David Lammy MP

Message of support

I am very proud to give a statement of my support of GFEST, and to express my admiration and support of both this wonderful festival and of the work of Wise Thoughts, who are based in my constituency and with whom I have been privileged to work over the years. They are one of the few who champion the critical issue of engagement between the strands of racial and LGBT equality; several of those I know personally have experienced double discrimination on these counts.

It is very important to me that people should be allowed to express their identity, unfettered by categorisation, and so I applaud the thought-provoking work of the artists contributing to this festival. Our city of London is exceptional in its highly diverse people and cultural expressions, and so is uniquely placed to promote inclusivity, diversity and tolerance in both the UK and the wider world. GFEST is doing just this: its events are attended by all Londoners, regardless of their sexuality, and it serves as an important way of ensuring LGBT culture breaks the barriers into the minority community where being a homosexual, let alone expressing it, continues to be discriminated against.

Over the years, GFEST has gone from strength to strength - a fantastic expression of our capital city and of the UK as a whole - am I am proud to be endorsing it once again.

David Lammy
Member of Parliament for Tottenham