Mark Ashton was co-founder of Lesbian and Gays Support the Miners (LGSM) in 1984 — made famous again 30 years later by the film Pride. In addition to his gay rights activism, he volunteered with Lesbian and Gay Switchboard and supported a number of causes, including CND and serving as general secretary of the Young Communist League (YCL).
He died on 11 February 1987 from an AIDS-related illness at the age of 26. A commemorative event was held on the anniversary at the Beacon of Hope AIDS memorial in Sackville Gardens in Manchester’s gay village.
LGBT history month: has anything changed?
The event coincided with LGBT history month and the 40th anniversary year of the miner’s strike. It was organised by various groups, including Queer Roots Collective, YCL, Unite Northwest Services Branch, and Manchester Rad Trad — a folk music group who are “about bringing folk music to the folk! Supporting strikers & social movements”. It was further promoted and supported by LGSM and the Mark Ashton Trust. Members of these groups were at the event alongside Mark’s friends and family, and others who, like me, had heard about the occasion by word of mouth and through social media.
Paul Fairweather from George House Trust, an organisation supporting people living with HIV, spoke about meeting Mark in the 80s through his own involvement in LGSM and told us how Mark had died in the earlier days of the epidemic before effective treatments were developed. Although HIV is now a manageable condition, Paul went on to say that what has not changed are the associated stigma — many people living with HIV are isolated, don’t know others with the condition and stop dating.
A continued struggle for LGBTQIA+ equality
Paul stressed that, in remembering and respecting Mark’s legacy, we should celebrate all the positive changes in legislation and attitudes over the past forty years for the LGBTQ community. We also “need to be ever vigilant; we need to learn from our history.” He drew attention to Don’t say Gay in Florida, gay free zones in Poland, and the situation in Uganda, “where our communities are being criminalised, imprisoned, and murdered”. He went on to point out increased hate crime against the trans community, and misinformation and negative comments from politicians and public figures. “Let him continue to be an inspiration to us all”, Paul concluded, “for our struggles continue.”
On the same day as the commemoration for Mark, not far away in Warrington, a public vigil was taking place for murdered trans teenager Brianna Ghey. This fact reinforces the importance of Paul Fairweather’s call for continued vigilance. It also shows us that events such as annual Pride festivals and LGBT history month are still vitally important. We must keep watching and we must keep documenting and we must keep telling our stories.
A friend of mine who attended Brianna’s vigil discussed the events a couple of days later with me. She told me Brianna’s friends had spoken there about getting make-up tips from her in the girls’ bathrooms at school. My friend fears that the new government guidelines on trans pupils in schools could limit opportunities for such positive formative experiences — fears that she has shared on X/Twitter.
Mark Ashton remembered in music and poetry
Alistair from Manchester Rad Trad sang an acapella version of The Communards song ‘For a Friend’. The Communards comprised Jimmy Somerville and Richard Coles, who were close friends of Mark, and the song was written in his memory. For years this has been one of those songs that can bring me to tears. This time was no exception: something about the lone voice, without instrumental support, drifting through the cold February afternoon air surely heightening the impact. After singing, Alistair said that Mark’s “ability to see the common struggle between different community groups” is an inspiration to him today. He also pointed out parallels between the current government and governments of the 80s – a tendency to scapegoat minorities and crush workers’ rights – citing current events at Port Talbot as an example of the latter.
Poet Gerry Potter brilliantly performed his powerful poem ‘We Travel’, which he introduced as being about his community’s journey through the AIDS crisis. He told us that he had “done it here before … in drag actually … as Chloe Poems.”
Seeds of hope for the LGBTQIA+ future: literally
Lee Ashton spoke movingly about his brother’s name being in gardens in Paris and on a blue plaque on a wall in London and how it was an honour to be there in Manchester 37 years after his death, with people who still want to remember him.
The commemoration concluded with those present being invited to bury heart shaped seed cards in the place where once had stood the UK’s first national trans memorial tree, which was “irreparably damaged by fire” during Pride weekend in 2022.
We then moved on to a nearby pub to be treated to a live folk session by Manchester Rad Trad, which included passionate renditions of workers anthems like ‘Bread and Roses’ and ‘Solidarity Forever’. The songs were a suitable celebration of the socialist heart and hope for future solidarity within and between communities that drove all Mark Ashton’s activism.
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