Petition to honour LGBT campaigner in home town of Portrush

The petition is asking for the late Mark Ashton to be honoured in Portrush for his work to raise money to help families affected by the British miners’ strike in 1984, at the outset of what would become the Lesbians and Gays Support the Miners campaign.

Mark Ashton’s campaigning was highlighted in the 2014 film ‘Pride’ starring Andrew Scott, Bill Nighy and Imelda Staunton.

Petition founder Jude Copeland said: “In a tale of solidarity, the miners reciprocated, with trade unions bringing crucial motions of support for gay rights which, in the end, changed Government policy and made the lives of LGBT people a little better.

“Mark Ashton died on 11 February, 1987 through AIDs. Paris has a garden named after Mark, London has a blue plaque for Mark but Northern Ireland has nothing. Please help change that.”

Dr Richard O’Leary, Coordinator of Northern Ireland’s LGBT Heritage Project and a historian and Visiting Scholar at Queen’s University added: “Mark is a significant figure in LGBT history and deserves to have his achievements marked in the town where he grew up. It is fitting that his life should be remembered during this month, LGBT History Month.”

Dr O’Leary added: “The Channel 4 TV drama ‘It’s a Sin’ has ignited interest in the lives and deaths of young gay men in 1980s, many of whom moved to London from rural parts of UK and Ireland. Mark Ashton was one of those young gay men. Mark led a remarkable life not just as an activist but as a valued volunteer with the telephone helpline London Switchboard, where he helped many other LGBT persons before his own early death.”

The petition can be found via the website change.org, search for ‘Mark Ashton’.