Who’d imagine that a film about gay people, trade unionists and socialists could ever become a mainstream hit with an all-star cast? Pride told the superficially unlikely story of how radical LGBT activists struck up an alliance with south Wales miners during the 1984/85 miners’ strike.
The strike is generally portrayed as a colossal defeat, for the miners, their communities and the trade union movement as a whole. It was. But one outcome that is less well known is the boost for LGBT rights in Britain. One of the co-founders of Lesbians and Gays Support the Miners (LGSM) was Accrington-born Mike Jackson. My generation all too often take for granted rights which were won because of the huge effort – and indeed sacrifice – of those before us.
Though Jackson would be the first to say there is so much further to go, he fought for LGBT rights at a time of state-sanctioned homophobia and pandemic public prejudice. He put into practice “an injury to one is an injury to all”, a trade union slogan which is sometimes nothing more. He and his comrades have resurrected LGSM and continue to fight for socialism and workers’ rights. For those of us who want a different sort of society – in the face of what seems like formidable opposition – Mike is a genuine inspiration.
