Charlie Sheen: Shame

Back in 1982 when developing AIDS was viewed as a death sentence, I attempted suicide when I discovered I was HIV positive.

After hearing so many terrifying stories of long, agonising deaths, I just couldn’t face it.

But society’s ignorant response was almost as frightening.

Fortunately my attempt to take my own life failed and thankfully we’ve moved on from the hysterical reaction to AIDS in the 1980s.

Advances in medication and a more open-minded society have helped, but the Government is cutting funding for HIV services, there are new diagnosis every day and not everyone responds to the medication which combats the virus.

Now Charlie Sheen hasn’t helped the struggle to combat the stigma and misinformation that still surrounds the illness.

His claim that it would have been “impossible” to pass it on to other people is particularly damaging...

I understand the difficulties surrounding someone in Hollywood admitting this and it’s appalling to hear he’s been blackmailed.

Though going public about his status could have contributed towards normalising the condition - an important step in combating the spread of the virus.

Sheen is only admitted it because he was forced to do so.

It all contributes to a warped perception of the illness and turns HIV back into the sinister secret it was viewed as 30 years ago.

Joanthan Blake, also of LGSM (note the Pits & Perverts t-shirt), in the Mirror.

Bit of an odd one this, especically when you consider the Mirror's role in trying to (force) out Charlie Sheen, their awful 'Hollywood HIV panic' angle, and the incredibly shitty Fleet Street Fox article; The Hollywood actor with HIV deserves everything he gets - and worse.

But bear in mind this is in the Mirror and may only be very loosely based on what Jonathan said. 

PS A less judgemental piece from Independent Voices...

Pride: Owen Jones' Verdict

The LGBT movement was once about protest and struggle, winning many of the rights people have today. But, says Owen Jones, it's become a convenient way for dodgy corporations to 'pinkwash' their reputations – and there's a complacency that all the battles have been won. Is it time to put the politics back into LGBT?

#makesyouthink

PS No irony that the Guardian are telling big business about the benefits of backing gay rights. Sponsored content etc... Maybe Owen could give a Guardian Masterclass?

Guardian star writers are forced to do these videos. Some look uncomfortable. Not our Owen, who'd probably happily take a walk-on part in a Cheeky Girls comeback video.

Stonewall: A Lesson From History

The Stonewall Riots began on the morning of June 28th 1969.

That was quite a long time ago, which means it's okay to celebrate it as an empty icon.

It's even fetishised now by those who would have condemned it at the time.

History allows people to laud past events we no longer have to take sides over - at least in any meaningful sense.

See also Pride - The Movie.

Pride In London: The Day In One Photo

At the start of the march parade a man is wrestled to the ground by police - assisted by Pride stewards - and arrested for shouting at the contingent from Barclays about their company's tax avoidance.

Other stewards and security tried to stop people and media from taking photos.

Barclays were a main sponsor of Pride In London and led the parade today - the spot had been offered to Lesbians And Gays Support The Miners, but they were later pushed further to the back.

* Photo by Jules Mattsson. x

Edit: The Sunday Mirror has mobile phone footage of the end of his 'altercation' with the police [Edit: Oops! Jules Mattsson took it]. He gets a little more, shall we say, 'rowdy' than I thought. Hmm...

Here's a nice picture of a jolly copper showing how much he loves the gays in case there's any confusion...

LGSM: Only Connect

Lesbians And Gays Support The Miners have set up a dedicated website about now, then and next.

Letter Of The Day: More Pride Shame

The way we walked: London Pride 1985

Like many other trade unionists and activists for the rights of lesbians, gays, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people we had been really looking forward to marching at the front of London Pride this year alongside members of the original Lesbians and Gays Support the Miners (LGSM) in a recreation of the spirit of solidarity so brilliantly depicted in the film Pride in this, the 30th anniversary of the miners’ strike.

We were shocked to see that the Pride in London (PiL) committee has now decided not to allow supporters of LGSM from the unions to march at the front with them, preferring instead to give pride of place to corporate sponsors such as Barclays, Citibank and Starbucks.

This domination of the corporations at Pride must be questioned, and the success of the film Pride should have provided the perfect springboard for that. The fact that the chair of PiL is political head of broadcasting at 10 Downing Street shows how far we have moved from the origins of Pride protests in the Stonewall riots in New York in 1969. It would seem that PiL is echoing the government in its determination to sideline unions and silence protest.

We are determined to challenge the portrayal of Pride as a showcase for multinational companies. Among the companies currently sponsoring Pride are those who must be held responsible for the financial crisis, don’t pay their taxes and don’t allow unions to organise.

LGSM will now be heading a union bloc in the middle of the parade, and we hope people will turn up in large numbers to join in with their posters, placards and loud voices. Thirty years ago we had to take on the union-busters and supporters of clause 28 under Margaret Thatcher. Today David Cameron has made clear his intention to shackle the unions and ramp up austerity measures that will hit LGBT people hard. It’s time to reclaim the true spirit of Pride.

Letter to The Guardian signed by LGSM and a number of trade unionists.

Please don't tell me you're surprised by any of this.

There's as much chance of stopping London Pride being a shameless slave-whore to big business as there is of me becoming the next Labour leader.

Pride's original offer to LGSM to lead the parade seemed more about the movie than the movement, anyway.

Typo Of The Week: Pink News

Pink News.

Damn you Daily Mail and all your pesky communist columnists!

PS Good piece in Sunday's Observer on LGSM's Mark Ashton; The real-life triumphs of the gay communist behind hit movie Pride.

PPS Apparently, Stephen Beresford is 'in talks' about turning Pride into a West End musical. Oh dear...

Mind you, maybe that means there's still hope for my feel-good musical about the Poll Tax riot.

PPPS On reflection, it can be a musical on condition that director Matthew Warchus gets Tim Minchin to write the songs. K?

Pride: Shaming A Gay Film

"There’s something very relieving [?] about the idea of attributes of compassion and heroism and a belief in everybody. So it’s not a film for just gay people or miners. Just because you’re not a woman, doesn’t mean you don’t believe in women’s rights!”

Thanks for clearing that up, brainbox!

No wait, there's more...

“It’s not a gay film, it’s about humanity,” he explains...

To HuffPost Gay Voices.

This dolt really is a banal trite gay cliche machine.

If it's not a 'gay film' then what the felch is it then?

A Chinese opera?

A French baguette?

But hey, maybe we're all baguettes, really, yah?

Still at least another right-wing paper loves Pride (The Movie)!

Yes, it's 5 Stars from the famously gay-loving, and union-loving Express for this 'delightful' film!

But are they sure it stars Mark Ashton?

Good to see you were all paying attention.

Update: Mike Jackson, co-founder of LGSM, is interviewed by Pink News.

Pride: The Daily Mail Sure Does Love It!

Daily Mail.

Also very popular with The Sun!

Is it only right-wing cunts who love this movie?

It's heart-warming, adorable etc etc Zzzz...

'You shall judge a film by its fans as well as by its foes' Joseph Conrad, probably.

PS The wonderfully thick Andrew Scott strikes again!

So it's just a film that happens to be about The Gays, then?

You stupid fuck.

What makes a film 'gay'? Craig Johnson, The Advocate.

PPS Seen the film, buy the t-shirt (that cost £4 to make).

Or you could just give the Orgeave Truth And Justice Campaign £4.

Cut out the middle-man and not buy a shitty, politically vacuous, over-priced t-shirt!

PPPS The Daily Mirror thinks it honks of sentimental, apolitical crap...

Let me say again, the story has all the components for a fantastic film, a tale of unlikely brothers in arms united against an evil enemy in a desperate climate.

But sadly the makers rely on the clichés we see in way too many light-as-a-feather British comedy-dramas – see, in particular, Made In Dagenham, Cemetery Junction and Kinky Boots.

Slap your forehead as the hostile locals are won over by West dancing on the table in their community hall; feel your toes curl as two biddies show their innate lovability by calling their new pals “the gays” or “my lesbians”; and sink even deeper into your seat as the same swap talcum powder tips with a man in a gimp suit.

Bless them! Aren’t they surprisingly tolerant?

And then there’s an overwhelming, cloying, knuckle-chewing score signposting when we’re meant to laugh or cry.

Meanwhile, the grit of the strike – the out-of-control coppers, the vindictiveness of the National Coal Board and the miners’ desperate poverty – are largely glossed over so we can get to another scene of Staunton proving her broadness of mind by dancing in a gay club where (and I’m not making this up) she attempts to talk to a man wearing a ball gag.

The Times.

Yes! It's the feel-good comedy guaranteed not to offend anyone who wanted all miners and queers to be killed at the time!

Mark Ashton.

And finally, from the Morning Star...

Often when a film with LGBT themes is produced there can be difficulties of prejudice along the way and I was curious to know if the prodcuction team had encountered something similar.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, given the change in attitudes in recent decades, it wasn’t the LGBT but the socialist theme that people had an issue with.

A major US distributor went so far as to abandon the project entirely because it deals with socialism and from an early stage the crew were advised not to use the word “communist” under any circumstances or there’d be stiff opposition to marketing the film in the US.

This presented some difficulty not least because one of the main characters of the film and a founding member of LGSM is Mark Ashton, beautifully played by Ben Schnetzer. At the time he was the youngest-ever general secretary of the Young Communist League...

So in fine - the message of this movie is; the miners' got fucked, but you got gay marriage.

But everything now is alright for ever.

PS Also from the Morning Star, Pits And Perverts: The legacy of communist Mark Ashton.

Pride: Lesbians And Gays Support The Miners (Not Today's Workers)

Don't forget to get your free tickets to the Pride premiere today!

They are available from those well-known bastions of working-class solidarity, the Daily Mail and Gay Star News.

And at all Picturehouse cinemas.

That's right.

Workers from Picturehouse have been on strike most of this year.

And don't forget, one of the many reasons GSN is so abysmal is cause they think it's okay not to pay people who work for them, and just get some unpaid interns in.

Solidarity!

Still, all hail Pride (the movie).

'I'd cross a picket line to see this feel-good movie about gays and trade unions and err...' Daily Mail.

'This is the best film ever since the last one we said that about*, can you put this on your poster?' Attitude.

* Weekend.

PS Other hilarious incongruities in the Daily Mail's film of the year.

Update: Another rave review, this time from Britain's only communist daily newspaper, the Telegraph!

Pride: Support

"You have worn our badge, Coal Not Dole, and you know what harassment means, as we do. Now we will pin your badge on us, we will support you. It won't change overnight, but now 140,000 miners know that there are other causes and other problems. We know about blacks and gays and nuclear disarmament and we will never be the same."

Dai Donovan, then a striking South Wales miner, addressing the Pits & Perverts benefit concert organised by Lesbians And Gays Support The Miners in 1985.

He is featured in an Observer article inspired by the film Pride, that also has interviews with Jonathan Blake and Mike Jackson from LGSM, and Siân James from the Miners' Wives' Support Group (she's now a Labour MP).

Strange how some other media think that what people who acted in the film think about LGSM and the miners' strike is more important, insightful and interesting.

The four people above all think the film Pride has - hey! - done everyone who was involved proud.

Fagburn still thinks it's notable how the movie is getting raved about in the usually union-bashing and gaybashing right-wing press - the biggest quote on the poster is the Daily Mail calling it 'Indescribably wonderful!' - and by gay journalists with the politics of a wobbly pink blancmange.

The Sunday Times has a feature, Stephen Beresford: How I turned the miners' strike into a gay comedy.

That title alone surely speaks volumes - maybe the appeal of Pride (the movie) is that it's coal dust and dirt, blood, sweat and tears, dipped in some fabulous gay glitter?

PS And here's a video made by LGSM in 1985, Dancing In Dulais.

Thought For The Day: Mike Jackson

“The one thing the ruling class don’t want is solidarity; they don’t want us to join the dots up.

“Real change always comes from the bottom up. Change has never come from the top down, it comes from ordinary people, not so-called politicians or leaders.”

Mike Jackson, co-founder of Lesbians And Gays Support The Miners.

From a piece in The Guardian by Owen Jones on the film, Pride. 

Fagburn gets the feeling every critic will gush about this 'feelgood movie' about industrial strife and homophobia, even in papers that in 1984 hated queers as much as they hated striking miners.

Might have been interesting to hear more from Mike about LGSM than the two lines above, but there you go...

The Rev Richard Coles and comrades supporting the miners in 1984.

• Celebrating Community Spirit During The 1984-85 Miners' Strike: Q&A with members of LGSM and the cast of Pride. People's History Museum, Manchester. Saturday 23rd August.

Lesbians & Gays Support The Miners: Pits And Perverts

It’s the summer of 1984 – Margaret Thatcher is in power and the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) is on strike. At the Gay Pride March in London, a group of gay and lesbian activists decides to raise money to support the families of the striking miners. But there is a problem. The Union seems embarrassed to receive their support.

But the activists are not deterred. They decide to ignore the Union and go direct to the miners. They identify a mining village in deepest Wales and set off in a mini bus to make their donation in person. And so begins the extraordinary story of two seemingly alien communities who form a surprising and ultimately triumphant partnership.

PRIDE will be directed by the Tony Award winning theatre director Matthew Warchus (Matilda: The Musical, God of Carnage). The large ensemble cast will be led by Bill Nighy and Imelda Staunton with the other roles played by a host of well-known British actors including Dominic West...

BBC Films.

It'll be like Billy Elliott, Brassed Off and The Full Monty - but with added gays for a bit of culture clash comedy-drama!
A pivotal moment in British gay politics, let's hope they don't fuck this up - and it ends up more like The Comic Strip's Strike.

Here's a first person account by Paul Canning, who was a member of the LGSM delegation to South Wales.
And here's a lovely retro video of Manchester LGSM and the benefit they organised at the Hacienda.
Or alternatively, if you know fuck-all about it - like this fool at Gay Star News - why not just copy whatever drivel you just read on Wikipedia, and then get it even more wrong.
Gay journalism at its very, very best.