LESBIANS AND GAYS SUPPORT THE MINERS
Allyship at work
The incredible efforts of the people who set up Lesbians and Gays Support the Miners (LGSM) — a story told by 2014 film Pride and now being made into a musical — are an unforgettable example of allyship, activism and people power
Words Dale Fox Photography Markus Bidaux
‘WE DIDN’T CARE what they thought of us — we just wanted to help.”
That’s how Mike Jackson, co-founder of Lesbians and Gays Support the Miners (LGSM), sums up the radical spirit behind one of the most powerful — and unlikely — alliances in British political history.
LGSM was founded in London in July 1984 by Jackson and Mark Ashton, two activists who became inspired after attending a talk by a striking miner. As the Thatcher government escalated its assault on coal miners, and queer communities faced mounting discrimination, the pair grabbed collection buckets and headed to that summer’s London Gay Pride march. “We had absolutely no rights. The Labour Party weren’t listening, and the unions weren’t listening. So, people started forming autonomous groups and kept banging on the door until someone eventually did,” Jackson tells Attitude.