June is Pride Month for the lgbtq community. As part of my observance of that month, I watched a 2014 movie entitled Pride. Although the film is about the miners’ strike in 1984 during the ruthless Thatcher years, it is not a documentary. Among its stars are Bill Nighy, Imelda Staunton, Dominic West, and Andrew Scott (who played Moriarty in Sherlock). The movie is entertaining, touching, and humorous. What I write below reflects the basics from the movie, but there is so much more to admire about this film. If you choose to watch it, try to get the DVD which has extras. The extras contain interviews with the actual historical persons played so wonderfully by the movie’s actors.
Pride is based on real events and the experiences of actual people during this time of crisis in Great Britain. Led by the charismatic and indefatigable Mark Aston, a group of gay and lesbian Brits notice that the striking miners are experiencing the same kind of prejudice and violence the lgbtq community has suffered for decades (condemnation and misrepresentation by the press, police brutality, and political oppression). They form a group named “Lesbians and Gays Support the Miners” (LGSM) and choose to financially support a village (Onllwyn) in Wales during the strike. An enormous amount of money is raised by the group through various means including a concert with the catchy title “Pits and Perverts.”
Although most of the village of Onllwyn is appreciative of LGSM’s efforts and the two communities become close, there are some homophobes who pressure the National Union of Miners to order all mining communities to cease accepting help from gays and lesbians. As Mark Ashton and Dai Donovan (the miner who led the mining community in Onllwyn) part, Dai promises that the miners will support the lgbqt community in the future. In March of 1985, the strike is over. Because of the despicable tactics of Margaret Thatcher, the miners are forced to give in and to go back to work. They return to their mines beaten but with their heads held high. They had done what they could for their families and communities. They were among the last victims of Thatcher’s Reaganite policies.
On the morning of the 1985 Gay Pride Parade in London, busloads of miners appeared to march with the lgbqt community. Their number was so large they were allowed to lead the parade as they proudly held the banners of their local unions and signs reading “Miners Supporting Lesbians and Gays” while singing “Solidarity Forever.” Their support, however, went far beyond attending this parade. The miners’ unions voted as one block to force the Labor Party to incorporate rights for gays and lesbians into their party platform. From this one act came civil unions, laws forbidding discrimination against the lgbtq community, and finally the right for any two people who love each other to marry.
What I want to emphasize about this movie is the solidarity between the miners and the lgbtq community and a particular conversation between Mark Ashton and Dai Donovan.
On a walk over the beautiful land surrounding the Welsh village, Mark says to Dai, “I grew up in Northern Ireland. I know all about what happens when people don’t talk to each other. That’s why I’ve never understood what’s the point of supporting gay rights but nobody else’s rights, you know? Or workers’ rights but not women’s rights. It’s, I don’t know, illogical.”
Dai responds, “There’s a lodge banner down in the welfare over 100 years old. We bring it out for special occasions, you know? I’ll show it to you one day. It’s a symbol, like this, right?” (Dai takes Mark’s hand into his as though they are shaking hands.) “Two hands. That’s what the labor movement means. Should mean. You support me, I support you, whoever you are, wherever you come from, shoulder to shoulder, hand to hand.”
For many years there has been a lack of solidarity that I have never understood among progressive peoples and groups. Think of all the groups, organizations, movements today that seek some form of justice, freedom, and opportunity: civil rights, lgbtq rights, women’s rights, Amnesty International, the Poor People’s Campaign, all the environmental groups, prison reform, organizations advocating rights and recognition of those suffering from mental, physical, and emotional challenges, immigrant rights, animal rights, healthcare reform and availability for all people as a fundamental human right (We’re the only—only—only industrialized and “advanced” nation in the world without universal healthcare!), etc. The number of people, groups, and organizations is beyond calculation. WHY CAN’T ALL THESE GROUPS REALIZE THAT THEY ARE ADVOCATING AND FIGHTING FOR THE SAME KINDS OF GOALS? WHY CAN’T THEY JOIN SHOULDER TO SHOULDER AND HAND TO HAND IN SUPPORT OF EACH OTHER? If all people who support such efforts could come together en masse, they could change the world. As MLK said, “No one is free until we are all free.” Apparently, we have not evolved enough to grasp the profound wisdom and necessity of such solidarity in our world.
I can think of several reasons why this has not yet happened. First, some people and groups cannot see beyond their own concerns. I can understand the need to stand up for what is rightfully one’s own. But at some point, if that’s the only concern people have, it becomes a form of self-centered egotism. Arrogance, insensitivity, and selfishness can be corporate as well as individual. When “my group” becomes the only one that matters, all groups (including my own) pay a heavy price for this isolationist attitude.
Secondly, too many people refuse to appreciate the perspective, needs, and suffering of others. I know of people of color who have no empathy for the lgbtq community because of religious dogmatism or macho attitudes. And I know of lgbtq people who are racial bigots. As Mark said, it’s illogical. Oppression and discrimination both reflect a fracturing and painful reality rooted in the inability or unwillingness to listen to one another and to “see each other real.”
Thirdly, the powers that be in every arena want groups to be splintered and narrowly focused in their zeal to change the world. “Divide and conquer” has been the tactic of demagogues and forces of evil for thousands of years. Today, they pit white against Black, gay against straight, rich against poor, Christian against Jew or Moslem, rural against urban, working class against white collar, etc. And then these powers take advantage of such divisions in order to amass more wealth and power for themselves at the expense of all those hoodwinked by such sinister tactics.
Those who only operate from a “what’s in it for me” attitude must discover that only such solidarity can secure their own survival and flourishing in this world.
Hope for the human race depends on our ability to transcend our differences and concerns and join in solidarity with each other so that all of God’s children may find fulfillment, joy, and belonging. Those who only operate from a “what’s in it for me” attitude must discover that only such solidarity can secure their own survival and flourishing in this world. Ultimately, looking out for the best interests for others is the most prudent path for all of us to travel. One is reminded of the famous quote from Martin Niemoller who said of the Nazis, “First they came for the Communists, and I did not speak out because I was not a Communist. Then they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out because I was not a Socialist. Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out because I was not a trade unionist. Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out because I was not a Jew Then they came for me, and there was no one left to speak out for me.” Our only hope collectively and individually is in speaking up for and identifying with everyone who is denied justice and who suffers from oppression. Even on the base level of self-interest, it makes sense to practice solidarity.
However, there should be a deeper and more enlightened reason for seeking radical solidarity. We see this basis in LGSM and the Welsh miners. They supported each other because they were capable of empathy and compassion. They found in each other a common humanity which transcended their differences. They were willing to do unto and for one another as they would want done unto and for them. The miners lost in the strike of 1984. They could have become embittered and indifferent to the plight of the lgbtq community after that disheartening defeat. But they remained faithful to their new friends and “showed up” both at the gay pride parade and in the political arena where they used their power to secure gay rights in the Labor Party which eventually legalized those rights in Parliament.
Those of us who claim to be Christian have an even deeper reason to live out a radical solidarity with those suffering oppression and discrimination. Our Lord identifies with those who suffer from such social evil. He feels their pain as though it were his own (Matthew 25). We feel for others and join in their struggles because Christ is already there taking unto the Divine Self all the suffering and injustice of this world, and working for healing, liberation, and wholeness. We meet Jesus in those whom the powers that be would dismiss, exploit, and oppress. Mature spirituality realizes that when we work for the freedom and fulfillment of others, especially the “least of these” according to the world’s evaluation, we are working for the freedom and fulfillment of the Christ who resides in them. And since Christ is in all, such labors also contribute to our own final liberation.
There is so much at stake in today’s world with all of its division, oppression, injustice, lies, and evil. We are fast learning that we cannot depend on the powers that be to seek justice and do what is right. Those powers seek their own rewards as well as advantages for the wealthy and powerful who keep them in office. They are willing to sacrifice all that is good and just to maintain their position. And to do so, they will continue to use the tactics of “divide and conquer” as they pit one group against another.
The rest of us have two choices. We can continue to be divided as we succumb to the propaganda voiced by those who have no real concern for the common good and in doing so, become a totalitarian anthill. Or we can embrace a radical solidarity with our sisters and brothers all over this globe. The latter choice can only be made through our courage, wisdom, and a deep love of our common humanity and this precious but increasingly vulnerable earth. May we choose wisely before the final curtain falls.
