This excerpt, as well as the acpanyg vio stills, centers the activism of Bill Smh, a central figure the foundg of Geia’s Gay Liberatn Front and a member of the Southeastern Gay Coaln. Smh served as the first out-gay man Atlanta cy ernment as Sam Massell’s appoted Communy Relatns Commissner (1973–1976) and played a key role the velopment of the Atlanta gay prs through his edorship and ownership of The Barb (1974–1977). Adapted om the book A Night at the Sweet Gum Head: Drag, Dgs, Dis, and Atlanta’s Gay Revolutn (New York: W.W. Norton, 2021). Reprted wh the permissn of W.W. Norton.
Contents:
- 50 YEARS AGO, ATLANTA’S GAY RIGHTS PH TOOK TO STREET FOR FIRST TIME
- GAY ATLANTA
- MARCHG FOR GAY RIGHTS ATLANTA, 1971: AN EXCERPT OM A NIGHT AT THE SWEET GUM HEAD
50 YEARS AGO, ATLANTA’S GAY RIGHTS PH TOOK TO STREET FOR FIRST TIME
June 27, 2021 marks the 50th anniversary of Atlanta’s first gay pri march. Here’s a look back at some key moments that shaped the cy’s LGBTQ mu * atlanta gay march *
Atlanta is often referred to as the gay pal of the South due to s progrsive reputatn, highly visible and robt LGBT muny, vibrant LGBT nightlife culture, and a growg number of LGBT people relotg to the cy. Atlanta’s first gay pri march, on the bright Sunday afternoon of June 27, 1971, was virtually unregnizable om the 300, 000-person, multi-day celebratn has bee recent the Geia Gay Liberatn Front anized that first monstratn 50 years ago, there were no floats or cheerg spectators, no major rporate sponsors or ravans of panrg the cy that had jt birthed the civil rights movement, LGBTQ rights was nsired a radil issue that the polil tablishment, cludg many Atlanta progrsiv, wanted to stay away om. ” But for many the te tent was enforcement had long targeted the cy’s LGBTQ populatn, particularly gay men, hangout spots like Piedmont Park and along what was known as “the strip” on Peachtree Street.
In 1953, police ed a two-way mirror before arrtg 20 men for havg sex the basement toilets of one of Atlanta’s public that time, many gay Atlantans were closeted, even enterg heterosexual marriag, fearful they uld lose their jobs and be shunned by their fai if they were found out. ”Fed upAfter the Ansley raid, a group of fed-up activists huddled at New Morng Cafe near Emory Universy and lnched the Geia chapter of the Gay Liberatn members, who were young and mostly whe, many had cut their teeth on the other social movements of the 1960s, cludg women’s liberatn, anti-war and civil rights fights.
GAY ATLANTA
The bt gay bars, dance clubs, gay-rated hotels, gay snas and gay cise clubs Atlanta. * atlanta gay march *
)ExploreDrag, dgs and dis: When Atlanta was a center of the gay revolutnThe anizatn set up a table at the Piedmont Park Arts Ftival to mark the first anniversary of Stonewall June 1970, but shied away om holdg a full-sle march. Leadg the procsn was GLF lear Bill Smh, who embodied the ’s dis glamour that day wh a massive Barrymore llar, long siburns, thick-rimmed aviator eyeglass and a whe Courty of WSB Newsfilm Collectn, Universy of Geia LibrariCred: Courty of WSB Newsfilm Collectn, Universy of Geia Librari“We hope through this march people will realize that homosexuals are good, law-abidg cizens, that we do have rponsible jobs and posns, ” Smh told a reporter om WSB-TV.
The Atlanta Journal didn’t send a reporter to the march — stead published eight paragraphs om Uned Prs Internatnal, a story that noted that 50 “self-proclaimed homosexuals” took Journal and the Constutn rarely vered the gay muny at that time, and when they did, LGBTQ rears often found the tone rctive or downright 1975, the Constutn ran a three-part seri on “the liftyl of Atlanta homosexuals” that heavily quoted a sex crim tective who said murrs volvg LGBTQ people were among the cy’s most vlent slaygs.
MARCHG FOR GAY RIGHTS ATLANTA, 1971: AN EXCERPT OM A NIGHT AT THE SWEET GUM HEAD
“Gay people sist that the homosexual muny actually is very much a mirror of heterosexual society, that, like the heterosexual muny, they have their perverts and sicki and weirdos, but no more than their share, ” the story stated.
“We were often I thk margalized and left out om some of the stutn buildg that some of the whe LGBTQ folks were dog Atlanta, ” said Charl Stephens, executive director of the Counter Narrative Project, an Atlanta nonprof that seeks to elevate the voic of Black gay men. ”The cy’s wtsi beme a thrivg center for Black LGBTQ social life around the same time, wh the openg of bars like the Marquette and parti the hom of proment gay Atlantans such as the late physician and art llector Otis Thrash Hammonds, acrdg to Stephens. Des later, a work of Black gay men built what would bee Atlanta Black Pri, an annual event that started as a piic among iends 1996 and has grown to a 10, 000-person ftival each Labor Day, the cy’s largt LGBTQ event is the ftival that scend om the 1971 march.