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
• A STORY OF SOLIDARY: MERS AND THE GAY COMMUNY
• COAL MERS AND GAY ACTIVISTS PARTNER IN 'PRI'
• GAY-RIGHTS ACTIVISTS TEAM UP WH MERS CROWD-PLEASG ‘PRI’
• AFTER YEARS OF PROGRS ON GAY RIGHTS, HOW DID THE US BEE SO ANTI-LGBTQ+?
• JONATHAN BLAKE: “MERS PUT GAY RIGHTS ON THE POLIL AGENDA”
• THE UNLIKELY ALLIANCE OF GAYS, LBIANS AND MERS UNE AND FIGHT ‘PRI’
• GAY RIGHTS
• LGBT HISTORY MONTH: LBIANS AND GAYS SUPPORT THE MERS, 1984-85
• PRI: WATCH GEE MACKAY AN EXCLIVE CLIP OM THE DRAMA ABOUT THE GAY RIGHTS ACTIVISTS WHO JOED THE MERS' PROTT - VIO
• HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH: ANTI-GAY LAWS PROMOTE VLENCE, DISCRIMATN ST. VCENT
• THE U.S. & JAMAI ARE FIGHTG OVER GAY RIGHTS
• KEN HAS ALWAYS BEEN BARBIE’S GAY BT FRIEND—NOT HER BOYIEND
• ACTIVISTS NMN VLENCE AGAST LGBTQ MUNY ST. VCENT, WHERE GAY SEX IS ILLEGAL
• PRI AND THE PS: WHEN GAY RIGHTS MET THE STRIKG MERS
• GAY FURRY HACKERS ARE TARGETG US STAT FOR PASSG ANTI-TRANS LEGISLATN
• GAY UNSELOR'S FIRG BY INDIANAPOLIS CATHOLIC SCHOOL PERMTED BY FERAL APPEALS URT
• ‘PRI’ WELSH MERS GROUP TO RNE WH GAY RIGHTS MPAIGNERS
• CALIFORNIA STILL HAS AN ANTI-GAY MARRIAGE LAW ON THE BOOKS. VOTERS ULD REMOVE NEXT YEAR
• PRI THE MOVIE: JONATHAN BLAKE, THE MPAIGNER PLAYED BY DOMIC WT, TALKS ABOUT HIV, THE MERS' STRIKE AND GAY RIGHTS
• 'PRI,' A TALE OF GAY RIGHTS AND MERS, MAK ITS MOSW DEBUT
• THE HIDN GAY LIV FALLY BEG UNVERED
• CANN 2014 REVIEW: PRI - BILLY ELLT NTUED WH ROG GAY RIGHTS ROMANCE SET DURG MERS' STRIKE
• THE RIGHTS OF LBIAN, GAY, BISEXUAL AND TRANSGENR PEOPLE
• BRISH COALMERS STRIKE WH A GAY COALN IN 'PRI,' A CROWD-PLEASER
• MERS AND GAY ACTIVISTS RNE FOR STRIKE ANNIVERSARY
• THE 200-YEAR-OLD DIARY THAT'S REWRG GAY HISTORY

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. Sian Jam scribed feelg that ‘we were next le after lbians and gays…you nnot sympathise wh an opprsed group until you’ve actually been a member of one’ Unlikely UnnIn the face of such adversy, ordator Mark Ashton enpsulated the aim of LGSM; ‘It is illogil to say: ‘I’m gay and I’m to fendg the gay muny but I don’t re about anythg else.

The growg acceptance of gay issu the Labour movement would play a role the passg of progrsive legislatn by followg Labour ernments on the age of nsent, civil partnerships, and the repeal of Sectn 28 November the time that the group was wound up July 1986, LGSM had gathered approximately 22, 000 pounds for the mg muny at Dulais, llected through street llectns, jumble sal and events such as the ‘Ps and Perverts’ gig, named after a rogatory slogan ed by The Sun Importance of SolidaryNotns of muny over class were rerced by an opn piece wrten by LGSM for Cy Lims.

A STORY OF SOLIDARY: MERS AND THE GAY COMMUNY

Image source, Getty ImagImage ptn, Bill Nighy (centre) was uned wh his Pri -stars at the London premiereThe 1984 mers' strike and the gay rights movement may seem like unlikely on-screen partners - but their g together Matthew Warch's film Pri has produced, acrdg to actor Bill Nighy, "the most important Brish film of recent years" Nighy is one of the stars of the movie, which documents the te story of how Lbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgenr (LGBT) groups beme the biggt fancial supporters of the mers, who went on strike for more than a year 1984, prott agast wispread p closur. A rash of laws ncerng the teachg of human sexualy school curricula, banng trans stunt athlet and strippg parents of the right to help their genr-variant children obta appropriate re have popped up numero red stat this same-sex marriage is now part of the fabric of Ameri, nservativ have chosen to explo Amerins’ unfaiary wh trans people and piggyback on parental anger over the perceived overreach of Covid-era school closur, nflatg wh an sid sense of “wokens”, the hop of fdg an electorally viable sluiceway for anti-LGBTQ+ most famo of the anti-LGBTQ+ laws is the piece of Florida legislatn banng stctn on sexual orientatn or genr inty schools between krgarten and third gra, the so-lled “don’t say gay” law. Photograph: Bob Daemmrich/Zuma Wire/Rex/ShutterstockPolicians are supported the media by mentators like Tucker Carlson, who claimed “no one had heard of this trans thg four years ago”, or Charlie Kirk, channelg 1980s fears sayg “gays want to rpt your children” rejuvenated, the right wg is poised to make transphobia and homophobia rnerston of the midterms and 2024 electns, wh promis to liver “don’t say gay” legislatn stat cludg Michigan and New Perks, the print of the Fay Rearch Council, a nservative lobbyg group, veighed agast the ernors of Indiana and Utah for vetog legislatn banng trans women om participatg sports, llg the bills “timely, mastream protectns”.

”The bs-iendly wg of the GOP that would quietly team up wh Democrats to scuttle rabidly homophobic bills is now outnumbered, and legislators a dozen or more stat that lean even farther to the right than DeSantis are takg, the Natnal Center for Lbian Rights legal director, believ Florida is the tt se for a renewed ph for an aggrsive, Christian-natnalist program. ’But first there was Pri, which featured a fe ensemble st, chartg the story of Lbians and Gays Support the Mers (LGSM) the early 1980s – and featured an unfettable scene which actor Domic Wt danc his heart out a Mers’ Instute South Wal, as a group of gay men and women om London formed an unlikely alliance wh the fai of strikg character played by Wt was based on Jonathan Blake. That is until someone puts a b of ‘Shame, Shame, Shame’ by Shirley & Co on the rerd player and an unashamedly cliched but wonrful scene, the gays take to the dance floor and the mers are awakened to the potential benefs that e wh beg fabulo and is the ’80s and there is acid wash nim, dis and big hair – a time when hairdrsers were gods and Fal Net Super Hold hairspray was a hoehold necsy.

COAL MERS AND GAY ACTIVISTS PARTNER IN 'PRI'

Pri uld not have thentilly portrayed the ’80s gay scene whout acknowledgg the jtice, discrimatn and vastatn suffered by the gay muny worldwi at the birth of the HIV/AIDS crisis, and the fear promoted via horrifyg apolyptic health tn mpaigns that elevated gay men as a threat to the muny, rather than victims of the is directed by Brish director and dramatist, Matthew Warch (Matilda) om a script by Stephen Berford. Ernment signated Gerber’s Chigo hoe a Natnal Historic Pk TriangleCorbis/Getty ImagHomosexual prisoners at the ncentratn mp at Sachsenhsen, Germany, wearg pk triangl on their uniforms on December 19, gay rights movement stagnated for the next few s, though LGBT dividuals around the world did e to the spotlight a few example, English poet and thor Radclyffe Hall stirred up ntroversy 1928 when she published her lbian-themed novel, The Well of Lonels.

GAY-RIGHTS ACTIVISTS TEAM UP WH MERS CROWD-PLEASG ‘PRI’

”Though started off small, the foundatn, which sought to improve the liv of gay men through discsn groups and related activi, expand after foundg member Dale Jenngs was arrted 1952 for solicatn and then later set ee due to a adlocked the end of the year, Jenngs formed another anizatn lled One, Inc., which weled women and published ONE, the untry’s first pro-gay magaze.

That same year, four lbian upl San Francis found an anizatn lled the Dghters of Bilis, which soon began publishg a newsletter lled The Ladr, the first lbian publitn of any early years of the movement also faced some notable setbacks: the Amerin Psychiatric Associatn listed homosexualy as a form of mental disorr followg year, Print Dwight D. ”In fear of beg shut down by thori, bartenrs would ny drks to patrons spected of beg gay or kick them out altogether; others would serve them drks but force them to s facg away om other ctomers to prevent them om 1966, members of the Mattache Society New York Cy staged a “sip-”—a twist on the “s-” protts of the 1960s— which they vised taverns, clared themselv gay, and waed to be turned away so they uld sue. They were nied service at the Greenwich Village tavern Juli, rultg much publicy and the quick reversal of the anti-gay liquor Stonewall Inn A few years later, 1969, a now-famo event talyzed the gay rights movement: The Stonewall clanste gay club Stonewall Inn was an stutn Greenwich Village bee was large, cheap, allowed dancg and weled drag queens and homels the early hours of June 28, 1969, New York Cy police raid the Stonewall Inn.

AFTER YEARS OF PROGRS ON GAY RIGHTS, HOW DID THE US BEE SO ANTI-LGBTQ+?

Addnally, several openly LGBTQ dividuals secured public office posns: Kathy Kozachenko won a seat to the Ann Harbor, Michigan, Cy Council 1974, beg the first out Amerin to be elected to public Milk, who mpaigned on a pro-gay rights platform, beme the San Francis cy supervisor 1978, beg the first openly gay man elected to a polil office asked Gilbert Baker, an artist and gay rights activist, to create an emblem that reprents the movement and would be seen as a symbol of pri. But after failg to garner enough support for such an open policy, Print Clton 1993 passed the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” (DADT) policy, which allowed gay men and women to serve the ary as long as they kept their sexualy a rights advot cried the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy, as did ltle to stop people om beg discharged on the grounds of their 2011, Print Obama fulfilled a mpaign promise to repeal DADT; by that time, more than 12, 000 officers had been discharged om the ary unr DADT for refg to hi their sexualy. Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell was officially repealed on September 20, Marriage and Beyond In 1992, the District of Columbia passed a law that allowed gay and lbian upl to register as domtic partners, grantg them some of the rights of marriage (the cy of San Francis passed a siar ordance three years prr and California would later extend those rights to the entire state 1999) 1993, the hight urt  Hawaii led that a ban on gay marriage may go agast the state’s nstutn.

JONATHAN BLAKE: “MERS PUT GAY RIGHTS ON THE POLIL AGENDA”

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 . Louisiana lawmakers also attempted to overturn two other ntroversial LGBTQ+ bills that Edwards vetoed; a “Don’t Say Gay” bill that broadly bars teachers om discsg genr inty and sexual orientatn public school classrooms; and a measure requirg public school teachers to e the pronouns and nam that align wh what stunts were assigned at birth.

In the Hays Co era, explic referenc to homosexualy weren’t allowed, so characters like Van Buren (Frankl Pangborn) 1937’s Easy Livg, Kip (David Wayne) 1949’s Adam’s Rib, or Addison (Gee Sanrs) 1950’s All About Eve stead were imbued wh effemate characteristics, offerg a glimpse outsi of heteronormativy whout explicly beg of the characters were the same—some were tty, others sweet. While there is no way to “drs gay, ” there are several dolls that seem to suggt otherwise, such as:Fashnista Ken #193, who looks very exced to tell you about his new obssn, Troye Sivan;Travel Ken Doll, who has a satchel perfect for bathho and a purple overnight bag that lerally proclaims he’s “extra;”Ken Looks Doll, servg “I’m gonna give you a makeover”-type realns while sportg black pleather pants;This Ken, who wears the least heterosexual double nim I have a feelg the new Barbie movie will put the work to nvce that Ken is a hetero du who lov nothg life more than Barbie herself, the wrg’s already on the wall: Ken is, and always will be, Barbie’s gay bt obssg!

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

Vcent, anal sex is punishable by up to 10 years prison, while “gross cency” wh another person of the same sex is punishable by up to five years, acrdg to lonial-era laws that are mon the socially nservative Caribbean rarely voked, the rights group and a lol activist said the laws help legimize hostily and abe agast gay people. Louisiana lawmakers also attempted to overturn two other ntroversial LGBTQ+ bills that Edwards vetoed; a “ Don’t Say Gay ” bill that broadly bars teachers om discsg genr inty and sexual orientatn public school classrooms; and a measure requirg public school teachers to e the pronouns and nam that align wh what stunts were assigned at birth. WASHINGTON – A feral appeals urt has led that a Catholic high school Indianapolis was ee to fire a gay guidance unselor bee she performed at least some relig duti, the latt legal setback for LGBTQ+ rights when they nflict wh Fzgerald had worked for 14 years as a guidance unselor at Ronlli High School when school officials disvered she was married to another woman.

It is warm and wty, wh terrific performanc; Stephen Berford's script is fast and funny and there's a rog mil sre om Chris film is based on the te story of pneerg gay mpaigners London who supported the strikers wh the "Ps and Perverts" benef ncerts - and so dog had to overe tribal spicns among both London's gays and the mers of south 's a movie wh poignant ronanc the Bra of 2014, where the mers' strike end wh generatns who have never known work, mendints of a state which has rolved to rely for s power on imported al and ackg. Image source, PublicyImage ptn, The film Pri is based on support for the Dulais Valley mers om a London-based gay rights groupA Welsh mers' support group is to rne wh gay rights mpaigners who formed an alliance wh p workers durg the 1984-85 mers' revived Neath, Dulais and Swansea Valley Mers' Support Group will get back together wh the Lbian and Gays Support the Mers group. Margaret Thatcher at the Conservative Party Conference, June 1987 (Keystone/Hulton Archive/Getty)Activists also stormed the BBC on 23 May 1988, handcuffg themselv to a TV mera and disptg a broadst of The Six O'Clock News prented by Sue Lawley and Nicholas Manchter, more than 20, 000 people marched agast Sectn 28 while the actor Ian McKellen me out publicly for the first time orr to voice his Thatcher, rponsible for the first new homophobic law to be troduced a century, had voiced her opposn to gay rights at the 1987 Conservative Party Conference Blackpool.

GAY RIGHTS

"She was embolned to exprs her prejudice by a rise homophobia exacerbated by the AIDS/HIV crisis and s hostile verage the right-wg tabloid Tori palised on this sentiment that same year's electn mpaign, suggtg that Labour was tent on seeg pro-LGBT+ books tght school, a powerful piece of rhetoric at a time when the 75 per cent of the populatn believed homosexualy was "always or mostly wrong", acrdg to a ntemporary Brish Social Attus survey. Sectn 28 marked a disturbg backwards step for tolerance and clivy after the stris ma by the Brish LGBT+ movement sce the crimalisatn of male homosexualy 1967, a surge of progrs that had seen activists fe allianc wh Labour unns and the Natnal Unn of Meworkers, as picted the film Pri (2014), and the electn of Margaret Roff, Bra's first "out" lbian mayor, Manchter pernic fluence of the clse unqutnably played a huge role legimisg hate and rercg playground homophobia and bullyg, monisg LGBT+ children and ensurg many stayed imprisoned the closet for fear of social reprisals or clse endured until was repealed Stland on 21 June 2001 and the rt of the UK on 18 November lear and later PM David Cameron apologised for Sectn 28 as a "mistake" on 1 July timely passg arguably reprented a watershed moment for LGBT+ rights Bra and marked progrs has sce been ma, a procs facilated by the emergence of Twter as a platform for cultivatg more sensive attus towards qutns of reprentatn and diversy.

Historians om Oxford Universy have been taken aback to disver that Matthew Tomlson's diary om 1810 ntas such open-md views about same-sex attractn beg a "natural" human diary challeng prenceptns about what "ordary people" thought about homosexualy - showg there was a bate about whether someone really should be discrimated agast for their sexualy. "In this excg new disvery, we see a Yorkshire farmer argug that homosexualy is nate and somethg that shouldn't be punished by ath, " says Oxford rearcher Eamonn O' ptn, The diari were handwrten by Tomlson the farmhoe where he lived and workedThe historian had been examg Tomlson's handwrten diari, which have been stored Wakefield Library sce the thoands of pag of the private journals have never been transcribed and prevly ed by rearchers terted Tomlson's eye-wns acunts of electns Yorkshire and the Ludd smashg up O'Keeffe me across what seemed, for the era of Gee III, to be a rather startlg set of arguments about same-sex relatnships.

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

Tomlson had been prompted by what had been a big sex sndal of the day - which a well-rpected naval surgeon had been found to be engagg homosexual ptn, Historian Eamonn O'Keeffe says the diari provi a rare sight to the views of "ordary people" the early 1800sA urt martial had orred him to be hanged - but Tomlson seemed unnvced by the cisn, qutng whether what the papers lled an "unnatural act" was really that unnatural. "It mt seem strange ed that God Almighty should make a beg wh such a nature, or such a fect nature; and at the same time make a cree that if that beg whom he had formed, should at any time follow the dictat of that Nature, wh which he was formed, he should be punished wh ath, " he wrote on January 14 there was an "clatn and propensy" for someone to be homosexual om an early age, he wrote, " mt then be nsired as natural, otherwise as a fect nature - and if natural, or a fect nature; seems cel to punish that fect wh ath" diarist mak reference to beg rmed by others that homosexualy is apparent om an early age - suggtg that Tomlson and his social circle had been talkg about this se and discsg somethg that was not unknown to this time, and also Wt Yorkshire, a lol landowner, Anne Lister, was wrg a d diary about her lbian relatnships - wh her story told the televisn seri, Gentleman knowg what "ordary people" really thought about such behavur is always difficult - not least bee the loust survivg voic are ually the wealthy and has exced amics is the chance to eavdrop on an everyday farmer thkg aloud his source, Getty ImagImage ptn, Tomlson was appalled by the levels of rptn durg electns"What's strikg is that he's an ordary guy, he's not a member of the bohemian circl or an tellectual, " says O'Keeffe, a doctoral stunt Oxford's history acceptance of homosexualy might have been exprsed privately aristocratic or philosophilly radil circl - but this was beg discsed by a ral worker.

O'Keeffe says shows ias were "perlatg through Brish society much earlier and more wily than we'd expect" - wh the diary workg through the bat that Tomlson might have been havg wh his the were still far om morn liberal views - and O'Keeffe says they n be extremely "jarrg" someone was homosexual by choice, rather than by nature, Tomlson was ready to nsir that they should still be punished - proposg stratn as a more morate optn than the ath ptn, Tomlson's former home was still there the 1930s (bottom left), but has sce disappeared beneath hog and a golf urseO'Keeffe says disverg evince of the kds of bate has both "enriched and plited" what we know about public opn this pre-Victorian diary is raisg ternatnal Fara Dabhoiwala, om Prceton Universy the US, an expert the history of attus towards sexualy, scrib as "vivid proof" that "historil attus to same-sex behavur uld be more sympathetic than is ually prumed".

Now, they're hopg to spire and rekdle grassroots the report om Mike Griffhs below:The film told the te story of how gay and lbian activists cid to raise money and lend their support to strikers a south Wal mg muny film starred Paddy Conside, Imelda Stnton and Bill Nighy Cred: PAMore: Pri ws Bafta for Outstandg DebutMembers of the group returned to that village - Onllwyn the Dulais Valley -for a rnn this Geth Roberts - played the film by Andrew Stt - the event will be Donovan tch up wh a member of LGSMThe event - anised by those who led the muny durg the strike - is a hope the revived support group will to spire a new generatn of rnn event has sold outP closur throughout the 80s and 90s have seen Wal' mg dtry signifintly rced Rememberg the Mers' Strike 30 years onThe former Cefn Coed/Blaenant Colliery nearby CrynantThirty years on om the end of the strike, the activists and mers' welfare anisatn ntue to celebrate the iendships ma durg the mpaign.

PRI: WATCH GEE MACKAY AN EXCLIVE CLIP OM THE DRAMA ABOUT THE GAY RIGHTS ACTIVISTS WHO JOED THE MERS' PROTT - VIO

• Sectn 28 of the Lol Government Act was enacted May 1988• It was brought to "prohib the promotn of homosexualy by lol thori"• That's lol uncils - the anisatns rponsible for thgs like social re, bbish llectn and schools• The law was partly spired by a 1983 story book lled Jenny Liv wh Eric and Mart, which aimed to give children rmatn about different typ of fay relatnships• Tory Prime Mister Margaret Thatcher said at the time: "Children who need to be tght to rpect tradnal moral valu are beg tght that they have an alienable right to be gay. Louisiana lawmakers also attempted to overturn two other ntroversial LGBTQ+ bills that Edwards vetoed; a "Don't Say Gay" bill that broadly bars teachers om discsg genr inty and sexual orientatn public school classrooms; and a measure requirg public school teachers to e the pronouns and nam that align wh what stunts were assigned at birth.

HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH: ANTI-GAY LAWS PROMOTE VLENCE, DISCRIMATN ST. VCENT

THE U.S. & JAMAI ARE FIGHTG OVER GAY RIGHTS

KEN HAS ALWAYS BEEN BARBIE’S GAY BT FRIEND—NOT HER BOYIEND

ACTIVISTS NMN VLENCE AGAST LGBTQ MUNY ST. VCENT, WHERE GAY SEX IS ILLEGAL

PRI AND THE PS: WHEN GAY RIGHTS MET THE STRIKG MERS

GAY FURRY HACKERS ARE TARGETG US STAT FOR PASSG ANTI-TRANS LEGISLATN

GAY UNSELOR'S FIRG BY INDIANAPOLIS CATHOLIC SCHOOL PERMTED BY FERAL APPEALS URT

‘PRI’ WELSH MERS GROUP TO RNE WH GAY RIGHTS MPAIGNERS

CALIFORNIA STILL HAS AN ANTI-GAY MARRIAGE LAW ON THE BOOKS. VOTERS ULD REMOVE NEXT YEAR

PRI THE MOVIE: JONATHAN BLAKE, THE MPAIGNER PLAYED BY DOMIC WT, TALKS ABOUT HIV, THE MERS' STRIKE AND GAY RIGHTS

'PRI,' A TALE OF GAY RIGHTS AND MERS, MAK ITS MOSW DEBUT

THE HIDN GAY LIV FALLY BEG UNVERED

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

THE RIGHTS OF LBIAN, GAY, BISEXUAL AND TRANSGENR PEOPLE

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

MERS AND GAY ACTIVISTS RNE FOR STRIKE ANNIVERSARY

THE 200-YEAR-OLD DIARY THAT'S REWRG GAY HISTORY