Newcastle's drag and gay community has successfully raised £5,000 for the Guide Dogs for the Blind Association, the Evening Chronicle reports.
The Bank Pub organised drag cabaret shows, raffles and bingo nights in order to reach the target, with the all-male Adonis Cabaret show donating £1,000 to boost the final sum.
The money will pay for the two years of training that Angel, a 17-week-old Golden Labrador, needs before she can go to a blind owner.
The district fundraiser for the Guide Dogs for the Blind Association, Claire Douglass, visited the pub with Angel. She said: “The people here have been absolutely amazing. Their friendship and their generosity have been overwhelming.”
The idea to raise the money came from one of the bar's resident drag DJs, Gary Short, 44. He started the campaign after a friend almost lost her sight to cancer.
He said: “So many people on the gay scene work for the gay scene, and money raised for charity stays within the community. I thought it would be lovely for the gay community to do something for everybody else.”
This is great stuff indeed.
But it does shout out how invisible the gay community is of it’s own disabled people.
I am gay and my partner has a guide dog!
We come in all forms.
Posted by: Steven | April 28, 2009 at 04:12 PM