11th February 1987. Mark Ashton
On this day 30 years ago Mark Ashton, co-founder of Lesbians and Gays Support the Miners, died of an AIDS-related illness.
Although I was a member of LGSM I can’t say I really knew Mark very well. So I’m commemorating the anniversary of his death with three different responses from those who did.
The first is a brief extract from an interview with Mike Jackson, with whom Mark co-founded LGSM:
“I first met Mark when I applied to be a volunteer for Lesbian and Gay Switchboard. I was interviewed by Mark and another man. Mark starts asking me what knowledge I have of the London gay scene and I realize after a while that there’s a bit of flirting going on here. At one point I just leaned forward and said, ‘Is that question relevant to the interview?’ at which point he giggled.
Mark resigned from Switchboard about two weeks before I started. He’d written this amazing three-page critique in the internal log of some of the more liberal-bourgeois approaches Switchboard had. He also totally graffitied the religious file – it was covered in hammers and sickles and ‘Religion is the opium of the masses.’ [Laughs.] That was typical of Mark. Although at the same time this dear man would occasionally go to church. He himself had a lot of contradictions.”
(Interview from Walking After Midnight: Gay Men’s Life Stories, Hall Carpenter Archives, 1989)
The second reflection on Mark takes a musical form. Jimmy Somerville was also a close friend of Mark’s. At the time of his death he was a member of the Communards and wrote this song, For a Friend, in response. It speaks for itself:
And the third is the Mark Ashton Red Ribbon Fund, established by a number of his friends. Thirty years on, this continues to support the work of the Terrence Higgins Trust, Britains oldest HIV/AIDS charity. To find out how you can donate, click here to go to the Fund’s page.
Thank you for this post. I think it’s so important to remember and honor those we lost in the struggle and to do everything we can to ensure that their lives mattered and their work continues.
1987 seems a lifetime ago but I agree with David is is so important to remember those who burned brightly for a short time and helped to get us to where we are today. We still have challenges to face and we need to support our peers in country’s where the fight for recognition and equality is yet to make any progress.
At the risk of sounding like a boring old(er) queen, I think it would benefit a lot of the younger members of our community to learn about people like Mark Ashton and how powerful, songs by groups like the Communards were to our fight.
Just came across this site. I fully agree with the comments made above.
In the 80’s I was a teenager not sure of his sexuality and living in the North East from a working class family.
I am living a happy life thanks to those that companioned Gay rights then.
Hi all, in spite I’m not lesbian, I have always fought to defend their rights. I do well remember the 80s, but I did not know Mark Ashton, just discovered thanks to the movie “Ingenious” which my husband and I watched yesterday. Then I’ve been looking for his story on the web, and I’m very moved. Great man, great story. We need people like him.