For a friend. A night dedicated to Mark Ashton
Saturday 2nd May / 7pm - 12am
A night of resistance, music, and radical solidarity.
This event honours the life and legacy of Mark Ashton — a pioneering LGBTQ+ activist whose work continues to inspire movements today. Blending culture, politics, and community, the night brings together history and celebration in equal measure.
About Mark Ashton & LGSM:
In 1984, during the UK miners’ strike, Mark Ashton co-founded Lesbians and Gays Support the Miners (LGSM). At a time of intense marginalisation, LGSM raised funds and built direct solidarity between queer communities and working-class miners. Their work became a powerful example of how collective struggle can transcend identity and build lasting political alliances rooted in socialist and Marxist principles.
Mark’s activism reflected a deep belief: that liberation is interconnected, and that real change comes through unity, organisation, and mutual support. Under conditions of repression, police violence, and media hostility, LGSM organised material support for striking miners — raising funds, building relationships, and forging political unity. This was not symbolic allyship. It was class solidarity in action.
Their politics were rooted in Marxism, Communism and Socialism — a recognition that queer oppression and class exploitation are produced by the same structures, and must be fought together.
What to expect on the night:
- A talk exploring Marxism and Mark Ashton’s life, politics, and legacy
- Live music celebrating queer resistance and culture
- Film screening of Framed Youth — Revenge of the Teenage Perverts plus archival footage
- Dancing!
This is not a passive night of remembrance. For a Friend is a space to listen, think, dance, talk and organise — rooted in the legacy of LGBTQ+ resistance and working-class solidarity. In a time of division, austerity, and ongoing attacks on both the working-class and LGBTQ+ communities, the politics of Mark Ashton remain urgent.
This night is about Marxism as practice, not theory, Socialism as collective survival, Queer liberation tied to working-class struggle. We don’t inherit these histories to admire them. We inherit them to continue them.