WEST VILLAGE — The Christopher Street bar Boots & Saddle raised funds for homeless LGBT youth Tuesday night by bringing in a sympathetic cast of characters to help rake in the cash: 20 drag performers to strut their stuff as part of a 12-hour marathon show.
Drag performer Kdon Wade, who performs as the "bossy" Victoria Chase, said drag queens are perfect to help raise money for needy youth because many of them have had similar experiences.
"The drag queens in the city have either been homeless themselves or know someone who has been," Wade said. "People were shunned by their families and got into horrible things because they had no choice."
Boots & Saddle owner Robert Ziegler, 46, said he was spurred to host the fundraiser — starting at 4 p.m. Tuesday and running until 4 a.m. Wednesday — after noticing in the past year more youth he suspects are gay and homeless.
"They hang out around here, and you see them wearing the same stuff every day," Ziegler said of what he's noticed near the 76 Christopher St. bar. "They never seem like they go home. I get here in the morning, and they're still here."
Since forming last year, Ziegler's group the West Village Coalition has urged police and elected officials to help control noise, disorder and other quality-of-life problems on Christopher Street. The group believes the problems are often caused by the groups of LGBT youth who spend time on the street and nearby Pier 45.
Lending a hand with LGBT youth also helps with issues in the West Village, he noted.
"We just can't yell at them and wish they're gone," he said. "We have to help, too. They're our next generation."
Admission to the event, which benefits youth services at nonprofit The Door at 555 Broome St., is free, and Boots & Saddle hopes to raise $5,000 in donations.
Amanda Peck, a spokeswoman for The Door, said funds raised at the bar will go toward programming for runaway and homeless youth. More than half of The Door's clients in these programs identify as LGBT, she added.
The funds raised will be matched by The Calamus Foundation, a group benefiting the LGBT community and people with HIV that has agreed to match The Door dollar for dollar if it can raise $50,000 by this May.
