Only 2 weeks to Pride - No Mayoral funding
Mayor wants "Sydney-style parade" but fails to fund it
London - 16 June 2005
"The Mayor of London has failed to deliver his promised £40'000 grant towards the cost of Pride London's parade and festival on 2 July'"
according to Ramzi Isalam' spokesperson for gay human rights group' OutRage!
"With only two weeks to go' the organisers have still not received the long promised financial support from Mayor Ken Livingstone.
"The Mayor's office indicated its grant would be paid at the end of April. Pride London has not received a penny
"How can the gay community stage a quality parade and festival when the Mayor delays and delays? The Greater London Authority gave the impression it
was going to deliver its funding by the beginning of May. It never arrived. Even May would have been too late.
"Pride London needs funding upfront at
least six months in advance to allow proper budgeting' planning and organising.
"A mere £40'000 is woefully inadequate. Lesbians' gays and bisexuals comprise around 15% of London's population. We deserve greater
generosity from the Mayor.
"Ken Livingstone says he wants Pride London to become a spectacular 'Sydney-style' parade' attracting visitors from all over the world. This will
only happen if he is prepared to back it with the necessary funds.
"Right now' the Mayor is not providing the finance needed to turn Pride London into a world class queer event.
"Pride London will never reach its full potential without much greater finance from the Mayor. It needs a three-year funding package to enable the
Pride organisers to plan ahead and expand the event'" added Mr Isalam.
Mr Isalam's comments follow revelations by OutRage! that the Mayor gives over seven times less funding to the annual Pride London festival' compared
to his funding for the black community's anti-racist Respect festival (now renamed the Rise festival).
"Ken Livingstone has allocated £40'000 towards the cost of Pride London this year' but he gave a whopping £305'000 to fund
Respect - over seven times more'" said Mr Isalam.
"The Mayor also contributed £112'000 to the St Patrick's Day Irish festival in 2003'
which is almost three times the funding for Pride.
"The Mayor excuses the differential funding on the grounds that Respect and St Patrick's Day are run in-house' under direct Greater London
Authority control. But does this justify such huge discrepancies in the financial support he gives? Surely' Pride deserves at least half of what the Respect festival
gets?
"Ken Livingstone also argues that Pride is part commercially sponsored' but so are the Respect festival and St Patrick's Day. Commercial sponsorship
does not prevent the Mayor from funding the Irish and anti-racist festivals. Why the double standards?
"It does not seem fair for Pride to receive so little funding compared to the financial support given to other community festivals.
"Respect and St Patrick's Day deserve every penny they get. But why does the Mayor give so little to Pride?
"It seems like Ken is saying that the gay community is less deserving than the black and Irish communities'" said Mr Isalam.
Further information: Brett Lock' OutRage! - 0770 843 5917
The Mayor of London's funding for other festivals (latest published figures):
St Patrick's Day Festival:
For the 2003 St Patrick's Day event' the GLA's contribution was £112'000. The total budget was £350'000.
Source:
London. Assembly
Respect Festival:
The total cost of the Respect event is £460