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LGBTQ+ News

Tickets? Who said tickets?

Lorna Pearce September 6, 2014

Everybody loves tickets. Especially when they get you into the charity preview of the comedy film ‘PRIDE’.

PRIDE

Every single penny spent on them will raise funds for the London Lesbian and Gay Switchboard’s (LLGS) 40th Birthday Appeal.

Watch PRIDE this Sunday, September 7 and support LGBT people nationwide.

To get your tickets online now, CLICK HERE:   

Joe Lee, Co-chair of LLGS, said: “We provide a vital service for thousands of people every year and with our funding cut we rely increasingly on donations and fundraising to survive,” “We’re grateful to Pathe, 20th Century Fox and Picturehouse Cinemas for agreeing to this special screening of the film to support the continuing work we do.”

The film depicts the 1980’s miners strike in South Wales and the true story of how lesbian and gay activists pulled together to support them in their struggle. Since some of these activists were genuine LLGS volunteers, it makes sense that ALL proceeds are directed to Britain’s devoted, hardworking, London based LGBT charity, London Lesbian and Gay Switchboard.

Darren Jones, the general manager at the Hackney Picturehouse, said: “Hackney Picturehouse is proud to team up with Pathe and 20th Century Fox to support the important work that the London Lesbian & Gay Switchboard does for the LGBT community by donating 100% of ticket revenue from our PRIDE preview to the LLGS 40th Birthday Appeal.”

One of the characters is based on former LLGS volunteer, Mark Ashton, who was also one of the founders of ‘Lesbians & Gays Support the Miners’.

Former policy and communications director at the Terrence Higgins Trust and former LLGS volunteer, Lisa Power, remembers Ashton:

She said: “Mark was a valued Switchboard volunteer and a live wire. He was utterly committed to gay rights and to left wing politics and a cheeky little devil – even when you were trying to tell him off for something, it was impossible to keep a straight face. He was one of those people who are hyper-active and his sudden death from HIV was devastating. Many of us still cherish memories of him and this film does him, and the other members of ‘Lesbians & Gays Support the Miners’ great honour. It reminds us of the pioneer spirit of the gay movement in the 70s and 80s, when everything was new, nothing was impossible, and Switchboard was the beating heart of growing activism.”

London Lesbian & Gay Switchboard is a voluntary organisation with charitable status, whose aim is to provide an information, support and referral service for lesbians, gay men, bisexual and trans (LGBT) people and anyone who needs to consider issues around their sexuality.

The services the 160 trained telephone volunteers provide promote a positive attitude to being lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans and are confidential, welcoming, supportive and non-judgemental. Whether it be supporting a man who had been queer-bashed, supporting a lesbian teenager thrown out of their home by their parents, providing the telephone number for a gay painter or the bus route to a local gay pub, the LLGS are there to help – which they most certainly do.

“Best wishes and congratulations to all concerned on this most special anniversary.” Those were the words spoken by her Majesty the Queen in March this year about the up coming 40th anniversary of the LLGS.

Well said  as LLGS estimate they have provided support and information to more than 3 million people since the telephone started ringing in 1974 from a small room above a book shop near Kings Cross were it all started. The volunteers answer approximately 25,000 calls every year, and an additional 100,000 people seek information online from our LGBT community database.

In the early 80’s LLGS volunteers also staffed the BBC helplines, to take calls after programmes about the new and then unknown disease of HIV/AIDS appeared on televisions. In 1983 these volunteers went on to set up some of the up the UK’s leading HIV charities, such as Terrence Higgins Trust (THT) and National AIDS Manual (NAM).

The one-off screening of ‘PRIDE’ is this Sunday, September 7 at the Hackney Picturehouse, 270 Mare Street, London at 11am before the film goes on general release on September 12.

For more details of the LLGS 40th Birthday Appeal, CLICK HERE: 

For The Hackney Picturehouse “Out at the Movies” Facebook group page, CLICK HERE:

 

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