“It was a secret world,” said Gil Robison, an LGBTQ activist who grew up near Tucker.
Explore Timeline: Major moments in Atlanta LGBTQ historyīy the 1960s, a handful of bars began springing up near Midtown that quietly catered to gay clientele. Some were able to live a little more openly, and Atlanta became a magnet for young LGTBQ people from small towns all over the South. In 1953, police used a two-way mirror before arresting 20 men for having sex in the basement toilets of one of Atlanta’s public libraries.Īt that time, many gay Atlantans were closeted, even entering heterosexual marriages, fearful they could lose their jobs and be shunned by their families if they were found out. Law enforcement had long targeted the city’s LGBTQ population, particularly gay men, in hangout spots like Piedmont Park and along what was known as “the strip” on Peachtree Street. Lobby card from “Lonesome Cowboys.” Contributed by Booth Museum The goal of the raid, Fulton’s solicitor general later told the Atlanta Constitution, was to identify anyone with “records for previous sex offenses.” But for many the true intent was obvious. “They were arresting a lot of gay men, just arresting them on anything they could find.” “They had cameras with flashbulbs and they were taking everyone’s picture,” Abby Drue, an Atlanta nonprofit chief who was in the theater, recounted during a recent interview. Officers arrested the manager and projectionist for pornography, confiscated the film reel and lined up members of the audience. Roughly 15 minutes into the film, the lights flipped as police burst into the theater and locked the doors behind them. Explore Photos: Atlanta's Gay Pride march through the years Nearly 900 miles away, some 70 moviegoers had settled into their seats at the Ansley Mall Mini Cinema in Midtown for a Tuesday evening showing of Andy Warhol’s “Lonesome Cowboys.” The western satire, which featured gay sex scenes, had become an immediate target of local law enforcement who believed it violated obscenity laws. It was six weeks after cops had raided the Stonewall Inn, a gay hangout in Manhattan’s Greenwich Village, galvanizing the fight for LGBTQ liberation. That we’re not the problem.”įor many local activists the match was lit nearly two years earlier, on Aug. “It was mostly about feeling good,” said Phil Lambert, a Vietnam veteran who was in attendance. Even today, six years after the Supreme Court legalized same-sex marriage, Congress, statehouses and the courts continue to grapple with LGBTQ protections, “religious freedom” and transgender youths.īut for the hundred or so Atlantans who participated in the city’s first pride march, the event was a turning point, a moment when, for the first time, they could publicly celebrate a part of themselves that society had long demanded they keep hidden. It would take decades for attitudes and laws to change.
When is gay pride in atlanta 2021 archive#
(Jerome McClendon / AJC Archive at GSU Library AJCN015-026a) About 1,200 marchers began downtown and marched up to Piedmont Park.
This rainbow-clad extravaganza seeks to celebrate all points of the spectrum with vibrant costumes and attractions.Atlanta Gay Rights Alliance and others leading the Pride parade through Atlanta, June 25, 1977. The Atlanta Pride Festival was born in 1970 and has been an event for all Atlantans to celebrate the thriving LGBTQ+ community in Atlanta. After these consultations a review of public health data and confirming the City of Atlanta’s moratorium on issuing Class ‘A’ permits, the organization made the difficult decision to cancel the 2021 Atlanta Pride Festival and Parade.Ībout the Atlanta Pride Festival and Parade Carlos del Rio, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, leaders of local hospital systems, and other public health officials. Eliot Blum, as well as renowned and internationally respected public health expert Dr. The Board of Directors along with the Executive Director, Jamie Fergerson, consulted with Atlanta Pride Medical Directors, Dr. ATLANTA PRIDE: ATLANTA (August 25, 2021) - Amid the exponential COVID-19 case growth in Georgia and the ongoing public health emergency, The Atlanta Pride Committee (APC) announced that they have canceled the Atlanta Pride Festival and Parade scheduled for October 9-10, 2021.