Which actor would play you in a movie, including your character? I’m in the lucky position to say ‘the British actor Joseph Gilgun, and he already did, in the movie Pride (Pathé 2014). In a couple of days, the new musical version, also called Pride, opens in London’s National Theatre. I’m crazily excited about the opening. The work was premiered in Cardiff, South Wales in April and went down a storm. That was a sensitive touch because much of the storyline is set in a remote coal-mining area in the Welsh Valleys, not far from Cardiff city.

Fans of the movie can rest easy knowing most of our favourite lines and scenes are there, but the musical theatre version is also very different and new. The same award-winning duo writes it: Stephen Beresford (script) and Matthew Warchus (director). The box office has done well, so it looks like it will be a great success.

For those readers of QG who didn’t see the movie, it is based on real-life events and people back in 1980s Britain, spiced up with a few fictional characters and events. One of my favourite characters is entirely fictional. He personifies a young gay man of the 80’s, living with Ma & Pa, struggling to come to terms with his sexuality. All queer people will identify with Bromley, who transforms, within a year, into a confident, courageous, and much happier soul. The story, in a nutshell, is a fusion of striking Welsh coal-miners and their families finding unexpected allies in London’s LGBTQI+ community. Even though I was very much a part of it I still think that it is an extraordinary story which changed the course of history. I was secretary of Lesbians & Gays Support the Miners 1984/5 (LGSM), and I kept an archive of the group’s activities, minutes, photos etc.

In the 12 years since the movie was released, LGSM has received hundreds of invitations to speak to groups, mainly in the UK, but also visits overseas, including the US premiere at New York’s Ziegfeld Theatre, the Toronto International Film Festival, Mexico, Turkey, Spain, Belgium, Sicily, Germany, Holland, Ireland and France.

2026 is marked by the rise of the global right, with all their hate speech, ‘othering’ and caveman values, but in response, millions are fighting back, including a strong, defiant global LGBTQI+ community, the likes of which have never been seen before. Our brave forebears from Stonewall 1969 will be proud of us!