Pride in Brighton & Hove’s drive to raise £50,000 has got off to a promising start, according to Yvonne Barker, Chair of Pride in Brighton and Hove. In under a week just over a £1,000 has been donated via the Pride’s website, and a leading venue, Club Revenge, has announced that it will be staging a fund raising event on Sunday, 23rd August. The organisers of the evening, that features top house DJs, are waiving entry charges, but will be requesting donations for Pride on the door. “We are immensely encouraged by the way that the lesbian, gay, bi-sexual and trans community has responded to the news that Pride may have to be scaled back next year, unless we can raise sufficient funds to plug this year’s likely deficit,” said Yvonne Barker.

The announcement of Pride’s financial difficulties has also provoked a lively and sometime heated debate in the LGBT community about the purpose of Pride and critical issues such as whether the main park event should remain free. “We have been closely following the debates on the Internet and the blogosphere and hope that those who have been contributing their ideas and views will attend the feedback event we will be holding on October 6th at a venue to be announced shortly,” said Ms Barker. “We want to listen to as many views as possible to ensure that Pride meets the expectations of the community it serves – it is vital that we do.”

Ms Barker also went on to announce that Pride is to mount its own fundraising event later this year. She said that details of this would be released shortly too. “I am optimistic that we will bridge the gap in our finances,” concluded Barker, “but, whatever happens, Pride is determined to use this opportunity to have a fundamental review of its operation.”

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