AND STRIKG MERS
• MERS STRIKE: WHEN THE GAY MUNY STOOD UP FOR THE MERSPRI, A MOVIE ABOUT THE UNLIKELY MERS' STRIKE LK UP BETWEEN LONDON BASED GAYS AND LBIANS IS DUE TO BE ON OUR CEMA SCREENS LATER THIS YEARWALONLEBOOKMARKSHARENEWSBYROB TURNER06:00, 21 MAR 2014UPDATED12:48, 22 JUL 2015BOOKMARKMEMBERS OF THE LBIANS’ AND GAY MEN’S MERS’ SUPPORT GROUPKEEP UP TO DATE WH THE LATT STORI WH OUR WALONLE NEWSLETTERMORE NEWSLETTERS SUBSCRIBEINVALID EMAILSOMETHG WENT WRONG, PLEASE TRY AGA LATER.MORE NEWSLETTERSWE E YOUR SIGN-UP TO PROVI NTENT WAYS YOU’VE NSENTED TO AND IMPROVE OUR UNRSTANDG OF YOU. THIS MAY CLU ADVERTS OM AND THIRD PARTI BASED ON OUR KNOWLEDGE OF YOU. MORE THANK YOU FOR SUBSCRIBG!WE HAVE MORE NEWSLETTERSSHOW ME SEE OURPRIVACY NOTICE SEE OURPRIVACY NOTICE&TIM;GROUP 28 KEEP UP TO DATE WH THE LATT STORI WH OUR WALONLE NEWSLETTERINVALID EMAILSOMETHG WENT WRONG, PLEASE TRY AGA LATER.SIGN UPNO THANKS, CLOSEWE E YOUR SIGN-UP TO PROVI NTENT WAYS YOU’VE NSENTED TO AND IMPROVE OUR UNRSTANDG OF YOU. THIS MAY CLU ADVERTS OM AND THIRD PARTI BASED ON OUR KNOWLEDGE OF YOU. MORE &TIM;GROUP 28THANK YOU FOR SUBSCRIBG!
• PRI REVIEW – WHEN GAY ACTIVISTS STCK A AL WH MERS
• COAL MERS AND GAY ACTIVISTS PARTNER IN 'PRI'
• BRISH COALMERS STRIKE WH A GAY COALN IN 'PRI,' A CROWD-PLEASER
• GAY ACTIVISTS AND MERS ON STRIKE: AN UNLIKELY PAIR FILM FTIVAL FAVORE ‘PRI’
• CANN 2014 REVIEW: PRI - BILLY ELLT NTUED WH ROG GAY RIGHTS ROMANCE SET DURG MERS' STRIKE

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.

MERS' STRIKE: VALLEY MUNY AND GAY ACTIVISTS' ENDURG IENDSHIPS

"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. 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?

MATTHEW WARCH: WHY I MA A ROM ABOUT GAY ACTIVISTS AND STRIKG MERS

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.

MERS STRIKE: WHEN THE GAY MUNY STOOD UP FOR THE MERSPRI, A MOVIE ABOUT THE UNLIKELY MERS' STRIKE LK UP BETWEEN LONDON BASED GAYS AND LBIANS IS DUE TO BE ON OUR CEMA SCREENS LATER THIS YEARWALONLEBOOKMARKSHARENEWSBYROB TURNER06:00, 21 MAR 2014UPDATED12:48, 22 JUL 2015BOOKMARKMEMBERS OF THE LBIANS’ AND GAY MEN’S MERS’ SUPPORT GROUPKEEP UP TO DATE WH THE LATT STORI WH OUR WALONLE NEWSLETTERMORE NEWSLETTERS SUBSCRIBEINVALID EMAILSOMETHG WENT WRONG, PLEASE TRY AGA LATER.MORE NEWSLETTERSWE E YOUR SIGN-UP TO PROVI NTENT WAYS YOU’VE NSENTED TO AND IMPROVE OUR UNRSTANDG OF YOU. THIS MAY CLU ADVERTS OM AND THIRD PARTI BASED ON OUR KNOWLEDGE OF YOU. MORE THANK YOU FOR SUBSCRIBG!WE HAVE MORE NEWSLETTERSSHOW ME SEE OURPRIVACY NOTICE SEE OURPRIVACY NOTICE&TIM;GROUP 28 KEEP UP TO DATE WH THE LATT STORI WH OUR WALONLE NEWSLETTERINVALID EMAILSOMETHG WENT WRONG, PLEASE TRY AGA LATER.SIGN UPNO THANKS, CLOSEWE E YOUR SIGN-UP TO PROVI NTENT WAYS YOU’VE NSENTED TO AND IMPROVE OUR UNRSTANDG OF YOU. THIS MAY CLU ADVERTS OM AND THIRD PARTI BASED ON OUR KNOWLEDGE OF YOU. MORE &TIM;GROUP 28THANK YOU FOR SUBSCRIBG!

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.

PRI REVIEW – WHEN GAY ACTIVISTS STCK A AL WH MERS

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. ” 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 .

COAL MERS AND GAY ACTIVISTS PARTNER IN 'PRI'

Image source, Getty ImagImage ptn, Sian Jam (far left) and LGSM -founr Mike Jackson (far right), wh actrs Faye Marsay at the 2014 Toronto Internatnal Film FtivalAlmost four s have passed sce the 1984 mers' strike but the unlikely iendships fed between a south Wal muny and gay activists om London are as strong as ever. The 2014 film Pri told how group Lbians and Gays Support the Mers (LGSM) raised thoands for strikg mers the Dulais, Neath and Swansea valleys. Six days later Arthur Srgill, print of the Natnal Unn of Meworkers (NUM), lled a natnal strike important source of support for the strikg mers me om the women their own muni, who anised soup kchens and distributed food was formed four months to the year-long strike and Sian said most people her muny were mostly grateful when they offered their support and much-need source, Roger TileyImage ptn, Roger's film ptur a vis to Swansea Pri 2018But some of the men had not enuntered openly gay people before and weren't so sure.

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

"Image source, Roger TileyImage ptn, Members of Lbian and Gays Support the Mers at Onllwyn Mers Welfare Hall'Good buddi'Mike Jackson, the secretary of LGSM who is portrayed by Joe Gilgun Pri, agreed. "The men would be dog a b of bawdy gigglg at the prospect of the gay people g to scend on their village and the women weren't havg - they jt said 'the people have the cency to be supportg … we want to extend the hand of iendship to them jt as we would wh anybody else'. "I thk when the Lbians and Gays Support the Mers me down the '80s they were even more sred than the lol people, " he said.

GAY ACTIVISTS AND MERS ON STRIKE: AN UNLIKELY PAIR FILM FTIVAL FAVORE ‘PRI’

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.

”ActivismMark don’t get a lot of support immediately: a gay man om Durham rponds angrily that the mers ed to beat him up back home. 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.

CANN 2014 REVIEW: PRI - BILLY ELLT NTUED WH ROG GAY RIGHTS ROMANCE SET DURG MERS' STRIKE

It tells the te story of a group of gays and lbians London who ci to raise money for strikg mers on the grounds that they have the same enemi: the Thatcher ernment, the police and the tabloids. They name themselv LGSM (Lbians and Gays Support the Mers) and, unable to get their early donatns accepted by the mers' unn, set off an old mib to a remote village Wal to hand over the money person. Before the tanic stggle between mers and Margaret Thatcher, would have been hard to image a lliers’ mib nng around South Wal wh the slogan on s doors pronouncg: “This vehicle was donated by the Lbians’ and Gay men’s mers’ support group.

” But the summer of 1984, a group of gay and lbian activists London, at a time when the AIDS issue was seeg prejudic e to the fore, cid to raise money to support the fai of strikg mers. ” Ali (Alun) Thomas, a strikg Blaenant mer 1984, now lear of Neath Port Talbot Council, played a key part the alliance, as he was sent to London to receive a cheque at a gay pub London on behalf of the strikers and their fai, the money havg beg raised by the gay muny the UK pal which was formg a nsirable lobby group due to the AIDS issue. Dulais Valley born Aberavon AM Hywel Francis, son of mers’ lear Dai Francis and thor of History On Our Si: Wal and the 1984/85 Mers’ Strike, said: “In South Wal we wanted to broan the appeal of the mers’ se and we did through lks wh women’s groups, tra unn groups like Brent NALGO, peace groups like CND, and the gays and lbians, who beme some of the ma advot of the mers’ e.