2011 Atlanta Pride calendar
9/30/2011 12:00:00 AM
Note: Events are subject to change after press time. For costs and other details, visit venue websites.
Pride: Dyke March gets radical attitude
9/30/2011 12:00:00 AM
From making pasties so women can march topless to holding a dance party after the marching is done, this year’s Atlanta Pride Dyke March seeks to reach back to its more radical roots.
“We’ve been working with Atlanta Pride to make it a bigger and better Dyke March — we want to start the ball rolling so it becomes bigger and bigger each year,” said Kiki Carr.
The march is open to all women and is trans inclusive — the word “dyke” is not meant to scare anyone off. In the past, men have also marched.
Pride: Trans March puts the ‘T’ at the front of the line
9/30/2011 12:00:00 AM
Dozens of transgender people and allies are expected to march through Piedmont Park on Saturday, Oct. 8, carrying banners and signs to ensure Pride participants pay attention to the “T” that is part of the LGBT acronym.
“Out of the alphabet soup that is often used to describe us, the ‘T’ is still the piece that most of the community is still working to understand,” said James Sheffield, executive director of Atlanta Pride.
“I still get phone calls from people who don’t understand why transgender people are included in the gay community at all,” he said.
Pride: Health Expo is one-stop shop for LGBT wellness
9/30/2011 12:00:00 AM
For the fourth year, Atlanta Pride attendees can learn about health issues ranging from HIV to hepatitis, breast exams to donor insemination, in one convenient location in Piedmont Park.
The Community Health Expo spans 27 booth spaces in the Blue Section of the Atlanta Pride marketplace, with some organizations taking multiple booths to offer services including private, on-site HIV testing.
“It really heightens visibility for these organizations and draws greater attention to overall community health and wellness. Being together also provides these groups with the opportunity to work together over the weekend,” said Pride Executive Director James Sheffield.
Aquarium party becomes a staple of Pride
9/30/2011 12:00:00 AM
Over at the Georgia Aquarium, it’s likely that the penguins are cleaning their tuxes and the beluga whales are making sure their smiles are extra shiny as they prepare to host what has quickly become one of the most popular and unique parties in Atlanta. For the third year in a row, thousands of Atlanta Pride celebrants will toast the start of Pride with the official kick-off party a the Georgia Aquarium on Friday, Oct. 7.
“It’s just really fun to be able to have a Pride that’s big in the Southeast and be able to have the biggest attraction in Atlanta be a part of it,” said Will Ramsey, vice president of sales at the Georgia Aquarium. “That was our whole original vision: with so many people coming to Pride regionally, to make sure they experience the Aquarium when they came to Atlanta.”
Ramsey and his colleague John Walker have helped make the Georgia Aquarium a staple of Atlanta Pride, a surprising partnership to some.
Pride: Commitment Ceremony an evolving tradition
9/30/2011 12:00:00 AM
In recent years, the Pride Commitment Ceremony was held in Piedmont Park on Saturday evening. This year, the celebration moves to a different day, the Thursday before Pride, and a new location, the W Midtown Atlanta Hotel.
Between 50-100 couples are expected to exchange vows at the nondenominational ceremony that will include an invitation for couples to attend Chris Coleman’s Indulge party in the hotel after the event.
“The Commitment Ceremony has a long history of changing and morphing. For a long time it was on Saturday in the park. Then it was on Fridays at Magnolia Hall, and it’s been at the Sheraton Colony Square,” said James Sheffield, executive director of Atlanta Pride.
Pride Eucharist offers unconditional affirmation
9/30/2011 12:00:00 AM
A visit to church might not be an obvious entry in a Gay Pride itinerary, but for more than two decades Integrity Atlanta has made sure the affirmation of Pride extends to the spiritual realm.
“So many people have been battered, bruised, beaten up by organized religion, and our goal is to provide a safe space where that will not happen to them,” said Bruce Garner of Integrity Atlanta, which hosts its 22nd annual Pride Eucharist Oct. 6 at All Saints’ Episcopal Church in Midtown.
“It’s been important for us to offer a space where they will hear of their value as children of God, just the way God made them, without exceptions,” Garner said. “We felt like there was a need within the LGBT community for a safe space to exercise spirituality, and it’s a boisterous, joy-filled, good place to be for the duration of the service."
AIDS vigil a ‘crucial part’ of Atlanta Pride
9/30/2011 12:00:00 AM
Nothing makes one appreciate the good times more than remembering the difficult trials that have been endured. While Atlanta Pride has evolved into a celebratory and gleeful event, the annual Pride AIDS vigil commemorates a time when our community was overwhelmed by loss and despair.
“I think it’s a crucial part of any Pride festivity,” said Josh Noblitt, minister of social justice at St. Mark United Methodist Church, which hosts this year’s AIDS vigil Oct. 5.
“In addition to celebrating, in addition to partying, there must be a time of remembrance,” he said. “There must be a time of remembering those who have come before us, those who we lost along the way, and celebrate their life as well as grieve their loss.
Jewish contingency out and proud at Atlanta Pride
9/30/2011 12:00:00 AM
Atlanta’s Jewish community is coming together the day after Yom Kippur to march for the first time in the Atlanta Pride parade on Sunday, Oct. 9.
Typically, the day after Yom Kippur — the Day of Atonement that calls for reflection, prayer and fasting — is a day of rest for Rabbi Josh Lesser, who leads the gay-founded Congregation Bet Haverim. This year, he’ll be riding atop a float.
“I’ll be in full energy mode,” he said with a laugh.
Congregation Bet Haverim is partnering with The Temple, Atlanta’s oldest synagogue, and Temple Sinai of Sandy Springs, to march in the Pride parade as part of a pilot program of the Institute for Judaism and Sexual Orientation called the Welcoming Synagogues Project.
Meet the Atlanta Pride grand marshals
9/30/2011 12:00:00 AM
Last year to mark the 40th anniversary of the Atlanta Pride festival, the Atlanta Pride Committee selected 120 grand marshals to represent three categories of the LGBT rights movement: education, legislative and community. For 2011, Pride has taken a more scaled-back approach, naming six people as grand marshals for the Oct. 9 parade.
Each of the six grand marshals was nominated by the public in an open-nomination process, according to the Atlanta Pride Committee.
The group includes a straight ally, a transgender activist, a leather advocate, a voice from the frontlines of Georgia’s immigration battle, a gay actor and playwright, and an Atlanta Sister of Perpetual Indulgence.