Lesbians and Gays Support the Miners! (1984-1985)

 

Hello, everyone! It's so great to have you here!   

This is Abril. Here you can read about the LGSM, hope you enjoy it! 😄

 

Because of Thatcher’s free-market policies, a great number of coal mines all over the UK were closed. Many coal mining communities organized strikes against this, enduring police brutality and social discrimination.

 

Some members of the LGBT from London, seeing as the miners were as mistreated as them, decided to create a support group to help them. This organization was called LGSM (“Lesbians and Gays Support the Miners”). No, "L" doesn't stand for London and "S" does not mean Sagittaurus.

 

 

The LGSM was founded in London in July the 30^th, 1984 by Mark Ashton and Mike Jackson. Their aim was to raise funds to support the miners that participated in the strikes against Thatcher to feed their families.

 The main members of this group were: Mark Ashton (1960 - 1987), its co-founder, a member of the LGSM switchboard and activist of the LGBT rights, Mike Jackson, its co-founder and LGBT activist, and Jonathan Blake, an LGBT activist and one of the first British people to be diagnosed in the 1980s with HIV (he is still alive, no worries).

 

Despite their good intentions, not many joined the LGSM and many people were not in favour of supporting a cause led by what they considered as “pervs”. Because of this, the LGSM decided to support a particularly stricken Welsh mining village: Onllwyn. David "Dai" Donovan (God bless his Gaelic soul), one of the members of the Onllwyn miner community, became the intermediary between these and the LGSM.

 Some of the most conservative (and homophobic, let's be honest) members of the Onllwyn miner support group reported LGSM to the media, afraid of the impact that the support by LGBT members would have on their community. They mocked the LGSM and the Welsh miners by labelling them as “pits and perverts”. Instead of putting an end to the group, they organised took their slurs and, as Tyrion Lannisters once said, "used them like and armour". They organized the “Pits and Perverts” fundraiser. This was a concert the 10^th of December 1984, with music groups such as Bronski Beat.

 With this, the LGSM raised £5,650 to support the miners. Despite this, the National Union of Miners (NUM) decided to refuse the LGSM help, which led to many of its members, including Ashton, abandoning the group.

 Gethin Roberts, the owner of the bookshop “Gays the World” where the LGSM meetings took place, attempted to lead a protest on his own but was assaulted and hospitalized. Later on, on March 3^rd, Thatcher forced the miners to stop the strike (what a surprise, Maggie).

 

However, in appreciation for their help during the 1984-85 strike, some South Wales mining communities joined the LGBT in London's Pride parade in 1985 to show their gratitude towards the LGSM. Mark Ashton unfortunately died of pneumonia on 11^th February 1987.

 

💓🧡💛💚💙💜

And now Andrea will tell you a bit more about this amazing deed!

- Abril González 👑

Know your history!

We all know how it ended, but how did it start?  

In 1984 Margaret Thatcher was UK's Prime Minister and she was a stubborn lady.  

As mining became less and less profitable, Thatcher's government decided that the best way to cut losses was to close 20 mines in Wales and Northern Ireland. This was also a clever ploy to undermine (get it?) the NUM, also known as the National Union of Mineworkers, one of the strongest and oldest unions in all of the UK. 

But the miners were having none of that and on March 6th of 1984, they started a 1 year-long strike. They decided that Thatcher could either keep all the mines open, or they would close all of them. 

As I said before, the NUM is no joke and had already gone on strike twice in the previous decade, in 1972 and 1974, which led to the downfall of the Conservative government of the then Prime Minister, Edward Heath. However, Thatcher was not afraid of a challenge and she was determined to succeed where her predecessor had failed. 

"But Ana!" you might be wondering "What does this have to do with the LGBT community?"

I'm so glad you asked my dear reader.

Let's take a look at the way our fellow LGBT Brits were being treated around the same time. 

In the UK homosexuality was listed as a mental disorder from the 50s until 1992. 

In Scotland Same-Sex sexual activities were illegal until 1980 and in Northern Ireland until 1982. 

And we cannot forget that the AIDS crisis was just starting in the 80s, which drastically increased the cases of discrimination and violence against LGBT citizens. 

After reading all that, I think we can both agree that the 80s were not as fun as it seems in the movies. There are not enough sequins, hairspray, and glitter in the world that can fix this mess. 

But still, how did they become allies? How did a bunch of miners end up in the middle of London's Pride?

It is all thanks to the enormous heart of a young gay lad called Mark Ashton, who could not stand to see another community being as mistreated as his own and decided to do something about it. 

Abril will take the lead in the next post and tell you a bit more about this unlikely and incredible friendship. 

-Ana Crespo 🌻