Mineworkers – Mandatory Ramblings of A College Grad

During day 2 of the snow apocalypse my sister suggested we watch a movie she’d recently heard of. The movie is titled Pride.

Pride was released in 2014, directed by Matthew Warchus, produced by Calamity Films. This film follows a group of British gay activists as they set out to aid mineworkers on strike in the 80’s

Sounds pretty creative huh? Well you know what Mark Twain said “Truth is stranger than fiction”. Pride is actually inspired by history, a history, I’m sad to say, I’ve never learnt about. Ashamed of my lack of historical knowledge I decided to do a little research of the inspirational event. Below you will find a short LGSM 101 that will hopefully inspire you to watch the movie and do a little research for yourself.

LGSM 101

LGSM = Lesbian and Gays Support the Miners
It was started by Mark Ashton (pictured below) and Mike Jackson
They first started collecting donations during the 1984 Lesbian and Gay Pride March in London
There were eleven organizations but the London group was the largest
Since the funds of National Union if Mineworkers were hidden by the government (Margret Thatcher was Prime Minster at the time) organizations were encourage to link with a specific mining community
The London group linked with South Wales
They raised about £20,000 for the miners as well as had reciprocal visits
Their biggest event was ” Pits and Perverts”, the name coming from a newspaper headline they decided to own.
This alliance went both ways as miners began support LGBT issues as well.
In 1985 at a Labor Party conference a resolution was passed committing the party to equal rights for LGBT. It passed for the first time due to a block vote by the National Union of Mineworkers.

Mandatory Ramblings of A College Grad

Originally A Product of My Online Journalism Class

Tag: Mineworkers

LGSM 101

LGSM 101

LGSM = Lesbian and Gays Support the Miners

It was started by Mark Ashton (pictured below) and Mike Jackson

They first started collecting donations during the 1984 Lesbian and Gay Pride March in London

There were eleven organizations but the London group was the largest

Since the funds of National Union if Mineworkers were hidden by the government (Margret Thatcher was Prime Minster at the time) organizations were encourage to link with a specific mining community

The London group linked with South Wales

They raised about £20,000 for the miners as well as had reciprocal visits

Their biggest event was ” Pits and Perverts”, the name coming from a newspaper headline they decided to own.

This alliance went both ways as miners began support LGBT issues as well.

In 1985 at a Labor Party conference a resolution was passed committing the party to equal rights for LGBT. It passed for the first time due to a block vote by the National Union of Mineworkers.