Though he is startled by the revelation of what 'L' and 'G' stand for in their name, he expresses his gratitude in a short, eloquent speech at a gay bar, and the cause takes off. Dai Donovan, spokesperson for the miners in Onllwyn, comes to London to meet their new allies. Frustrated by the lack of response, the activists instead decide to take their donations directly to a small mining village named Onllwyn in Wales. LGSM faces opposition from the mining community who do not wish to associate with them, as well as within the gay community who feel that the miners have mistreated them in the past. Among its first members are 20-year-old closeted student Joe Cooper and an older gay couple Gethin and Jonathan, whose bookshop (called Gay's the Word) they use as headquarters. Encouraged by the success, he founds ' Lesbians and Gays Support the Miners'. He spontaneously arranges a bucket collection for the miners during the Gay Pride Parade in London. Upon watching the news about the miners' strike, gay activist Mark Ashton realises that the police have stopped harassing the gay community because their attention is elsewhere.
