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:
- THE UNSPOKEN PAST: ATLANTA LBIAN AND GAY HISTORY
- QUEER MIDTOWN: HOW ATLANTA BEME AN EPICENTER OF GAY LIFE
- ATLANTA LBIAN AND GAY HISTORY THG PAPERS AND PUBLITNS
THE UNSPOKEN PAST: ATLANTA LBIAN AND GAY HISTORY
* atlanta gay history *
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.
”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. In his ncurrg opn, then-Chief Jtice Warren Burger wrote that “to hold that the act of homosexual sodomy is somehow protected as a fundamental right would be to st asi lennia of moral teachg.
QUEER MIDTOWN: HOW ATLANTA BEME AN EPICENTER OF GAY LIFE
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. 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. To learn more about our ATL’s risk-takg change makers and historic moments beyond the Pri Para, we enurage you to explore the Atlanta Lbian and Gay History Thg llectn, the Geia LGBTQ Archiv Project, the Touchg Up Our Roots oral history project, and other rourc listed below this article.
ATLANTA LBIAN AND GAY HISTORY THG PAPERS AND PUBLITNS
Programmg expand beyond the tradnal para and rally to clu a live ncert, rad show, art show, film ftival, history symposium, block party (on 7th Street between Piedmont Avenue and Juniper Street), voter registratn drive, and an open hoe for the cy’s Atlanta Gay Center and Atlanta Lbian Femist Alliance headquarters. Out Atlanta: Atlanta’s Gay and Lbian Communi Sce Stonewall: A Chronology, 1969-2012 | Wley ChenltGay and Lbian Atlanta | Wley Chenlt and Stacy BrkmanTerry Bird Collectn of Atlanta Lbian and Gay History Thg, Inc. Queer history tends to foc on large ci like New York and San Francis, but Atlanta’s actually been a haven for queer and trans Southerners sce the early 20th on for some of Atlanta’s most unique queer history—irrefutable proof that this cy is gay as hoe where Michael Hardwick was arrtedPhotograph by Rachel Garb1.
Her vrl gathered a diffe llectn of gay rights activists to an anized movement, and won new alli to the e: the Southern gay magaze Cise quipped, “Save Our Children actually may have saved the languishg Gay polil movement.