The above responses are testament to the resolute investment of some of our participants in their ‘local’ LGBTQ film festival. Declarations of longstanding patronage are utilised by the second of these respondents as proof of his commitment, while the first cites her consistent presence over a shorter period as a marker of her self-affirmation as lesbian. This particular respondent makes a series of illuminating suggestions in which attendance at the LGBTQ festival is aligned with broader political acts in her life (longstanding openness about her sexuality to her peers and the people she encounters in her everyday life, and habitual public displays of affection for her partner, which predate the formal legalisation of same-sex partnerships). Gay Pride emerges, via implication, as enabling a much less committed display of lesbian identity than a film festival, given her apparent keenness to deny any participation in that particular event.

Daphne's response, though, may also be said to paint a certain picture of the ‘typical’ LGBTQ film festival-goer as having a strong sense of LGBTQ political identity and community affiliation. As such, her remarks could illustrate the point that we made in the introduction that our use of festivals as principal sites of recruitment for our research may limit the breadth and diversity of viewers that we access and consult.