Queer Ancestor Spotlight: Mark Ashton

Jul 13

In this current socio-political moment I want to write about unexpected allies and coalition building. I think a great example is Mark Ashton, a gay rights activist and co-founder of Lesbians and Gays Support the Miners. He was an influential figure in the 1980’s under the conservative Thatcher government in the UK.

Mark Ashton was born May 19, 1960 in Oldham, Lancashire, England. Shortly after his birth, his family moved to Northern Ireland where he spent the rest of his youth. He moved to London in 1978. In 1982 spent several months in Bangladesh, a trip which had a major impact on his politics.

After returning to London, he volunteered with London Lesbian and Gay Switchboard. Now called Switchboard, this telephone helpline assisted London’s gay community and would become a central source of information for the community during the HIV/AIDS epidemic. In 1983 he appeared in the Lesbian and Gay Youth Video Project, Framed Youth: The Revenge of the Teenage Perverts, a documentary film in which gay and lesbian youth interview straight people on the streets of London about their views on homosexuality.

In early March 1984 the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) began a strike protesting the closure of mine pits the UK government deemed “uneconomic”. Mark, along with his friend Mike Jackson, formed Lesbians and Gays Support the Miners after collecting donations for the miners on strike at that year’s Pride march. In the early days of the group they met at the Gay’s the Word bookshop, the oldest LGBTQ+ bookshop in the UK, before eventually moving to The Fallen Angel, a gay pub in Islington. The group raised money to purchase a red minibus to help transport miners around the country so they could give speeches. They added a pink triangle and “Lesbians and Gays Support the Miners” to the bus.

The group was not formed with the intention of swaying miner’s views on LGBTQ+ issues. It was formed from a socialist standpoint to support labor, but members wanted to be open about their sexuality while doing so instead of hiding behind other socialist groups. This is evident in their largest, and most infamous fundraising event: Pits and Perverts. This was a concert held in the Electric Ballroom headlined by Bronski Beat.

The miner’s strike lasted until March 1985, and by the end there were eleven Lesbian and Gays Support the Miners groups in the UK. The alliance between the LGBTQ+ community and British labor movements formed during this period would continue beyond the strike, and were critical in the overall LGBTQ+ movement in the UK. For example, miners groups lead the 1985 London Lesbian and Gay Pride parade, and due to the NUM block voting the Labour Party added a resolution that same year committing the party to supporting LGBTQ+ rights. This story is commemorated in the movie Pride which was released in 2014.

Mark Ashton became more heavily involved in the Young Communist League following the end of the miner’s strike. After a diagnosis of HIV/AIDS he was admitted to Guy’s Hospital on January 30, 1987 and died twelve days later. In 2017 a plaque was unveiled in his honor above the Gay’s the Word bookshop marking his legacy with Lesbians and Gays Support the Miners.

Learn more about Mark Ashton and Lesbians and Gays Support the Miners here:

Pride - IMDb

When miners and gay activists united: the real story of the film Pride - The Guardian

Mark Ashton - Panel No. 69 - AidsQuilt.org.uk

The real-life triumphs of the gay communist behind the hit movie Pride - The Guardian

‘Pits and Perverts':’ the legacy of communist Mark Ashton - Morning Star