In the unions, LG groups became active and rapidly began to fight for nonhides shite tolgiand discrimination policies in the workplace. However, a shining beacon was lit by
Lesbians and Gays Support the Miners in raising money in gay bars and visits to Mark Findlay In the mid 20th century the Labour Movement was either hostile to Lesbians and Gays or simply ignored the issue. Transvestitism Was pletely unknown to it.
However in the late 19th century early pioneers Havelock Ellis, Edward Carpenter and William Morris associated themselves with utopian socialism and had links with the precursors of the Labour Party.
In Germany, Magnus hirschiela established the Institute for Sexual Research. Further back in time, especially in Germany, figures like Karl-Heinrich Ulrichs were amongst the first to argue for lesbian and gay rights.
But Marx and Engels were extremely hostile, and none of these ideas penetrated the German Labour movement of the time.
In the early 20th Century, there was some toleration of the underground Lesbian and Gay scene particularly in Germany.
But in the 50s, alongside
cold War McCarthyism in the USA, there was massive repression and raids on underground gay bars. The Trade Unions and Labour Party did nothing.
In the late 1960s, the rise of radicalism and worker militancy led to the re-founding of first the women's movement and then, from 1969 in the US and 1971 in the UK, the rise of the Gay Liberation movement.
At first, this included both the South Wales coalfield.