Gay Archives - Antony Simpson is an Author, Blogger, Nurse & Witch.

History: Lesbians & Gays Support The Miners (LGSM)

Saturday 3 October 2026 / Antony Simpson / Leave a Comment

Reading Time: 4 minutes

The Miners Strike

In the UK, in the 1980s (1984 to 1985 to be precise) Miners went on a strike that would last for a whole year, organised by National Union of Mineworkers (NUM). The Union was opposed the announcement of plans to close 20 pits/mines, starting with Cortonwood Colliery in South Yorkshire. The Union predicted that these 20 pits/mines closures would just be the start. Union Leaders suspected that there were plans to close up to 75 pits/mines and that this could lead to more than 20,000 people loosing their jobs.

Margaret Thatcher’s Conservative Government were in political control at the time of the strike. The Government felt that the Union had too much power and that the industry needed to become economically more efficient. Thatcher and her Government felt it was their duty to dilute the power of the Union and that efficiency could only be achieved through privatisation.

It wasn’t just the coal mining industry Thatcher and her Government wanted to dilute union powers and implement privatisation in. There were others too. Thatcher and her Government used the Police as their state enforcement arm, using the Police to aggressively reduce picketing, crush civil disobedience and to protect workers willing to work during the strike. This did an unimaginable damage to the relationship and trust between mining communities and the Police.

The Lesbians & Gay Men Support The Miners (LGSM) Groups

Two Activists, Mark Ashton and Mike Jackson, attended a talk by a striking miner and were inspired to set up the first LGSM group. Both Mark and Mike realised that the LGB community and mining community had a lot in common.

Both the LGB and mining communities were being vilified by the press, mistreated by the Government and Police, facing regular stigma and discrimination and were fighting for their communities. It made sense for both communities to support the other.

Mark and Mike started by collecting donations for the miners at London Pride. It should be noted, that in the 1980s, Pride events where not like they are today. They would be better described as Activist rallies, sometimes with a protest march. The community would come together and listen to speakers. Speakers would inspire and give hope – that things will get better for LGB people. Mark and Mike gave the money they raised to people in the mining community, helping them to survive with the very basics, such as food, housing and clothing.

Over time, the LGSM grew, with more LGB activists participating and higher amounts of donations being received. Both meant that the LGSM was able to support more miners and their families. The LGSM started in London, but soon, a further 10 LGSM groups were set up across the UK, by lesbians and gay men to support striking miners.

The Political Landscape

LGB people and striking miners may not seem like natural political allies. Even though, as I have written above, they had a lot of the same challenges (bad press, mistreatment by Government/Police and stigma/discrimination).

The are some reports that at the time many of the LGB community identified themselves as socialists, left wing or of similar views. This political leaning is not surprising really, given the daily challenges LGB people faced in the 1980s.

If you think about it, supporting the miners and their families would sit well and comfortably with LGB people’s believes and values.

What Happened Next?

The LGSM groups gave support and resources to the miners and their families freely and without any conditions or expectation of reciprocation. What happened next between the two communities was wonderful.

Members of the two communities got to know one another and develop meaningful connections. Prejudice and homophobia lessened. Lesbians and gay men gradually became not just tolerated, but accepted, fully, for who they are including their romantic and sexual attractions. For whom they love.

It is likely that societal attitude changes towards LGB people would have happened with or without LGB people supporting the miners. But supporting the miners likely massively increased the speed of this societal and cultural change in some parts of the Uk.

Why Is Knowing This History Important?

This history can remind us of the need to help one another, to be active within our communities and to reach beyond our communities for allies.

If we think about LGB people’s rights, we have only gained these due to having many straight allies. Rights including:

References

Why do Gay Men, Lesbian Women and Bisexual People Exist? Here are Some Theories

Sunday 6 September 2026 / Antony Simpson / Leave a Comment

Reading Time: 5 minutes

Evolutionary Theory suggests that animals, including humans, develop characteristics that aid the survival of the species. I was aware of the theory, but never applied it to me as a gay man, or really thought about what that theory would mean for gay men, lesbian women and bisexual people.

Prevalence of Gay Men, Lesbian Women and Bisexual People

In humans, it’s estimated that 1 in 10 people could be gay, lesbian or bisexual. In studied animals, homosexuality has been found in 1,500 species (see my 10 Gay Animals post if you’re interested in learning more).

Why do Gay Men, Lesbian Woman and Bisexual People Exist?

This was my initial question. But the more I thought about it, the more questions I developed including:

How do gay men and lesbian women contribute to the survival of the species when they very unlikely to procreate and produce children?
What are the survival advantages or benefits that gay, lesbian or bisexual people create?
If there are no survival advantages that gay, lesbian or bisexual people bring, why are they still being born today? Evolutionary Theory suggests that characteristics that don’t aid in survival of the species would disappear through natural selection or genetic mutations over time.

What Triggered My Curiosity

This TED Talk triggered my curiosity and caused me to ask the above questions:

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Theories Introduction

I decided to go to scientific theories to answer the questions I had. Below are just some (five) theories to explain possible evolutionary reasons, why gay, lesbian and bisexual people exist and what survival advantages they might bring:

Theory 1 – It Takes A Whole Tribe To Raise Children

There’s a famous saying:

It takes a village to raise a child.

What this saying means, is that parents need help. They can’t raise a child or a number of children without support. If we think back to tribal times, men would be hunting and gathering (possibly with some women), whereas the majority of women would be looking after children and/or be pregnant.

Gay men, lesbian women and bisexual people could provide safety and care for both the children and women while the men were away. This would increase the odds of more children surviving to adulthood to continue the cycle of procreation – survival and raising the next generation.

Tribes with gay men, lesbian women and bisexual people would likey have massively increased odds of survival versus tribes without.

Theory 2 – Increases Tribal Cooperation & Reduces Tribal Conflict

A number of studies have shown that gay men have a high level of emotional intelligence and pick up on subtle social cues better than straight men. High emotional intelligence can be used to increase cooperation in groups and picking up on social cues early can prevent conflict (verbal, physical or both) or esculation of conflict.

This means that tribes with gay men are likely to have increased cooperation, and a reduced frequency of and less severe escalation of conflict than tribes without gay men. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find any research done with lesbians or bisexual people around this theory.

Theory 3 – Increases Human Resources For Activities Not Related To Sex

In past tribal times straight men and women would be having regular sex to produce the next generation, which takes time, effort and energy. Theory 3 suggests tribes that had gay men, lesbian women and bisexual people may increase the human resources (time, effort and energy) within the tribe for non-sexual activities such as: building shelter, building defences for safety, creating or maintaining fires for warmth/light, hunting, gathering, childcare, etc.

This theory does make some sense, but forgets that gay, lesbian and bisexual people will still have the same drive and desire for sex as straight people. So this theory appears a bit implausible to me.

Theory 4 – Increase in Safety for Girls & Women

Now this is a theory I like. Males are generally a lot stronger than females. Males are generally more likely to harm girls and women than other females. Theory 4 suggests that gay, lesbian and bisexual people could have increased the safety of girls & women in a tribal setting through preventing conflicts from escalating and if necessary providing physical protection to females within the tribe.

This would definitely promote species survival, as if a girl or woman has been harmed/injured she may not be able to produce offspring or fullfil care needs for any children she has.

In a worse case scenario, in tribal times there were no laws and no consequences for aggressive or violent behaviour. This meant that tribe members could muder other tribe members, with girls/women at a higher risk of this outcome. This could limit gentic diversity and the numbers of available women able to produce children.

Theory 5 – More Babies

There are a few research studies that indicate that siblings of gay men tend to have more children than those with all straight siblings. However none of these research studies looked a lesbian women or bisexual people. None of these research studied indentified why this was the case. It could just be a correlational link, rather than a cause and effect.

I don’t give this theory much weight based on no direct cause and effect link being established.

Theory Idea – Increased Adaptability to Change & Flexibility During Adversity

This wasn’t a theory I came across, but an idea I had. For survival, a tribe needs people who are able to adapt to change and be flexible during adversity. These are both characteristics that I see in a lot of gay, lesbian and bisexual people I know. These same people report either that they always had these characteristics, or developing them very quickly during early childhood. Both of these skills would definitely increase a tribe’s liklihood of survival, back in human’s tribal past. Just an idea.

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Conclusion

Theories 1, 2, 4 and my theory idea all seem the most plausible. It could be one, all or jany combination of them. There’s really no way to know.

Clearly much more research is needed to explore the current role of gay men, lesbian women and bisexual people in all their tribes/communities today. If we explore and examine roles today, it might shed some light on past roles that made gay, lesbian and bisexual people evolutionally essential for the survival of the species.

Any future research should take into consideration:

The inclusion of lesbian women and bisexual people.
That species survival is now not always the primary goal for all people.
Improved healthcare, much less physical danger, but increasing mental pressures/illnesses and difficulties some people may have with knowing their emotions and how regulate them, should all be explored.
That all people are part of many communities now, rather than being part of 1 or 2 small tribes, like in the past.
That often people now are not restricted by geograhpical locations and don’t always need proximitiy to be part of a community.
That people’s brains haven’t significantly changed or evolved since tribal times.
That we may never fully explain the existence of gay, lesbian and bisexual people and their roles in contibuting to the survival of our species.
Researchers need to aware of issues that disproportionately effect gay, lesbian and bisexual people and how these issue could impact their research. Issues such as hate crimes, mental illnesses, alcohol/substance use, internalised homophobia and rejection or astrangement from some communities due to sexuality, etc.

I hope you found this post interesting. If you want to share your thoughts leave a comment below. You can subscribe to my newsletter here.

The Love of DOLLY

Thursday 27 August 2026 / Antony Simpson / Leave a Comment

Reading Time: 2 minutes

I’ve always thought Dolly Parton was an incredible woman. A fantastic singer, song writer, business woman and philanthropist.

Dolly had a zest for life, always being warm, bubbly and fun.

I was saddened to learn of her death, but equally thankful for the fact she lived.

Dolly accepted LGBT people and spoke positively about the LGBT community, doing so before many other people with her sort of public platform.

But Dolly became an icon to me, when she famously said:

If I hadn’t been a woman, I’d have been a Drag Queen! – Dolly Parton

In this quote, Dolly wasn’t just saying she liked and appreciated LGBT people. Dolly was also saying, that if she’d a choice, she would have proudly been part of the community.

I knew Dolly was well-liked, but what I didn’t realise, is that for many people, Dolly was and is loved by them. Since the announcement of Dolly’s death, the number of visitors to my blog post Some Facts You May Not Know About Dolly Parton has exploded.

I once watched a TV interview with Dolly, where she told an interviewer a funny story. I’m going to share this story here, told by Dolly, in her own words.

The Time Dolly Lost A Dolly Parton Look Alike Contest

Once I dressed as a Dolly, an over exaggerated Dolly in LA. I was out there working and there’s this gay bar down on Santa Monica, close to my house and they where having a Dolly Parton look alike contest.

So me and a bunch of friends decided we’d go down there, because it would be fun, because we were all dressed up and me being Dolly.

So they had these big Drag Queens, I mean, they looked great too, prettier than I could ever dream of being, but anyway, when walked across the stage, if they applauded, you won the contest by the amount of applause, I guess you got free drinks or something.

So all these beautiful guys are walking across – these Dollys – all this tall – and here I come walking across the stage and I got the least applause of anybody.

So I’ve always said: “It’s terrible when you lose a Dolly Parton look alike contest.” – Dolly Parton

I feel privileged to have shared some of my time on this planet with this wonderful woman.

Write soon,

Antony

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The Rainbow Pride Flag: Who designed it? What do the different colours symbolise? And how has the design evolved over time?

Saturday 8 August 2026 / Antony Simpson / Leave a Comment

Reading Time: 6 minutes

I remember the first time I saw the Rainbow Pride Flag (image left). I was a young gay man and it was at a local LGBT youth project I attended. I had recently come out to some close family and friends.

As I got a little older, I began to go to the gay pubs/clubs in my local city, meeting other Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual (LGB) people. The Rainbow Pride Flag was prominently displayed on both the outside and inside of every gay pub/club/business there. In these settings, I felt safe. I felt free to be my whole self, with no fears about how other people might react. I felt I was with my tribe. With people that were the same as me.

Ordinarily, in the outside world, I would monitor my voice and behaviour closely. I’d be hypervigilant for danger, always noticing the people around me, the environment and constantly scanning for the subtle signs that I might be in danger. Often, I considered multiple exit routes and what I might say to someone if they became verbally or physically abusive towards me. I’d also consider who, out of the strangers around, might help me, if I needed it.

My fear was very real. I’ve had experiences in the past where the risk of harm from strangers, just because of my sexuality, was very real. These experiences, along with hearing experiences from others, made me very cautious. I felt that hiding my sexuality, rather than it being noticeable, kept me safer. This fear for my safety even influenced what I chose to wear and how I styled my hair.

Being gay has always been part of who I am. But sadly, not all people like or accept gay people.

The Rainbow Pride Flag quickly became a symbol to me that represented: safety and that I was free to be my full true authentic self. I knew that I could breathe, relax and enjoy myself in any setting that had the flag on display. I never took that for granted. When I was leaving these settings, I knew was going back into a potentially hostile world.

I recently realised that I knew practically nothing about the Rainbow Pride Flag. I have displayed it, using its symbolism to hopefully make others feel safe and welcome. So I made the decision to do some research and learn more about the flag. In this post, I share with you what I learned:

1. Who designed The Rainbow Pride Flag?

The Rainbow Pride Flag was designed by Gilbert Baker, Lynn Segerblom, James McNamara and other gay rights activists in San Francisco, USA. Gilbert Baker was friends with and influenced by Harvey Milk, a very famous gay civil rights activist.

The Rainbow Pride Flag first appeared in 1978 at the San Francisco Gay Freedom Day Parade and was quickly adopted as a symbol for and by the LGBT community. The original flag had 8 colours, including hot pink, like below:

Some people have suggested that Baker and the other designers used the rainbow colours due Judy Garland. Judy Garland played Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz film and sung the song ‘Over The Rainbow.’ She later became somewhat of an icon in the gay community. Some in the LGB community would ask others: Are you a friend of Dorothy? This was a coded message, disclosing their sexuality and asking if they were also in the community.

However, Baker, in an interview in 1985 denied any association with Judy Garland, Dorothy or The Wizard of Oz. He reported that designers chose rainbow colours “because of its associations with the hippie movement of the Sixties.” Baker also noted that the use of this design dated all the way back to ancient Egypt.

The Rainbow Pride Flag was designed to be a symbol of the gay civil rights movement that was taking place in the USA at the time. The design has evolved over time, as has what the flag means to the LGBT community, allies and the general population. It is an extremely powerful symbol for the LGBT community.

It could be argued that the Rainbow Pride Flag has become much, much more than the original designers expected or could even have imagined.

2. What do the different colours on the flag symbolise?

Overall the flag was a symbol (and in some areas remains one) around equal civil rights and protections for LGBT people. The genius behind the deign of The Rainbow Pride Flag is that different individuals or community can attribute their own meaning to it. For example, as an individual to me it symbolises safety and being free to be my authentic self, as explained in my story above.

It is reported that each colour on the original 1978 Rainbow Pride flag symbolised something specific. The colours on the flag and are what they are reported to symbolise is well reported on the internet. The colours on the original 1978 flag are said to symbolise:

During my research, I could find no credible reference to confirm or deny that the designers had specific symbols in mind for the specific colours that make up the flag.

It could be that they did, equally that they did not. It could be that these symbols were created or decided on at a later date, by the designers or practically anyone else and at some point, they just started getting reported as fact. We just don’t know for sure and likely never will.

3. How has the design of The Rainbow Pride Flag evolved over time?

The first design change of The Rainbow Pride Flag occurred towards the end of 1978. Harvey Milk was assassinated and this led to a massive increase in demand for the Rainbow Pride Flag.

The customers were likely LGBT people who wanted to support the gay civil rights movement, knowing that they already faced discrimination, harassment and sometimes physical assault. Harvey Milk’s murder likely made people think that this could happen to anyone of them and that they need to be politically active for rights and protections.

Some sales of the flag may have also come from allies, people who identify as hetrosexual (straight), but agreed that LGBT people should have the same rights and protections as everyone else.

In November 1978, due to the increased demand, the manufacturer was struggling to get hold of enough hot pink material to make the flags and complete orders. So Baker, tweaked the design, removing the hot pink colour.

Some time in 1979, Baker decided to remove Turquoise as he needed an even number of colours (6 rather than 7) as part of his pride parade plans to places two colours on each lampost repeatedly along the parade route.

Baker then adjusted the design of the Rainbow Pride Flag in 2017, making it a nine stripped flag. The turquoise stripe was back, along with a lavender stripe. Baker is said to have added the lavender stripe to symbolise diversity and reportedly did so due to the election of a certain orange President the year before.

There have also been a large number of organisations across the world that have adapted Baker’s designs, adding to or changing the design slightly. There are too many variations to list them all here and I would no doubt miss some out. So I have only included details of the original Rainbow Pride Flag’s evolution here.

4. A Powerful Symbol

Over time, The Rainbow Pride Flag has become an extremely powerful symbol for LGBT people in a number of places in the world. It has helped the community to be acknowledged, listened to and in many places respected. Although this hasn’t happened everywhere.

Today, many public institutions, private companies and charities recognise Pride Month in June and actively promote celebration of their customers/staff/others who are part of the LGBT community.

In some places attitudes towards LGBT people have improved and we have definitely gotten more legal rights/protections in many places. But there is still more work to be done. Both from a civil rights persepctive and to help others to understand some of the challenges and difficulties experienced by LGBT people.

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