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
Contents:
- 50 YEARS AGO, ATLANTA’S GAY RIGHTS PH TOOK TO STREET FOR FIRST TIME
- MARCHG FOR GAY RIGHTS ATLANTA, 1971: AN EXCERPT OM A NIGHT AT THE SWEET GUM HEAD
- HOW ONE MARCH FOR GAY RIGHTS LNCHED NEARLY 50 YEARS OF ATLANTA PRI
50 YEARS AGO, ATLANTA’S GAY RIGHTS PH TOOK TO STREET FOR FIRST TIME
* atlanta gay rights *
Here’s a look back at some key moments that shaped the cy’s LGBTQ muny over the last five 1969 – Atlanta police raid the Ansley Mall Mi Cema Midtown durg a showg of Andy Warhol’s “Lonome Cowboys, ” a wtern satire that featur gay sex scen. ” The raid, together wh New York Cy’s Stonewall rts six weeks earlier, is the talyst for Atlanta’s gay rights 1971 – More than 100 activists assemble Midtown for Atlanta’s first gay pri march to mark the two-year anniversary of Stonewall.
Led by members of the Geia Gay Liberatn Front, which formed rponse to the Ansley raid and other police harassment, participants ph for an end to sodomy laws and discrimatn the workplace, hog and other 1972 – A group of lbian activists form the Atlanta Lbian Femist Alliance, a group that would bee a powerful force the cy’s LGBTQ muny for 1976 – Mayor Maynard Jackson issu Atlanta’s first “Gay Pri Day” proclamatn.
MARCHG FOR GAY RIGHTS ATLANTA, 1971: AN EXCERPT OM A NIGHT AT THE SWEET GUM HEAD
workg to advance fairns, safety and opportuny for lbian, gay, bisexual and transgenr muni and our alli throughout Geia. * atlanta gay rights *
”June 1978 – An appearance by Ana Bryant, the sger and activist who opposed gay rights, at the Southern Baptist Conventn attracts several thoand protters to Atlanta’s World Congrs Center and revigorat the cy’s LGBTQ liberatn movement. Ls than a year later, unr prsure om gay rights advot, the Atlanta Commtee for the Olympic Gam announced was pullg volleyball gam out of Cobb County rponse to the 1996 – A gatherg of Black LGBTQ iends Piedmont Park sparks what eventually be Atlanta Black Pri, an annual Labor Day weekend ftival that now draws upwards of 10, 000 people to the cy for arts, cultural and tnal events. 2014 – Activists lnch Southern Fried Queer Pri, which foc on empowerg queer and trans people of lor through the 2015 – Gay marriage is legalized for the first time Geia after the Supreme Court l that the Constutn’s equal protectn and due procs cls protect same-sex 2016 – Then-Gov.
HOW ONE MARCH FOR GAY RIGHTS LNCHED NEARLY 50 YEARS OF ATLANTA PRI
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. * atlanta gay rights *
ExploreDrag, dgs and dis: When Atlanta was a center of the gay revolutnJune 2020 – The Supreme Court, a 6-3 cisn, l that employers nnot fire LGBTQ workers bee of their sexual orientatn or genr inty. 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.