Mark Christian Ashton ((1960-05-19)19 May 1960 – 11 February 1987(1987-02-11)) was a gay rights activist, socialist and member of the Communist Party of Great Britain. Ashton was born in Portrush, Co. Antrim, Northern Ireland. He featured in Framed Youth: Revenge of the Teenage Perverts (1983), an early award-winning documentary produced by Lesbian and Gay teenagers and was a leading activist involved in the Lesbians and Gays Support the Miners support group. The group's activities were dramatised in Pride, a film released in September 2014, in which Mark is played by Ben Schnetzer. Mark's role in the Lesbians and Gays Support the Miners group was recalled in a series of interviews with some of its other members prior to the film's release.Mark was diagnosed with HIV/AIDS on 30 January 1987 and died 12 days later of Pneumocystis pneumonia. His death prompted significant response from the gay community, particularly in publication and attendance at his funeral at Lambeth. In his memory, the Mark Ashton Trust was created to raise money for individuals suffering from HIV, and Template:As of it had raised £20,000. Since 2008, the Terrence Higgins Trust has included the Mark Ashton Red Ribbon Fund, which had collected a little more than £7,000 as of 2014. Mark Asthon is also remembered on a panel on the UK AIDS Memorial Quilt.The ballad For a Friend in the album Red from the British pop duo The Communards was written in his memory. Mark Ashton was a friend of Jimmy Somerville and Richard Coles. Mark Hooper of The Rough Guide to Rock writes that this cut may be Somerville's "most impassioned moment". For a Friend reached number 28 on the British charts.
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