However, it has recently grown in prominence in the U.K.,” they tell me.īut when it was first used, Ridwan remembers a lot of resistance from the gay community. “Trans activists, especially those of colour, have been using the progress flag since 2018. (Photo by Jim Davis/The Boston Globe via Getty Images) Boston Globe via Getty Images ‘Stop polluting our flag’įor writer and creator Radam Ridwan, aversion to the progress flag from within the community, however, remains all too memorable. The person leading holds a transgender and gay pride flag that also has stripes for black and brown LGBT people. walk to the Jacob Whittemore House in Lexington from Concord, MA on June 14, 2020.
“As a queer man of colour, I am very hopeful the adoption of the Progress Pride Flag by the wider community, it is a huge step forward for us all.”ĬONCORD, MA - JUNE 14: A small group of Black Lives Matter protesters met at Meriam's Corner and.
“Many other movements are benefiting from this, for example the Black Lives Matter movement, and so of course there has been cross pollination to the LGBTQ+ movement where finally queer trans people of colour (QTPOC) and our issues are being recognised. Jason Jones, who successfully campaigned to overturn colonial anti-LGBT laws in Trinidad and Tobago–which could yet be returned again if the Government wins an ongoing appeal–thinks the pandemic has thrown us all into a new reality: “This flag recognises intersections within the LGBTQ+ community honouring LGBTQ+ people of colour–whose activism inspired the very first Pride-as well as different gender identities.” “The LGBTQ+ community make an enormous contribution to life in our city and it is so important for Pride celebrations to reflect the rich diversity of that community. “London is a place where diversity and difference are celebrated and embraced,” he tells me. The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan tells me he is proud to have flown a version of the progress flag from City Hall for the last two years: additional colours representing bi+ people for two years now. When members of the group visited for a weekend, one local organizer admitted that they were expecting “a bunch of weirdos.” In reality, the visit broke down stereotypes on both sides, and built relationships that lasted beyond the strike.The Mayor of London Sadiq Khan, has been flying a version of the progress flag at City Hall with. LGSM “twinned” with a mining community in the Dulais Valley in Wales. Kelliher writes that one major source of donations was The Bell, a pub Jackson described as “mainly used by young people and unemployed people, quite poorly paid young people.” Funds also came in from Gay’s the Word bookshop, which was facing its own political trouble at the time, including prosecutions for “indecency.”
Mark Ashton, a gay man and member of the Young Communist League, said that “previously I had this semi-antagonistic attitude towards the organized labour movement, trade unions, macho het bully boys.” But, he said, the miner spoke about “things that we’d never actually expected a miner to think or talk about.” (The story of how miners and the LGBTQ community came together is retold in the 2014 film Pride.)Īlong with fellow gay activist Mike Jackson, Ashton began collecting donations for the miners. The group took off after a striking miner spoke to gay activists following the 1984 Lesbian and Gay Pride March in London. Unable to donate directly to the union, supporters “twinned” with particular mining towns or pits to offer support.Īmong these supporters was Lesbians and Gays Support the Miners (LGSM). All our works were fighting for survival.”Īs the strike dragged on for months, Kelliher writes, fundraising became a major concern, exacerbated by the freezing of NUM bank accounts. “Steel had experienced many difficult years. “While our sympathies were with the miners and their case, how could we agree to the threatened shut-down of our industry?” he wrote.
All our works were fighting for survival.”