Lesbians Against Pit Closures

Lesbians Against Pit Closures (LAPC) was a lesbian-led solidarity alliance formed in the United Kingdom during the 1984–1985 miners' strike. It emerged in November 1984 from a split within Lesbians and Gays Support the Miners (LGSM), whose members were raising funds and public support for the National Union of Mineworkers and mining communities affected by the strike. The new group was created to provide a women-only lesbian space and to address concerns about sexism, misogyny, lesbophobia and the marginalization of women within a movement whose meetings were largely dominated by gay men. LAPC combined LGBTQ+ activism, feminist organizing and labour solidarity. Its members supported striking miners and their families through fundraising, collections and direct participation in strike-related activity. They collected money outside bars, clubs and supermarkets, visited mining villages, attended picket lines and organized women-only benefit events. The group also developed links with women from mining communities, including women associated with the Dulais Valley in South Wales. Its activities reflected both the immediate practical needs of strike families and a broader effort to bring lesbian and feminist perspectives into labour and community institutions traditionally shaped by male leadership. The organization operated through regular planning meetings and shared administrative work, including preparing minutes, distributing information and producing photocopies. This relatively grassroots structure allowed members to coordinate fundraising, public demonstrations and exchanges with mining communities without becoming a formal commercial or institutional body. LAPC marched under its own banner at the 1985 Lesbian Strength March and the 1985 London Gay Pride March, appearing alongside LGSM and representatives of mining communities. It also organized a women-only day at the Kentish Town Women's Centre for lesbian participants and women from the Dulais Valley. LAPC formed part of a wider alliance between LGBTQ+ groups and organized labour. The relationships built during the miners' strike had consequences beyond the immediate campaign. Mining unions and communities subsequently participated in and supported LGBT pride events, while the National Union of Mineworkers' bloc vote helped Labour Party members pass a 1985 conference resolution supporting LGBT equality rights. Mining groups later became prominent allies of LGBT activists opposing Section 28 in 1988. These developments are often cited as an important step in the growth of labour-LGBTQ+ solidarity in Britain. LAPC also participated with LGSM in All Out! Dancing in Dulais, a short promotional film about the connections between the lesbian and gay activists and the Welsh mining community. The organization was later referenced in the 2014 feature film Pride, which dramatized the relationship between LGSM and the Onllwyn mining community. The surviving historical record emphasizes LAPC's role as a solidarity and activist alliance rather than a continuing commercial brand. Its later organizational status and any formal end date are not clearly established in the available reference material.

Lesbians Against Pit Closures was created in November 1984 during the United Kingdom miners' strike. Its members came from Lesbians and Gays Support the Miners, an LGBTQ+ solidarity movement that supported the National Union of Mineworkers and mining communities. Lesbian participants concluded that the larger group did not adequately address gendered power imbalances or provide a sufficiently supportive environment for lesbians. They therefore established a women-only organization that could combine support for miners with feminist and lesbian political priorities. The group maintained the practical solidarity methods associated with LGSM while adapting them to its own constituency. Members held regular planning meetings, shared responsibility for records and communications, raised money outside pubs and clubs, collected donations outside supermarkets, visited mining villages and joined picket-line protests against coal deliveries by strikebreakers. It also organized women-only benefit events and created opportunities for lesbian activists to meet women from mining communities. A women-only day at Kentish Town Women's Centre brought LAPC members together with women connected to the Dulais Valley in Wales. LAPC publicly identified with both lesbian activism and the miners' cause. It marched at the 1985 Lesbian Strength March and London Gay Pride March with LGSM and mining-community representatives. Its work contributed to a broader relationship between LGBTQ+ activists and organized labour. Mining groups later supported Pride events and became important allies in campaigns for LGBT equality, including opposition to Section 28. The National Union of Mineworkers' support also helped a 1985 Labour Party conference resolution on LGBT equality pass through block voting. Together with LGSM, LAPC was involved in All Out! Dancing in Dulais, a short film about the relationship between LGBTQ+ campaigners and the Welsh mining community. The group was subsequently mentioned in the film Pride, which brought wider public attention to the miners' strike solidarity movement. Available sources document LAPC's formation and activities but do not establish a formal dissolution date, continuing membership structure or present-day institutional status.

• 2014

  Reference in Pride

  [1]Lesbians Against Pit Closuresen.wikipedia.org

  The organization was referenced in the feature film Pride's account of LGBTQ+ support for Welsh miners.

• 1986

  Participation in All Out! Dancing in Dulais

  [1]Lesbians Against Pit Closuresen.wikipedia.org

  LAPC and LGSM were featured in a short film documenting their solidarity with the Dulais Valley mining community.

• 1985

  Participation in lesbian and gay marches

  [1]Lesbians Against Pit Closuresen.wikipedia.org

  LAPC marched under its own banner at the Lesbian Strength March and the London Gay Pride March with LGBTQ+ and mining-community allies.

• 1985

  Labour movement support for LGBT equality

  [1]Lesbians Against Pit Closuresen.wikipedia.org

  The wider alliance between miners and LGBTQ+ activists helped build labour support for a Labour Party conference resolution on LGBT equality.

• 1984

  Formation during the miners' strike

  [1]Lesbians Against Pit Closuresen.wikipedia.org

  Lesbian members of Lesbians and Gays Support the Miners formed LAPC as a separate women-only solidarity group in November.

A feminist and lesbian solidarity organization linking LGBTQ+ activism with the British miners' strike and working-class community support.

• 1985Women-only solidarity organizing

  United Kingdom

  The group organized women-only benefit and discussion spaces, including an event at Kentish Town Women's Centre attended by LAPC members and women from the Dulais Valley.

  Outcome. The activity gave lesbian activists and mining-community women a dedicated space for mutual support and political exchange.

  Source
• 1985Lesbian and gay pride solidarity marches

  United Kingdom

  LAPC displayed its solidarity with miners in lesbian and gay public demonstrations, marching at the Lesbian Strength March and London Gay Pride March.

  Outcome. The marches made labour-LGBTQ+ solidarity visible within British pride activism.

  Source
• 1984Support for the 1984–1985 miners' strike

  United Kingdom

  LAPC raised funds and public support for the National Union of Mineworkers and mining communities through collections, benefit events, village visits and participation in picket-line activity.

  Outcome. The campaign strengthened relationships between lesbian and gay activists, miners and mining communities, although the strike's overall industrial outcome was not reversed.

  Source

1. 1Lesbians Against Pit Closuresen.wikipedia.org