Mark Ashton
Mark Ashton (born May 19, 1960 in Oldham , United Kingdom ; † February 11, 1987 in London ) was a member of the Communist Party of Great Britain and a member of a London group of gay and lesbian activists in the early 1980s .
The group Lesbians and Gays Support the Miners (LGSM) raised money in the gay and lesbian scene during the British miners' strike in 1984/1985 and thereby supported the strikers. The friendship of the so-called "pits and perverts" in England in the 1980s was based on mutual rejection of the policies of Margaret Thatcher's government . This denied both groups the required rights. Ashton was one of the main characters in the very active group. In 1987 he died of pneumonia after suffering from AIDS .
Reception & work
- The 1987 album Red by the British band The Communards contains the song For a Friend , which is dedicated to Ashton.
- The short film Jean Genet Is Dead by the Greek director Constantine Giannaris, released in 1989, is dedicated to Ashton.
- In 2014, Pride, the film about the LGSM group, was released, which also depicts Ashton's life.
Web links
- The Mark Ashton Red Ribbon Fund - Website of the Ashton Memorial Fund
Individual evidence
- ↑ Jamie Doward: The real-life triumphs of the gay communist behind hit movie Pride - Friends recall 'a firecracker of a human being' as memorial fund for Mark Ashton receives more than £ 10,000 , The Guardian - Website, September 21, 2014. Retrieved July 29, 2015.
- ↑ Lucy Robinson: Gay men and the left in post-war Britain: How the personal got political , Manchester University Press, 2007. ISBN 9781847792334 . (on Google Books )
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Ashton, Mark |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | English LGBT activist |
| DATE OF BIRTH | May 19, 1960 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Oldham |
| DATE OF DEATH | February 11, 1987 |
| Place of death | London |