Pride

In 1984, a small group of metropolitan gay men and lesbian women stepped away from London’s vibrant gay scene to befriend and support a beleaguered mining community in the remote valleys of South Wales. They did so in the midst of the 1984 miners’ strike—the most bitter and divisive dispute for more than half a century.

In the 1980s, Margaret Thatcher’s hardcore social and fiscal policies devastated Britain’s traditional industries, as AIDS began to claim lives across the nation. As the government and police battled "the enemy within" in communities across the land and newspapers whipped up fear of the gay "perverts" who were supposedly responsible for inflicting this lethal new pestilence, two groups who ostensibly had nothing in common—miners and homosexuals—unexpectedly made a stand together and forged a lasting friendship.

It was an alliance which helped keep an entire valley clothed and fed during the darkest months of the strike. And it led directly to acceptance by unions and the Labour Party that gay equality was a cause to be championed. Pride tells the inspiring true story of how two very different communities—each struggling to overcome its own bitter internal arguments, as well as facing the power of a hostile government and press—found common cause against overwhelming odds. And how this one simple but unlikely act of friendship would, in time, help change life in Britain—forever.

This is the true story that inspired the Golden Globe Award-nominated, GLAAD-nominated, BAFTA-winning film Pride. 

About the Author

Tim Tate is a multiple award-winning documentary filmmaker who has made films for Discovery Channel, A&E networks, and Al Jazeera international. LGSM (Lesbians and Gays Support the Miners) was the alliance formed in support of the strike.