Have you seen Pride yet? It's a British film set around the National Union of Mineworkers' 1984 strike and focuses on a group of gay men and lesbians who decide to back the strike and end up setting up LGSM – Lesbians and Gays Support the Miners - and supporting a particular mining town in north Wales, telling the story of how these very different groups end up coming to know one another and work together.
I saw it last week and can't stop telling people that they should go, too. It's based on a true story and I can't get over the fact that I had never heard it before.
Perhaps that's not surprising - even writer Stephen Beresford describes it as being a 'legend' in the gay community,"like Chinese whispers"
He made those quotes in a Guardian article that links to an existing documentary which was made during the 80s. All Out! Dancing in Dulais is available on YouTube here and gives an overview of the situation, including interviews with the lesbians and gay men pledging their support for striking miners alongside ones with the mining community. They seem happy at the support, and - a point repeated in the film - more perturbed by the fact that some of their supporters are vegetarian than by their sexual orientation.
Perhaps that's not surprising - even writer Stephen Beresford describes it as being a 'legend' in the gay community,"like Chinese whispers"
He made those quotes in a Guardian article that links to an existing documentary which was made during the 80s. All Out! Dancing in Dulais is available on YouTube here and gives an overview of the situation, including interviews with the lesbians and gay men pledging their support for striking miners alongside ones with the mining community. They seem happy at the support, and - a point repeated in the film - more perturbed by the fact that some of their supporters are vegetarian than by their sexual orientation.
| And here's my favourite thing about the movie: smuggled within a feel good Brit Flick are some radical politics. At heart this is a movie about the power of communities, solidarity and diversity. | change can start with something as small as taking the hand of the person offering it to you. |
It's resonant because there are still people living the experience of being vilified and bullied by the press and government, and suggests a way of fighting against that. The characters understand that we all have the power to change the world, and that change can start with something as small as taking the hand of the person offering it to you.
There are tensions in Neath over taking the support LGSM offer. But they are the group who raise the most money. And as people get to know one another all sorts of barriers fall down. And that common enemy is still there. Once the press get wind of what is happening they use it as yet another stick with which to beat the striking workers, shouting about 'pits and perverts'.
"There's a long standing tradition in the gay community, and it's served us well" the charismatic leader of LGSM says, "when someone uses a word like this against you, you take it and you claim it" And so Pits and Perverts was born. Not a dismissive headline any more but the title of a dedicated fundraising gig held in the Electric Ballroom in Camden which brought in over £5,000 (over £20,000 today).
It's a remarkable story, told in a wonderful film, and I’m going to carry on suggesting that you all go and see it.
Squeamish Louise
There are tensions in Neath over taking the support LGSM offer. But they are the group who raise the most money. And as people get to know one another all sorts of barriers fall down. And that common enemy is still there. Once the press get wind of what is happening they use it as yet another stick with which to beat the striking workers, shouting about 'pits and perverts'.
"There's a long standing tradition in the gay community, and it's served us well" the charismatic leader of LGSM says, "when someone uses a word like this against you, you take it and you claim it" And so Pits and Perverts was born. Not a dismissive headline any more but the title of a dedicated fundraising gig held in the Electric Ballroom in Camden which brought in over £5,000 (over £20,000 today).
It's a remarkable story, told in a wonderful film, and I’m going to carry on suggesting that you all go and see it.
Squeamish Louise
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