The rise of Atlanta's Black Gay Pri - Atlanta Magaze

Contents:

• THE RISE OF ATLANTA’S BLACK GAY PRI
• CELEBRATE ATL BLACK GAY PRI 2018
• PEACH MAGAZE - BLACK GAY PRI 2018

THE RISE OF ATLANTA’S BLACK GAY PRI

Atlanta has bee known as a travel statn for many black gay Amerins, who feel is one of the few plac the south where they n feel safe and for those who actually ll home, Atlanta n be difficult to navigate. Racism, sexism and homophobia are rife. Beg black and gay also means beg more exposed than most to the threat of HIV: 67% of all diagnos Fulton unty, which clus most of downtown Atlanta, are gay and bisexual men.

Once the rnerstone of the black muny, has perpetuated toxic attus about gay people, he says, which is particularly trimental to the self-teem of the many black gay people who look to the church for spirual – who 2015 was appoted to the Printial Advisory Council on HIV/Aids – says ABPW provis a different space for healg. “I thk beg Jamain I have a different kd of sense of fear around homophobia, bee I know what that n look like, ” Anthony two plan to get married and have children, but want to leave the south to do so.

CELEBRATE ATL BLACK GAY PRI 2018

”Kelli Man, 28 and Chantel Kennedy, 28“The gay muny here is very close-kn, everyone knows here and ’s OK to be ourselv, ” says two aspirg hip-hop artists performed at the Pure Heat ftival, one of the largt events of ABPW last reloted to Atlanta bee of s opportuni and muny for black people, which Kennedy says ma the move, who is sgle, says datg Atlanta is a “wi playg field”: “There are no lims. He says there is a stigma attached to beg LGBT the south, and that even a place like Atlanta, wh a large gay populatn, discrimatn is still a part of everyday life. Workg the entertament dtry, Christopher says he nstantly has to shoot down generalizatns about gay men.

“The stereotype is that gay people n be tty, extra and flamboyant, but that’s not everybody. “Many people our muny grew up theologil abive and spirually vlent church where the teachg, preachg and the theology was anti-gay. “Unls you’re the gay muny people aren’t open about , ” Delaney says.

Melissa “DJ M” Stt, 42As a star of docoap Love & Hip Hop Atlanta, and founr of party promotn group Traxx Girls, Stt nsirs her missn to help people feel more fortable wh beg out and gay. “She jt has a gay kid and a succsful gay kid at that, ” Stt says. As we know that many of the gay BIPOC aren’t always reprented our cy's history, we ve you to share rmatn on the LGBTQ+ grant/Historic Context Statement on your social media channels to help intify Black spac and plac that were important to the gay muni.

PEACH MAGAZE - BLACK GAY PRI 2018

Photograph by Phillip Bigby/GEORGIAVOICEDunn Teague was feelg cute after primpg for his but Atlanta’s Black gay social scene Augt 1984, but the recent llege graduate om Kansas soon learned he was unrdrsed for a backyard soiree hosted by Henri McTerry. “I had never seen an outdoor event durg the daylight somebody’s backyard wh this many Black gay men— was astoundg.

”Photograph by Phillip Bigby/GEORGIAVOICEPhotograph by Phillip Bigby/GEORGIAVOICEPhotograph by Phillip Bigby/GEORGIAVOICETeague would learn McTerry’s piic was one of many Black gay gathergs occurrg across the cy every Labor Day, and those parti created a 40-year legacy of Black queer folks om across the untry flockg to Atlanta durg the fal weekend of the Life Atlanta (ITLA) was the first group to formalize the Labor Day celebratns to Black Gay Pri 1996, by supplementg the weekend of partyg wh health workshops, poetry slams, panel discsns, and, ocsnally, a march through Atlanta’s streets. “We weren’t different or better than people who clearly me here for the bathhoe or clubs, but we really me for the whole cultural experience of what Black Gay Pri was about, ” says Raymond R. Participants the 1977 Atlanta Pri ParaPhotograph urty of Jerome McClendon/AJC/GSU llectnAugt 5, 1969Atlanta Police raid Ansley Mall Mi Cema’s screeng of Andy Warhol’s gay-themed Lonome Cowboys, takg photos of the approximately 70 atten.

The raid spir the formatn of the Geia Gay Liberatn 1970On the first anniversary of New York Cy’s Stonewall Uprisg Greenwich Village, Atlanta’s first Gay Pri rally, prised of a ragtag group of about 100 people, mostly whe men jeans and T-shirts, tak place Piedmont Park—wh some bravely strollg siwalks rryg “Equal Rights for Gays” plards. Atlanta is among a handful of ci to mark the 1972Approximately 100 Atlanta “Gay Pri Day” participants marchg down Peachtree Street are greeted wh “stony ntempt, ” “disbelief, ” “s, ” and “flashed peace signs” by onlookers, reports the Great Speckled Bird, a long-nng lol unrground 1973A photo published the Atlanta Barb, one of the cy’s first gay newspapers, shows a female participant marchg wh a paper sack over her head and rryg a sign that says, “If I Showed My Face I Would Lose My Job. 1976Atlanta Mayor Maynard Jackson issu the cy’s first Gay Pri Day proclamatn.