Lesbians and Gays Support the Miners (LGSM) was an alliance of
lesbian
A lesbian is a Homosexuality, homosexual woman.Zimmerman, p. 453. The word is also used for women in relation to their sexual identity or sexual behavior, regardless of sexual orientation, or as an adjective to characterize or associate n ...
s and
gay men
Gay men are male homosexuals. Some bisexual and homoromantic men may also dually identify as gay, and a number of young gay men also identify as queer. Historically, gay men have been referred to by a number of different terms, including ' ...
who supported the
National Union of Mineworkers during the year-long
strike of 1984–1985. By the end of the strike, eleven LGSM groups had emerged in the UK and the
London
London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
group alone raised £22,500 by 1985 () in support.
History
During the strike, the
Thatcher government sequestered the funds of the
National Union of Mineworkers (NUM), meaning that it was pointless for supporters of the strike to send donations to the national union. Instead, support groups in Britain were encouraged to "twin" with the various mining communities in England, Scotland and Wales. Among these organisations, the LGSM was formed by
Communist Party of Great Britain
The Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB) was the largest communist organisation in Britain and was founded in 1920 through a merger of several smaller Marxist groups. Many miners joined the CPGB in the 1926 general strike. In 1930, the CPG ...
activist
Mark Ashton
Mark may refer to:
Currency
* Bosnia and Herzegovina convertible mark, the currency of Bosnia and Herzegovina
* East German mark, the currency of the German Democratic Republic
* Estonian mark, the currency of Estonia between 1918 and 1927
* Fin ...
and his friends, after they collected donations for the miners at the 1984
Lesbian and Gay Pride march in London. The London LGSM group met and fundraised in numerous locations, including the
Gay's the Word bookshop. The group grew rapidly and moved out of Gay's The Word to a larger venue: ''The Fallen Angel'', a gay pub in Graham Street,
Islington
Islington () is a district in the north of Greater London, England, and part of the London Borough of Islington. It is a mainly residential district of Inner London, extending from Islington's High Street to Highbury Fields, encompassing the ar ...
. The London group was twinned with the
Neath
Neath (; cy, Castell-nedd) is a market town and Community (Wales), community situated in the Neath Port Talbot, Neath Port Talbot County Borough, Wales. The town had a population of 50,658 in 2011. The community of the parish of Neath had a po ...
,
Dulais and
Swansea Valley
The Swansea Valley ( cy, Cwm Tawe) is one of the South Wales Valleys. It is the valley from the Brecon Beacons National Park to the sea at Swansea of the River Tawe in Wales. Administration of the area is divided between the City and County of Sw ...
s Miners Support Groups. In November 1984, a group of lesbians broke away from LGSM to form a separate group,
Lesbians Against Pit Closures
Lesbians Against Pit Closures (LAPC) were an alliance of lesbian women who came together to support the National Union of Mineworkers and various mining communities during the UK miners' strike of 1984–1985. They were formed after a schism i ...
, although some lesbians remained active in the LGSM campaign rather than joining the women-only group.
In addition to raising approximately £22,500 for the families who were on strike, there were reciprocal visits. The largest fundraising event that LGSM organised was the "Pits and Perverts" benefit concert, which was held in the
Electric Ballroom
The Electric Ballroom is a 1,500-capacity performance venue (primarily for rock bands) and indoor market located at 184 Camden High Street in Camden Town, London, England.
History
The Electric Ballroom started as an Irish ballroom in the 1930 ...
in
Camden Town
Camden Town (), often shortened to Camden, is a district of northwest London, England, north of Charing Cross. Historically in Middlesex, it is the administrative centre of the London Borough of Camden, and identified in the London Plan as o ...
, London on 10 December 1984. The event was headlined by
Bronski Beat
Bronski Beat were a British synthpop trio which achieved success in the mid-1980s, particularly with the 1984 chart hit "Smalltown Boy", from their debut album '' The Age of Consent''. "Smalltown Boy" was their only US ''Billboard'' Hot 100 s ...
and its lead singer,
Jimmy Somerville
James William Somerville (born 22 June 1961) is a Scottish pop singer and songwriter. He sang in the 1980s with the pop groups Bronski Beat and The Communards, and has also had a solo career. He is known in particular for his powerful and soul ...
. The title of the benefit is claimed by many to have originated as a headline in the British tabloid ''
The Sun'' but this remains unproven.
Legacy
The alliances which the campaign forged between the
lesbian
A lesbian is a Homosexuality, homosexual woman.Zimmerman, p. 453. The word is also used for women in relation to their sexual identity or sexual behavior, regardless of sexual orientation, or as an adjective to characterize or associate n ...
,
gay
''Gay'' is a term that primarily refers to a homosexual person or the trait of being homosexual. The term originally meant 'carefree', 'cheerful', or 'bright and showy'.
While scant usage referring to male homosexuality dates to the late 1 ...
,
bisexual
Bisexuality is a romantic or sexual attraction or behavior toward both males and females, or to more than one gender. It may also be defined to include romantic or sexual attraction to people regardless of their sex or gender identity, whi ...
, and
transgender
A transgender (often abbreviated as trans) person is someone whose gender identity or gender expression does not correspond with their sex assigned at birth. Many transgender people experience dysphoria, which they seek to alleviate through tr ...
(
LGBT
' is an initialism that stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender. In use since the 1990s, the initialism, as well as some of its common variants, functions as an umbrella term for sexuality and gender identity.
The LGBT term is a ...
) community and British
labour groups proved to be an important turning point in the progression of LGBT matters in the United Kingdom. Miners' labour groups began to support, endorse and participate in various
gay pride
LGBT pride (also known as gay pride or simply pride) is the promotion of the self-affirmation, dignity, equality, and increased visibility of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people as a social group. Pride, as opposed to sham ...
events throughout the UK, including leading London's
Lesbian and Gay Pride parade in 1985. At the 1985
Labour Party conference in
Bournemouth
Bournemouth () is a coastal resort town in the Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole council area of Dorset, England. At the 2011 census, the town had a population of 183,491, making it the largest town in Dorset. It is situated on the Southern ...
, a resolution committing the party to the support of LGBT rights passed, due to block voting support from the National Union of Mineworkers. The miners' groups were also among the most outspoken allies of the LGBT community in the 1988 campaign against
Section 28
Section 28 or Clause 28While going through Parliament, the amendment was constantly relabelled with a variety of clause numbers as other amendments were added to or deleted from the Bill, but by the final version of the Bill, which received R ...
.
An archive of the London group's work is kept at the
People's History Museum
The People's History Museum (the National Museum of Labour History until 2001) in Manchester, England, is the UK's national centre for the collection, conservation, interpretation and study of material relating to the history of working people i ...
in
Manchester
Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...
. It includes the minutes of the weekly meetings, correspondence, press cuttings, publicity material, enamel badges, photographs and the group's banner. The London group's alliance with the Welsh mining village of
Onllwyn
Onllwyn () is a small village and community in Neath Port Talbot, Wales, near Seven Sisters.
History
First developed by the Romans, the local village Banwen is confined to the Roman Road of Sarn Helen. There are two Roman forts and the remai ...
is dramatised in the 2014 film, ''
Pride
Pride is defined by Merriam-Webster as "reasonable self-esteem" or "confidence and satisfaction in oneself". A healthy amount of pride is good, however, pride sometimes is used interchangeably with "conceit" or "arrogance" (among other words) wh ...
'', which was directed by
Matthew Warchus
Matthew Warchus (born 24 October 1966) is a British theatre director, filmmaker, lyricist, and playwright. He has been the Artistic Director of London's The Old Vic since September 2015.
Personal life
Warchus is married to American actress Lau ...
. Several of the surviving group members participated in the film's promotion.
In 2015, following the film's release, the surviving members of the organisation held a 30th anniversary reunion to raise funds for the Mark Ashton Fund, an HIV/AIDS charitable fund administered by the
Terrence Higgins Trust
Terrence Higgins Trust is a British charity that campaigns about and provides services relating to HIV and sexual health. In particular, the charity aims to end the transmission of HIV in the UK; to support and empower people living with HIV, to ...
. The group was chosen to lead the 2015
Birmingham Pride
Birmingham Pride is a weekend-long LGBTQ+ festival held annually in the Gay Village, Hurst Street, Birmingham, England, over the Spring Bank Holiday weekend. Birmingham Pride is the UK's largest two-day gay pride festival.
It usually features ...
parade, in recognition of their historic status. They were also slated to lead the 2015
Pride in London
Pride in London is an annual LGBT pride festival and parade held each summer in London, England. The event, which was formerly run by Pride London, is sometimes referred to as London Pride.
Pride in London celebrates the diversity of the LGBTQ ...
parade but withdrew in favour of marching further back after organisers refused to allow other affiliated groups, such as trade union contingents, to march with the LGSM. They also accepted invitations to 2015 Pride marches in
Derry
Derry, officially Londonderry (), is the second-largest city in Northern Ireland and the fifth-largest city on the island of Ireland. The name ''Derry'' is an anglicisation of the Old Irish name (modern Irish: ) meaning 'oak grove'. The ...
,
Doncaster
Doncaster (, ) is a city in South Yorkshire, England. Named after the River Don, it is the administrative centre of the larger City of Doncaster. It is the second largest settlement in South Yorkshire after Sheffield. Doncaster is situated in ...
,
Newcastle upon Tyne
Newcastle upon Tyne ( RP: , ), or simply Newcastle, is a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. The city is located on the River Tyne's northern bank and forms the largest part of the Tyneside built-up area. Newcastle is ...
,
Sunderland
Sunderland () is a port city in Tyne and Wear, England. It is the City of Sunderland's administrative centre and in the Historic counties of England, historic county of County of Durham, Durham. The city is from Newcastle-upon-Tyne and is on t ...
,
Norwich
Norwich () is a cathedral city and district of Norfolk, England, of which it is the county town. Norwich is by the River Wensum, about north-east of London, north of Ipswich and east of Peterborough. As the seat of the See of Norwich, with ...
,
Liverpool Pride
Pride in Liverpool (formerly Liverpool Pride), is a weekend-long festival to celebrate LGBT culture. It is held annually on Tithebarn Street and the gay quarter, in Liverpool City Centre. The event is held on the closest weekend to 2 August, i ...
,
Belfast
Belfast ( , ; from ga, Béal Feirste , meaning 'mouth of the sand-bank ford') is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan on the east coast. It is the 12th-largest city in the United Kingdo ...
and
Leeds Pride
Leeds Pride is an annual LGBT Pride celebration held in the city of Leeds, West Yorkshire, England.
History
Leeds Pride first took place in August 2006 (then called Leeds Gay Pride) - there had been previous Pride events in Leeds such as ''Hy ...
.
LGSM announced on 9 October 2015 that they would "wind down as a current campaigning force", saying that they did not want to become "a LGBT version of the
British Legion
The Royal British Legion (RBL), formerly the British Legion, is a British charity providing financial, social and emotional support to members and veterans of the British Armed Forces, their families and dependants, as well as all others in ne ...
". The group elected four original core members to carry the legacy of the group onwards. These were Mike Jackson (Secretary), Dave Lewis (Press Officer), Martin Goodsell and Brett Haran (Treasurers). The remit of the four is to continue fundraising by selling merchandise (t-shirts, badges, the book ''Pride'', etc.); respond to speaker requests; develop and maintain the website and to attend directly related mineworkers' legacy events such as the
Durham Miners' Gala
The Durham Miners' Gala, founded by Pete Doherty, is a large annual gathering and labour festival held on the second Saturday in July in the city of Durham, England. It is associated with the coal mining heritage (and particularly that of miners ...
. The legacy group gained the approval of a substantial majority of the former members in supporting
Jeremy Corbyn
Jeremy Bernard Corbyn (; born 26 May 1949) is a British politician who served as Leader of the Opposition and Leader of the Labour Party from 2015 to 2020. On the political left of the Labour Party, Corbyn describes himself as a socialist ...
as
Labour
Labour or labor may refer to:
* Childbirth, the delivery of a baby
* Labour (human activity), or work
** Manual labour, physical work
** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer
** Organized labour and the labour ...
leader in August 2016.
''Pride'' the book
The group were approached in 2016 by UK publisher John Blake Books to produce a book about LGSM and they accepted. Author Tim Tate was chosen. He made extensive audio recordings of original members of LGSM and the mining families and activists they twinned with in South Wales. These verbatim interviews are woven together with the author's explanatory narrative. The book was published in 2017 by John Blake, it is available both in paperback and digital editions.
References
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External links
* {{IMDb title, 0402951, All Out! Dancing in Dulais (1986)
1984 in LGBT history
1985 in LGBT history
LGBT history in the United Kingdom
Defunct LGBT organisations in the United Kingdom
LGBT socialism
LGBT working-class culture
UK miners' strike (1984–1985)