Pride!

There are many things I could post about today. It has not been the best of days in all sorts of ways. However, as we sang along to the radio earlier, always look on the bright side of life. There have been some golden moments, and it has ended very well indeed: myself, BB, RM and RH got together to finally finally watch Pride. If you're familiar with me, you're probably shocked that I hadn't seen it before (like the very day it came to the cinema?!); I'm pretty shocked too, to be honest. I'm just not great with films I guess. However, having seen it, I am utterly in love (and not just with Steph, one of the main female characters). If you haven't heard of it, Pride is a film that came out last year. It's all based on true events (and even real people!) and is set in the Thatcher era. At the time, LGBTQ+ people were being heavily persecuted, with Thatcher introducing legislature that worsened this. However, whilst holding the annual gay Pride event, one of the men came up with an idea- to show solidarity, and support others who were being persecuted. You see, it wasn't just the LGBTQ+ who Thatcher didn't like; it was the miners, too. And, whilst at the time they were too hugely different groups, they were up against similar things- so a group was formed (Lesbians and Gays Supporting Miners- or LGSM) and they started raising money. The next issue was that they couldn't find any miners unions that would accept the money. After all, who would want to be associated with gay people?! Especially gay people who actually want to help & support you! However, LGSM were undettered- they found a small mining town, and contacted them directly. What happened next made history. The two groups of people- the LGSM and the Dulais miners- did not click instantly. It was a huge battle, and there were huge odds to overcome. However, thanks to the perseverance of certain individuals, they rallied on, and changed a hell of a lot of minds, proving that, just by holding hands, you can do a whole lot of good. The movie ends with a jubilant and moving Pride march through London, and some tying up of the real events: a few years later, the Labour government passed legislation to protect LGBT people. This was,in part, thanks to the huge support from the miners. It's an amazing, amazing story, and I think the film did it great justice. There are some amazing characters (some of whom are based on real people, which is even more amazing), some laugh out loud moments, and some genuinely beautiful teary moments. I don't cry at films often, but this one? Well... Bawling like a baby!! It made me feel happy and sad and angry, but most of all it made me feel proud- both of the people who fought for our rights, and for the openly gay woman that I am. If you haven't seen Pride yet, what are you waiting for?! Go forth and watch!!