08/03/18, Vol. 9 Issue 12

A SORDID THREE RING

starring Leslie Jordan, Del Shores, and Ann Walker

Saturday, August 25, 2018 VIP Reception: 6:30 to 7:30 p.m.

•

Show 8:00 p.m.

Centerstage, 1374 West Peachtree St, NW Atlanta, GA 30309

Purchase tickets online: centerstage-atlanta.com

A BENEFIT FOR

FROM THE EDITOR’S DESK

On Being PO Box 77401 • Atlanta, GA 30357 P: 404-815-6941; F: 404-963-6365

EDITORIAL

Editor: Berlin Sylvestre bsylvestre@thegavoice.com Editorial Contributors: Cliff Bostock, Katie Burkholder, Melissa Carter, Aidan Ivory Edwards, Conner Emery, Jim Farmer, Dawn Felton, Morgan Nicole Fletcher, Elizabeth Hazzard, Ryan Lee, Joseph Miller, Allison Radomski, Jamie Roberts, Catharine Romero, Dionne Walker, Craig Washington

Fat

PRODUCTION

Art Director: Rob Boeger rboeger@thegavoice.com

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Managing Partner/Publisher: Tim Boyd tboyd@thegavoice.com

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Berlin Sylvestre bsylvestre@thegavoice.com Being thin is a cultural currency. You know I, I know it, the sales reps at Gyms, Inc. know it. If you’re fat, may the odds be ever in your favor when it comes to dating, finding work that involves fronting a company, not hating reflective surfaces, locating something to wear in the summer for dress-up events, the anxiety of trying on said items, learning how to make fans out of pamphlets you find at said events (or any event, hell), cringing at how sweaty you get when the A/C isn’t arctic … the list is as vast as my waistline.

Because I’m of mixed races, I’ll blurt out stupid stuff like, “I’m just Caucasian enough to gain weight, and just Asian enough to be a crappy driver.” (Totally un-PC and full of stupid stereotypes, I know. I need better material.) Or I’ll talk about how I know I’m fat as, back in my thinner days people would reassure me it was all in my head, but when I sigh it aloud these days, I get crickets. (Omg, lol! But at least I know it’s not in my head, amirite?)

But a new friend told me recently (because I’m pretty relentless when it comes to roasting the hell out of my myself), that I really ought to drop the obvious defense mechanism. “Either do something about it, or stop hating on yourself — those are your options.” She was

being so frank and I loved it, but she was also giving me the low-down on where I should take these jokes that clearly have been distressing her on my behalf. Not cool. My wife also tells me not to “talk about [her] wife like that.”

Truth be told, I’m not sure why I’m fat.

Katherine (my wife), with her yoga-body and tennis legs, always comments that I shouldn’t need to be reminded to eat. “I don’t know why you’re never hungry,” she says, attributing it to stress. Sure enough, I look up not eating enough and there’s info about my body holding onto whatever I do manage in a day. But then there’s another study that says fasting is a good way to let go of some weight.

I don’t tend to like carby foods, I definitely don’t eat sweets (not sure why I’ve never liked them), I don’t drink sugary drinks like juice or sodas, and I prefer baked to fried, esp. when it comes to chicken and veggies. (Have you ever roasted okra? Holy cow — a must.)

My bloodwork comes back legit, so it’s a bit of a conundrum. What am I doing wrong?

“Cortisol,” is the usual response I get from my doc. It’s a stress hormone that can really pack on the pounds. Welp! Better quit living, ’cause it’s full of that bullcrap, innit?

But here’s the gist: Another form of cultural currency is not giving too much of a shit what people think, which is actually kind of tough

for me. Am I saying I’m fine being fat, and everyone can piss off? (Omg, no. Not at all. If anyone wants to hit me up with what’s worked/ is working for them, bring the noise!) Because of a stupid comment on social media, I snagged a gym-bership like a total knee-jerker. The comment, in which some stranger grabbed my Bookface profile picture and called me a “fat pig bitch,” was a gut-punch that lasted 30 minutes. I mean … a fat pig? As opposed to a skinny one? And I thought that was a decent pic of me! Huh. Turns out, being fat also made me a “bitch,” seeing as the comment I made that the jerk’s insult spurred from wasn’t even bitchy. After that half-hour of going, “That was cruel. Why would he have said that when I wasn’t even mean?”, I decided that the first non-treadmill step of this process is trying really hard at the “not giving a shit” part. I am what I am for the moment, and if anyone scoffs at me for being fat while I’m taking a more proactive measure for removing this aspect of myself, it’s gotta roll off like beads of sweat on my forehead when it’s not even that hot out, according to much-thinner people.

I believe in honesty, so here’s a brutal truth from your friendly, neighborhood editor. In this, I ask: What’s worked for you? Mama needs a bit of help.

Cheers from this-a-way, Berlin.

August 3, 2018 Editorial 3

NEWS

Atlanta trans advocate fights for dignity of deceased Jason Rhode jrhode@thegavoice.com

SASHA GARDEN

This is the story of a mourned woman in Florida, and an activist in Atlanta.

Sasha Garden, an African-American trans woman, was recently killed in Orlando.

Sasha’s body was found at 5am on July 19th, behind the reserve at Lake Buchanan Apartments. The Milwaukee native, 27, was training to be a hair stylist, and was described by friends as a “firecracker.” Her body showed signs of trauma.

Mulan Montrese Williams, a trans advocate and friend of Sasha’s, told the media that “So many different times, trans violence happens, and we don’t get justice.”

A final, more troubling moment was to come. According to Mulan and area news organizations, when local officers asked her to identify her friend’s remains, they employed what were described as “anti-transgender slurs.”

Moreover, they misgendered Sasha in their public statements.

And so, when the Orange County, Florida Sheriff ’s office described her as a man “in a wig and dress” who “was found murdered behind a hotel,” Atlanta trans advocate Arica Love Royal wasn’t having it.

Royal reached out to authorities in law enforcement and the media. She advocated for the Orange County Sheriff ’s Office in Florida to acknowledge their mistake.

Describing herself as an Atlanta-situated “postop trans woman” and “advocate for LGBTQ rights, human rights, and transgender rights” Royal is the creator of the “What’s the T” advocacy network. The WTT claims seven LGBTQ podcasts in their network. The organization’s Facebook page describes it as a “weekly Facebook Live and YouTube channel webcast” hosted by Arica.

“The trans community was so disrespected by the verbiage of ‘a body of a man found in a wig and dress,’” Arica says. “That’s horrible.”

4 News August 3, 2018

ARICA LOVE ROYAL

The trans “community was so disrespected by the verbiage of ‘a body of a man found in a wig and dress.

That’s horrible.’

”

Two local broadcast stations declined to offer any corrections until six hours after being contacted by Sasha’s friends. Numerous advocacy groups were brought into the fray, including the Human Rights Campaign, who called “for a full review of conduct by the Orange County Sheriff ’s Office regarding [Sasha’s] death and recommends additional sensitivity training for all officers and support staff.”

This is about more than one tragic killing.

Sasha’s death is the latest in a deeply troubling pattern of violence targeting AfricanAmerican transgender women in Florida.

According to Pink News, the homicide marks the fifteenth unlawful killing of a trans person in America in the year 2018. The Orlando Weekly stated that her death may be connected to “three other black transgender women who were killed within the past five months in Jacksonville.”

Which brings us back to Arica, who recalls the moment she heard the news.

“did acknowledge that the individual was transgender.”

“I thought about it for a little while,” she says, “and I was like, ‘Maybe that individual was transitioning or transgender.’”

Arica continues: “He apologized not only to the LGBTQ community as a whole, but the Orlando LGBTQ community and the transgender community. That’s a victory for us, and steps forward. Her name was Sasha, and she was transitioning. She was a human being.

All we’re asking for is respect and dignity.”

Arica stresses that this was an insult to the LGBTQ community of Orlando, “especially with the community still reeling from the aftereffects of the Pulse shooting.” She contends that “any major media needs to be respectful to any community within its news-viewing areas … the LGBTQ community included.”

So she took action immediately, and called the Orange County Sheriff ’s Office. “I had some questions for the public relations and media relations department.”

Throughout the course of the day, she says, there were calls “back and forth.” It was evening by the time she received a call from Captain Carlos Torres of the Orange County Sheriff’s Office.

“He told me he was on a recorded line,” Arica explains, “and I told him I was recording it for my show ‘What’s the T.’” “He totally took complete responsibility for the press release.” Arica says that Torres

“And the way that trans people are treated in America today ... we are all human beings,” she says. “And when something like that is released in the press, it’s horrific for the transgender community — it is so disrespectful.”

“We didn’t asked to be this way. This is what our brains are telling our bodies. It’s very difficult for some of my trans brothers and sisters — each day can be a struggle.”

Arica, who recently won a Georgia Voice award for activism, says that she takes the well-being of the community very seriously.

Although her award was given in Atlanta, the responsibility doesn’t end at the state line.

“I take it very seriously. I have a commitment to my LGBTQ community, and to the transgender community.” www.thegeorgiavoice.com

O C C A B TO XIC O T S I

S I H T S I E LIF N O N C I X TO

NEWS

Medicaid Coverage

for Trans and Nonconforming Georgians Enters New Struggle Jamie Roberts Transgender and gender nonconforming (GNC) people have long struggled to overcome barriers for access to decent, compassionate medical care. Many members of the community consider treatments like Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT) and procedures like breast augmentation, mastectomies, hysterectomies, orchiectomies, facial-feminization surgeries — all the way to phalloplasty and vaginoplasty — to be lifesaving and life-affirming treatment to assist them with physically changing their bodies to 6 News August 3, 2018

be more consistent with their gender identity.

Though there is now a near consensus in the mainstream medical community that such procedures are medically necessary, political policy that affects people’s access to this care has alternatively erected barriers, only to dismantle them. Now, in the face of new efforts to revive the old barriers, there is also resistance to keep them dismantled for good — especially in Georgia — which has a history of policy that seeks to maintain as many roadblocks to transaffirming medical care as possible.

As many trans and GNC folks know, the

ease of gender transition and accessing safe and affirming medical care can vary widely.

In a country that doesn’t consider healthcare to be a human right, we’re on our own as far as finding the means to afford good medical care. If you’re lucky enough to come from wealth or have a job that provides health coverage, then it’s likely your HRT treatments are covered at the very least.

Unfortunately, trans and GNC Georgians suffer high rates of job discrimination.

According to the 2015 US Transgender Survey, around 11% of trans and GNC Georgians are currently unemployed, and 1

in 5 of the survey participants from Georgia lost a job because of discrimination based on their gender identity or expression. For many trans and GNC Georgians, their only access to health insurance is through Medicaid.

Trans individuals who qualify for Medicaid in Georgia face another barrier to accessing transition-related medical care: Medicaid is a national health insurance program funded by congress, which allocates money CONTINUES ON PAGE 8 www.thegeorgiavoice.com

TAKE THE LEAD

Take an active role in your health.

Ask your doctor if an HIV medicine made by Gilead is right for you.

onepillchoices.com GILEAD and the GILEAD Logo are trademarks of Gilead Sciences, Inc. © 2017 Gilead Sciences, Inc. All rights reserved. UNBC4619 06/17

UNBC4619_B_LEAD_10x10-5_Blue_GeorgiaVoice_p1.indd 1

9/19/17 3:24 PM

NEWS CONTINUED FROM PAGE 6 for states to administer the programs through block grants that allow wide flexibility as to how they use the money to provide health coverage. Though some state Medicaid programs like, say, the one in Massachusetts will cover all trans-related healthcare all the way through to Gender Confirmation Surgery (GCS), other states like Georgia explicitly deny any transitionrelated medical coverage.

A document accessible on the website of the Georgia Department of Community Health (DCH) titled “Amount, Duration, and Scope of Medical and Remedial Care And Services Provided To The Categorically Needy” describes policy that’s been our state policy since 1993 when it comes procedures covered

by Georgia Medicaid. A list of “Limitations” under the heading “I. Inpatient Hospital Services” includes a paragraph that states: “Hysterectomies, sterilizations, and abortions are covered only when applicable Federal requirements are met.”

Another section with the heading “Non Covered Services and Procedures” includes a numbered list of things Georgia Medicaid won’t cover. Paragraph number 7 of this list begins with: “Experimental or investigational services, drugs or procedures which are not generally recognized by the Food and Drug Administration, the U. S. Public Health Service, Medicare and the Department’s contracted Peer Review Organization as acceptable treatment.”

The following list is representative of noncovered procedures that are considered to be experimental or investigational and is not meant to be exhaustive: “… transsexual surgery.”

Another section of the directive lists the kinds of outpatient procedures that are “Non-Covered Services” and includes “Cosmetic surgery or mammoplasties for aesthetic purposes.”

Taken together, these policies have more or less worked to systematically deny trans and GNC Georgians on Medicaid coverage for transition-related medical care. A lucky few may have doctors who can justify payment for transition-related care and procedures explicitly for reasons other than gender transition, but they are rare exceptions to the status quo.

Beginning with the passage of the Affordable 8 News August 3, 2018

Care Act (ACA) in 2010, however, the categorical denial of Medicaid coverage for transition-related services and procedures became illegal. Section 1557 of the law prohibits healthcare discrimination “on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, age, or disability in certain health programs or activities.” In 2016, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the federal agency most responsible for enforcing the non-discrimination language of the ACA, issued its Final Rule in regard to how the law protects against sex discrimination in general. In particular the Final Rule’s determination of what amounts to sex discrimination necessarily includes protection against discrimination on the basis of gender identity and sex stereotyping. It explicitly states that its definition of gender identity includes gender expression as well as transgender status.

The Final Rule also left open the possibility of protection based on sexual orientation.

Advocates and allies of the trans and GNC community rejoiced at the release of the Final Rule, though they knew that enforcement of the law was going to be a long, sustained struggle. Even in states where Medicaid is supposed to cover transition-related medical care, people still experience difficulties such as wrongful denials of coverage, and incorrect information on Medicaid cards like name or gender. Anti-LGBTQ organizations stir up outrage among the populace for coverage of GCS. Now, on top of all that, there is an administration occupying the executive branch of federal government that is actively hostile to any law that protects LGBTQ people and who are working to dismantle laws like the Affordable Care Act. Though they’ve been unsuccessful so far with outright

repeal of statutory protections, there’s an active campaign to undermine the law and end all enforcement activities regarding laws they deem politically incorrect.

Almost immediately after the Final Rule was issued, the reaction from anti-LGBTQ activists began with a lawsuit brought in the most conservative federal court possible — the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas — to stop the enforcement of the Final Rule. The result was a nationwide injunction against enforcement by the HHS of the Final Rule’s prohibitions against discrimination on the basis of gender identity and termination of pregnancy, in a decision in the case Franciscan Alliance, Inc. et. al. v.

Burwell. Even as we speak, this case is still being litigated and the administration is working, through the HHS, to issue new regulations regarding sex discrimination in medical care that are likely to repeal the Final Rule. Signs of what’s coming include the HHS Department of Civil Rights changing its own website, according to the National Women’s Law Center, regarding protections against sex discrimination in healthcare based on Section 1557, and withdrawing access to previously available training materials.

Nonetheless, there is a body of case law that fully supports the interpretation of the ACA that is consistent with the Final Rule as it exists now and that HHS cited as the justification for the Rule. That cases law includes landmark decisions such as Price Waterhouse v. Hopkins interpreting Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964’s prohibition against sex discrimination to include protection against sex-role stereotyping, as

well as decisions that conform interpretation of sex for the purposes of enforcement of the non-discrimination portions of Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 to the definition of sex in Title VII cases.

Taylor Brown, an attorney with Lambda Legal, wants to reassure people with a message of hope, saying that while the Texas decision is being reviewed by the 5th Circuit, other decisions in federal court, like Boyden v. Conlin in the U.S. District Court for the Western Circuit of Wisconsin, are reaffirming the protections in Section 1557 against discrimination based on gender identity. This case was brought by two transwomen who are state employees getting coverage through their state benefit plan.

According to Brown, “Individuals still have a private cause of action to assert discrimination based on Section 1557.” That’s why Lambda Legal is reaching out to trans and GNC folks in Georgia receiving Medicaid through its Georgia Medicaid Tracker (LambdaLegal.org/ Georgia-Medicaid) in order to ensure that the Georgia is following the law for each and every covered individual.

“We’re looking not just for individuals who have requested prior authorization for coverage of transition-related medical procedures and were denied, but individuals who are seeking prior authorization or who may want to seek prior authorization in the future for these services.”

She also wants to push the program to bring physicians into the state who are more qualified to provide transition-related medical care, so folks won’t have to go through the arduous process of getting approval for coverage for treatments from providers from out of state. www.thegeorgiavoice.com

In adults with HIV on ART who have diarrhea not caused by an infection IMPORTANT PATIENT INFORMATION This is only a summary. See complete Prescribing Information at Mytesi.com or by calling 1-844-722-8256. This does not take the place of talking with your doctor about your medical condition or treatment.

What Is Mytesi?

Mytesi is a prescription medicine used to improve symptoms of noninfectious diarrhea (diarrhea not caused by a bacterial, viral, or parasitic infection) in adults living with HIV/AIDS on ART. Do Not Take Mytesi if you have diarrhea caused by an infection. Before you start Mytesi, your doctor and you should make sure your diarrhea is not caused by an infection (such as bacteria, virus, or parasite).

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Mytesi (crofelemer): • Is the only medicine FDA-approved to relieve diarrhea in people with HIV • Treats diarrhea differently by normalizing the flow of water in the GI tract • Has the same or fewer side effects as placebo in clinical studies • Comes from a tree sustainably harvested in the Amazon Rainforest What is Mytesi?

Mytesi is a prescription medicine that helps relieve symptoms of diarrhea not caused by an infection (noninfectious) in adults living with HIV/AIDS on antiretroviral therapy (ART).

Important Safety Information Mytesi is not approved to treat infectious diarrhea (diarrhea caused by bacteria, a virus, or a parasite). Before starting you on Mytesi, your healthcare provider will first be sure that you do not have infectious diarrhea. Otherwise, there is a risk you would not receive the right medicine and your infection could get worse. In clinical studies, the most common side effects that occurred more often than with placebo were upper respiratory tract (sinus, nose, and throat) infection (5.7%), bronchitis (3.9%), cough (3.5%), flatulence (3.1%), and increased bilirubin (3.1%).

Should I Take Mytesi If I Am: Pregnant or Planning to Become Pregnant?

• Studies in animals show that Mytesi could harm an unborn baby or affect the ability to become pregnant • There are no studies in pregnant women taking Mytesi • This drug should only be used during pregnancy if clearly needed A Nursing Mother?

• It is not known whether Mytesi is passed through human breast milk • If you are nursing, you should tell your doctor before starting Mytesi • Your doctor will help you to decide whether to stop nursing or to stop taking Mytesi Under 18 or Over 65 Years of Age? • Mytesi has not been studied in children under 18 years of age • Mytesi studies did not include many people over the age of 65. So it is not clear if this age group will respond differently. Talk to your doctor to find out if Mytesi is right for you

What Should I Know About Taking Mytesi With Other Medicines?

If you are taking any prescription or over-the-counter medicine, herbal supplements, or vitamins, tell your doctor before starting Mytesi.

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For more information, please see the full Prescribing Information at Mytesi.com or speak to your doctor or pharmacist.

To report side effects or make a product complaint or for additional information, call 1-844-722-8256.

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• Upper respiratory tract infection (sinus, nose, and throat infection) • Bronchitis (swelling in the tubes that carry air to and from your lungs) • Cough • Flatulence (gas) • Increased bilirubin (a waste product when red blood cells break down) For a full list of side effects, please talk to your doctor. Tell your doctor if you have any side effect that bothers you or does not go away.

You are encouraged to report negative side effects of prescription drugs to the FDA. Visit www.fda.gov/medwatch or call 1-800-FDA-1088.

RELIEF, PURE AND SIMPLE

ATL LGBTQ HISTORY

(PHOTO COURTESY OF THE SPECIAL COLLECTIONS AND ARCHIVES, GEORGIA STATE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY)

From Whence We Came:

AN EXPLORATION OF LGBTQ ATLANTA HISTORY Berlin Sylvestre bsylvestre@thegavoice.com In 1846, you didn’t travel much at night — not in this town of 6,000 people.

Streetgangs and unemployed scoundrels waited for unsuspecting passersby in the thickets of darkness just off the patchwork of Marthasville’s dirt roads. Even well-meaning travelers in horse-and-buggy wouldn’t brave the blackness, for deep erosion holes routinely snapped their beloved beasts’ legs with a poorly placed step ruining, in the process, the thick, woolen clothing monied gentleman donned in those days. Smartly, one wouldn’t dare that riskiness Marthasville, the lean-to Southern city without street lamps or cobblestone roads, known a year later as Atlanta.

But it wasn’t tomfoolery alone that early Atlantans carried out in the darkest corners of our fledgling city. No, the concealing nature of darkness allowed for much more salacious, illegal, and highly sexualized goingson between men and women, even after the installation of 1855’s coal-burning street lamps.

There are some things for which even light and the gamblesome dance of on-again, off-again attention from authorities won’t hinder, even to this day. We shall revisit those very street lamps — now streetlights — and the effect the city tried to impart upon her more “craven” citizens later in our historical journey.

For now, let’s begin with an acknowledgement that the streets we travel on a near-daily basis (Piedmont, Cheshire Bridge, the Peachtrees,

10 Atlanta LGBTQ History August 3, 2018

and the likes) were once occupied by not only the well-to-do in their oft-tipping bowler caps and curtsying petticoats, but by soil-tilling slaves planning their ways out, and forsaken white mothers bouncing fatherless babies in their worried arms planning all the same alongside the dirt roads the more affluent upstanders were traveling via carriage.

Inequality has always held the deepest of roots in the Georgian soil beneath our feet, but bravery and gumption entangle therein, too.

When it comes to our LGBTQ ancenstors and activists of yore, one must never mistake that we’ve long woven our fury and fortitude into the dirt with blood, sweat, and generation upon generation of tears — clandestine and

behind megaphones at the Capitol alike.

There are many things General Sherman’s torches could never destroy, and our proud, LGBTQ populace comprises the most iridescent of phoenix feathers that epitomize the mythology-come-to-life of this town.

So please: Walk with us through the story of our beloved ashes-to-riches story and see if the spirits of our LGBTQ ancestors — those who shouldered the stalwart, unyielding, often life-threatening demands for change — perhaps lives on through the heart that beats within you today, for these qualities, dear reader, are from whence we came.

CONTINUES ON PAGE 11 www.thegeorgiavoice.com

ATL LGBTQ HISTORY 1826: The first known love letters

between two men here in the South come from 22-year-old law student Thomas Withers and future governor James Hammond.

Wrote the young Jeff: “I feel some inclination to know whether you yet sleep in your shirt-tail, and whether you yet have had the extravagant delight of poking and punching a writhing Bedfellow with your long, fleshen pole — the exquisite touches of which I have often had the honor of feeling.”

1944: Seeing the

popularity of women’s sports teams, other women — straight, bi, and lesbian alike — The Tomboys, a basketball team, joins the female fray of sportsters. They eventually branch out into softball to give The Lorelei Ladies a run for their money.

1946: We Atlantans

1913: Anthony Auriemma arrives

on the scene, the first known female impersonator. Anthony donned women’s clothing and paraded around Peachtree Street to protest the ban on men wearing women’s garb. He would, in 1924, become a Vaudevillian actor known as Francois Renault.

1918: Eight decades after her death, Dorothy Vogel’s daughter exposes her mother as an Atlantan lesbian in a tell-all, recounting her mother’s relationships with women in a series of photographs — photographs that would have damned her mother in the antihomosexual turn-of-the-century.

1937: The Atlanta Chamber of Commerce distributes a tongue-in-cheek

publication, Gay Atlanta. Who paid for the magazine? Ad revenue from the growing clique of local drag performers!

1939: With WWII

just underway, lots of ladies were left behind.

Left to their own devices, The Lorelei Ladies, a softball team, is formed. Word on the mound? Lots of hookups among the players was a good way to show you were a team player.

like to think that the first LGBTQ-friendly church in the city would be the First Metropolitan Church of Atlanta. For those, Bishop John Kazankts and George Hyde (a seminary school dropout) would like a word. Fed up with being shunned by their own churches, they formed the Eucharist Catholic Church, holding their meetings in the Winecoff Hotel (what we now know as The Ellis). There, they lead a congregation of 85 straight and gay parishioners. Not too bad for the 1940s.

1953: Using a two-way mirror in the bathroom of the Carnegie Library, the Atlanta Police Department busts 20 men for sodomy, then a felony. Their names, addresses, and places of employment are published in the Atlanta Constitution (the city’s morning paper) and the Atlanta Journal (our evening publication). The incident was labeled The Atlanta Public Library Perversion Case, and lead to 19 of the 20 being fired from their jobs. All of the men received no less than two years in prison and are heavily fined for “lewdness.”

1953:

Guy Dobbs, a female impersonator known as Terry Lynn, manages a club called the Queen of Clubs. Therein, he leads a drag troupe and brings in such performers as Bobbi La Marr and Billy Jones. “We’d run and hide in the furnace room, the beer cooler, in the ladies’ restroom,” Dobbs is quoted, concerning police bombardment of the joint. “We were scared to death, but never caught!”

1956: With a unanimous vote, Atlanta City Council votes to install more adequate lighting and police presence to deal with gay men using Piedmont Park to cruise for other gay men.

CONTINUES ON PAGE 12 www.thegeorgiavoice.com

August 3, 2018 Atlanta LGBTQ History 11

ATL LGBTQ HISTORY CONTINUED FROM PAGE 11

1957: Thomas Elliot wears sunglasses, a skirt, sandals, and a scarf at the

Atlanta airport. His next destination? Jail. He was arrested for disorderly conduct for his typically female attire.

1959: Another arrest for the disorderly conduct of wearing typically female clothing goes to Ralph Ferguson, who had the audacity to wear a green jacket with a bandana, plaid skirt, and shoes that were obviously too small into a theater.

1969: Activist Abby Drue, director of

the Ben Marion Institute for Social Justice, is entrapped in the August an APD raid of Andy Warhol’s “Lonesome Cowboys” at the Ansley Mall Mini Cinema. The raid is the catalyst for the Georgia Gay Liberation Front to form here, at a standing-room-only meeting at Emory’s New Morning Café in Emory Village. Berl Boykin, Steve Abbott, Bill Smith, and activist Vicki Gabriner are some of the founders of the GGLF. Bill Smith insists the group be called the GEORGIA GLF to encompass the entire state.

1972: The Atlanta Lesbian Feminist Alliance (ALFA) was founded. An American lesbian feminist organization, among the oldest in the country, it served as a breakaway from the Gay Liberation movement and the Atlanta’s Women’s Liberation Center.

1973: The Atlanta JournalConstitution fires Charlie St. John for distributing fliers for the next Gay Pride event.

This year, however, lots of attendees wore paper bags over their head in a show of solidarity to those who have been punished for the “crime” of being out and proud.

1974: The Atlanta Barb, the city’s first official longstanding gay publication hits the stands. Shortened to simply The Barb, the paper flies in the face of discrimination to draw attention to the plights of (and the small victories in) our local gay community.

1974: Charis Books and More opens in Little Five Points. Not only a community

center, it is the second longest-lived, continually operating independent feminist bookstore in the country.

1975:

Gay men aren’t manly? 1975’s inaugural Mr. Gay Atlanta, a pageant for the beautiful of physique, would beg to differ. The men competing were able to showcase the beefcake in casual, swimwear, and evening attire.

1976: Mayor Maynard Jackson

1971:

Though denied a permit to hold what was to be Atlanta’s first Gay Pride March, 125 attendees show up and chant with signs as they march along the city’s sidewalks downtown.

1972: Mayor Sam Massell appoints the firstever community liaison Charlie St. John, an archivist and journalism working for the Atlanta JournalConstitution.

12 Atlanta LGBTQ History August 3, 2018

1972:

Thanks to the Georgia Gay Liberation Front’s tenacity, the first official Gay Pride takes place in Atlanta.

1975: The legendary civil-rights

hero and Georgia Congressman John Lewis sponsors the first-ever bill for gays and lesbians in our state. To this day, he continues to be an advocate against discriminate for our community and can regularly be seen at LGBTQ events around Georgia.

1976: A monthly magazine geared

toward gay nightlife, Cruise Magazine hits stands.

1976: The Atlanta Gay Center is opened.

declares a Gay Pride Day for the city to be held on June 26. Not to be upstaged, Citizens For A Decent Atlanta — a Southern Baptist group — ran full-page ads in local publications decrying the mayor’s proclamation. FUN FACT: June 26, 2015 is when the Supreme Court of the United States legalized samesex marriage the law of the land in the landmark case, Obergefell v. Hodges.

1978:

Anti-gay activist and national celebrity Anita Bryant speaks at an anti-LGBTQ crowd as she plays host to the Southern Baptist Convention and its parishioners. The event, drawing a crowd of 4,000, is held at the Georgia World Congress center.

CONTINUES ON PAGE 14 www.thegeorgiavoice.com

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ATL LGBTQ HISTORY CONTINUED FROM PAGE 12

1978:

300 gay men in rafts and inner-tubes take to the Chattahoochee for the first-ever Hotlanta River expo.

1978:

Apparently feeling the pressure, Mayor Jackson chooses to rename Gay Pride Day something more Southern Baptist-friendly: Civil Liberties Day. Celebrants still called it Gay Pride Day, the heathens.

1984: The cause of AIDS is discovered: It’s a

retrovirus that would become known as the human immunodeficiency virus, or simply HIV. “[AIDS] meant the end of my sex life as I knew it because one has to reveal their status — that is, if he is a moral person.” – George H. Adams, then 87, in a 2004 interview with historian Wesley Chenault.

1985:

The first major celebrity dies of AIDS. The death of 59-yearold Rock Hudson shocks the world, as AIDS is mostly considered a “young man’s disease.”

1985: Congregation Bet Havarim, the first LGBTQ-welcoming synagogue, opens its doors.

1989: Taking his seat once again as

mayor of Atlanta after Andrew Young was voted out, Maynard Jackson becomes the first in his position to appear at Atlanta Pride.

1992: Emory University establishes its Gay and Lesbian Student Life office.

1979:

Over 10,000 Atlantans pack up in droves and head for D.C., where the National March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights was centered.

1992: After

1979:

A mysterious and sudden outbreak of Kaposi’s sarcoma and pneumocystis pneumonia is affecting a surprising amount of gay men in California.

These diseases are commonly found in the elderly, so the epidemic has hit the radar of the medical community in an alarming and confusing fashion.

1981:

The Atlanta-based Centers for Disease Control zeroes in on the strange disease and give it a name: GRID, which stands for Gay-Related Immune Deficiency. It’s also informally and callously nicknamed the “gay plague.”

1982: The CDC renames the mysterious illness taking scores of lives “AIDS,” now known as Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome. The rename comes from the fact that it’s not just a gay, male disease. Women, Haitian immigrants, and hemophiliacs — straight and gay alike, are contracting the disease.

1983: The very first Dyke March is held at Atlanta Pride.

1984: Three years into his office of Mayor of Atlanta, Andrew Young has been visibly absent from any gay and lesbian events. However, he gives his blessing and acknowledgment to Atlanta’s Gay and Lesbian Civil Rights Day.

1988:

Our predecessor, Southern Voice, begins its historic LGBTQ coverage of Atlanta and surrounding.

Cheryl Summerville, a Lithonia waitress, was fired from Cracker Barrel for being a lesbian, Congressman Barney Frank stepped in to lead a protest in her honor. Summerville was also the head of distribution for Southern Voice for many years.

1993: Fulton County is the first county in the state to issue an official Pride proclamation, joining Atlanta.

1988:

Our predecessor, Southern Voice, begins its historic LGBTQ coverage of Atlanta and surrounding.

1996:

Cobb County loses its bid to host the Olympics after area Christians against the LGBTQ community show disdain for the “promotion of the gay lifestyle.” Pat Hussain leads the effort to remove “Olympics Out of Cobb,” and succeeds.

1996: The Atlanta Gay and Lesbian Visitors Center gives the city an Olympics-worthy campaign to attract LGBTQ tourism to our welcoming city, starting with the games.

14 Atlanta LGBTQ History August 3, 2018 www.thegeorgiavoice.com

ATL LGBTQ HISTORY 1996:

Mayor Campbell orders first LGBT Visitor’s Center for the Olympics at Center Stage Theatre

1997:

1997: Cathy Woolard becomes the first openly gay official elected in Atlanta. She assumes a position on City Council.

Eric Rudolph, an extreme-right activist, bombs known lesbian bar and hangout The Otherside, injuring five.

Rudolph, who was found responsible for the deadly Atlanta Olympic bombings, also detonated explosives at an abortion clinic in Sandy Springs.

protecting our hearts can’t wait one more second.

1999: Kecia

Cunningham is elected to the Decatur City Commission, making her the first AfricanAmerican official to take up residence in that capacity.

2000:

Karla Drenner is welcomed as the first out lesbian in the Georgia General Assembly.

2002: The Atlanta Police Department cranks up its LGBT Liaison program and

appoints Officer Constance Locke to be the tie that binds our local police force with our local LGBTQ community.

2003: Fulton County becomes the first county in the state to pass domestic

partnership registration for county residents and municipal employees in same-sex relationships.

Everyone in Atlanta has the right to breathe smoke-free air.

We need your help to ensure their rights are protected.

LEARN MORE

2004:

In this year, the passage of a constitutional ban on same-sex marriage stymies the recognition of same-sex relationships by our state.

2005: The General Assembly passes a law which legalizes the ability of counties to establish domestic partnership benefits for county employees.

2007: The city-county government of Athens legalizes health benefits for

www.smokefreeatl.org @sftal

unmarried domestic partners.

CONTINUES ON PAGE 16 www.thegeorgiavoice.com

August 3, 2018 Atlanta LGBTQ History 15

ATL LGBTQ HISTORY CONTINUED FROM PAGE 15

2009:

A total of 24 APD members now infamously known as the Red Dog Unit barged into Ponce de Leon’s Atlanta Eagle and forced approximately 70 patrons to lay on the floor of the popular LGBTQ nightclub. They were then gay bashed and searched by the unit, eight of the searches resulting in arrests. The seemingly rogue unit attempted to justify their actions by arguing that the nightclub’s patrons were using drugs and engaging in public, sexual activity.

Of the accused, 28 fire back in a lawsuit that eventually shows that the unit not only violated their civil rights, encroached upon their right to legal search and seizure, and imprisoned them falsely, but also cravenly destroyed a mountain of evidence that would have easily had the case thrown out without much ado. In total, 35 members of the force (including supervisors) are publicly reprimanded. Additionally, a settlement of more than $1,000,000 is awarded to the victims of the gay witch hunt.

2012:

Mayor Kasim Reed issues a statement that declares his stance on LGBTQ issues is a favorable one, a first for a relatively new Atlanta mayor.

2015: Georgia recognizes all same-sex marriages, after the U.S. Supreme Court strikes down the federal ban.

2016:

With the help of a veto pen, Gov. Nathan Deal strikes down House Bill 757, legislation that made it through both bodies of our state government. The bill would have allowed state adoption agencies to deny children to same-sex couples on religious grounds.

2010:

In response to the discomposure of the Atlanta Eagle raid, two more LGBT liaisons are appointed to the APD: Officers Patricia Powell and Brian Sharp.

2010:

Simone Bell becomes the first openly lesbian African-American woman to be elected to the Georgia General Assembly.

2010:

The Georgia Voice makes its maiden voyage, becoming the vanguard of LGBTQ journalism that’s based in Atlanta, but with far-reaching coverage from local stories to pieces that affect the international community at large.

The semi-monthly brought along many of the staff from the now-defunct Southern Voice, including current owner and publisher of Georgia Voice Tim Boyd, Art Director Rob Boeger, former Southern Voice staff writers Dyana Bagby, former staffer Laura-Douglas Brown (both of whom later became editors of Georgia Voice), and former owner of Southern Voice Chris Cash.

2011:

House member Rashad Taylor comes out, becoming the first male, openly gay member of the Georgia House of Representatives.

2011: The Eleventh Circuit Court ruled in Glenn v. Brumby that firing someone

based on gender-nonconformity violates the Constitution’s prohibition on sex discrimination, giving trans and gender nonconforming employees legal protections in Georgia, Alabama, and Florida.

2016: Beloved drag performer Diamond Lil passes away at age 80. The Savannahborn song-and-dance legend was well-known in the community for singing (not lip syncing) during her shows. During her youth, she was harassed for being gender nonconforming in the 1950s South. Not only was she discharged from the National Guard, she was also arrested on numerous occasions for wearing women’s clothing.

2018:

The Senate passes SB 375, which calls for allowing private adoption agencies receiving state funds to deny adoptions for certain couples or individual parents based on sincerely held religious beliefs. It does not make it through the House.

2018:

Soon after taking office, Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms appoints an LGBTQ advisory board to help shape the city’s policies and engagements with Atlanta’s LGBTQ communities, and serve as a bridge between City Hall and LGBTQ residents.

SPECIAL THANKS TO THE SPECIAL COLLECTIONS AND ARCHIVES, GEORGIA STATE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY

But wait! There’s more. Atlanta historian Dave Hayward has written an additional timeline of events he lived through that’s ultra-comprehensive. Go to TheGaVoice.com and find his additions beneath this story. It’s a don’t-miss.

16 Atlanta LGBTQ History August 3, 2018 www.thegeorgiavoice.com

ATL LGBTQ HISTORY

Where the Girls Were

The Sports Page opened in the 1970s, and still holds reunions for the lesbians who regularly boogied the night away.

Conswella Bennett In the late 1970s, there was one Atlanta lesbian bar that left a lasting legacy on its patrons — The Sports Page of Atlanta.

The loud, bumping disco music of the time permeated the bar and lured women to the dance floor to do their ‘Sports Page Shuffle’ to “We are Family” by Sister Sledge. With a chuckle, Sandy Wilson, a regular at the Sports Page, recalls that ditty as one that got everybody on the dance floor.

“To this day, hearing that song on the radio will bring back a memory,” Sandy says. “I remember hitting that dance floor.”

She was there the night the club, located at 2069 Cheshire Bridge Road, opened. B.C., a local lesbian who owned it — along with other lesbian clubs in the city — purchased the larger building, an former seafood restaurant.

Sandy was friends with B.C., who also owned another lesbian bar she’d opened earlier in the 1970s — Towers Lounge on Forrest Road. Towers has been described as a small-hole-in-the-wall club space. According to Sandy, though, it was more of a biker bar. That night, Sandy recalls, she looked around the large club with a few people in attendance, and her initial thought was that the space was too big.

She remembers thinking that The Sports Page wouldn’t make it. She would be wrong.

“The Sports Page was the crème de la crème,” Sandy adds of the club that closed sometime in the 1980s. “I’ve been all over the United States, and I’ve never seen a club like it. It was family.”

Kathy Deibler, one of the club’s former DJs, cocktail waitress, and later manager of The Sports Page, agrees. “I miss the good old days,” she tells Georgia Voice. Her fondest www.thegeorgiavoice.com

In the 1980s, it “wasn’t cool to be gay.

People were shunned by their families or were still in the closet. My family was The Sports Page.

”

memories were being in the DJ booth, sometimes in some crazy costume, watching hundreds of women dancing to disco. the club that brought everyone together.

“The girls liked to bump and grind,” Kathy recalls of the decisions behind her nightly musical selections, with occasional rock hits making the rotation. The ladies came out and danced on one of the biggest dance floors in Atlanta. Kathy describes the floor as Plexiglas, with boxes around the floor highlighted in many-colored lights.

Besides the dancing, Kathy remembers the popular Wednesday night 25¢ Old Milwaukee beer nights that always brought in the crowd. They were almost always out of the beer special by 11pm. Tables were covered in the little 8oz. plastic cups, she says.

Although, Kathy moved out of state for a while, she would return to the club and serve as manager. During that time, she held a number of events to continue attracting the girls, such as mud wrestling and wet T-shirt contests. “We did a lot of things clubs don’t do now,” she adds. And, of course, there were the drag shows that everyone looked forward to.

Unlike today, both Sandy and Kathy recall fondly that, back then, there were different activities going on both inside and outside

“It wasn’t always about drinking,” Sandy says. She adds that they played on softball teams, played sand volleyball on a court put in behind the club, shared holiday dinners together, and did a number of activities outside the club.

“In the 1980s, it wasn’t cool to be gay,” Sandy says. “People were shunned by their families or were still in the closet. My family was The Sports Page.” She reminisces about the Thanksgivings, Easters, and other holidays with her Sports Page family. “We were all we had.”

Both Kathy and Sandy feel today’s generation doesn’t party like they used to do. Both speak of the long-time friendships that were made at The Sports Page. Like the infamous lesbian-connection chart from “The L Word,” there were hundreds of friendships made, some becoming relationships. Lasting or not, everyone seemed to remain connected via friendship.

“How many people can say they are friends with over 300 people, [having personally

known] them for over 35 years?” Sandy asks.

“You don’t have that now. I’m very grateful for those years, times, and friendships. The friends I have now are the friends I had in the 1980s.”

Those 300+ friends are a part of a closed Facebook group, The Sports Page. There, they reminisce about the good times at The Sports Page, update each other on recent news in their life, and sadly, where they find out about friends gone too soon.

To reunite as a family, Kathy initiated three Sports Page reunions. The first was held in 2010 at a former LGBTQ club in Tucker, the Stage Door. In 2011 and 2016, the reunions were held at their old stomping grounds, which is now Heretic Atlanta.

Sandy recalls of attending the 2011 reunion at the Heretic, “When I walked up to that door, the Heretic guys were standing at the door, and they said, ‘Welcome Home.’” Moved by the gesture, Sandy adds, “I was home.”

Plans are being made to hold a final reunion in October 2019 during Atlanta Pride.

Kathy said the plan is to return home to the Heretic for the final event.

August 3, 2018 Atlanta LGBTQ History 17

VOICES

Where We Intersect I’M A BLACK, STRAIGHT WOMAN WHO’S AN ALLY TO THE LGBTQ COMMUNITY AND I IDENTIFY WITH ITS STRUGGLES Elizabeth Hazzard The LGBTQ community has been shaken by extreme discrimination, beaten by unjust legislation, and riddled with the bullets of society’s cruel persecution, yet the community and its members stand taller and stronger than ever. Their pride solidifies them, allowing them to withstand the hatred they receive for simply being themselves.

Whereas the average person would cave under such pressure, they choose to defy the world and take back their right to define themselves rather than letting outsiders define them. What is there not to admire about such revolutionary pillars of strength and force?

There is no singular experience that made me an ally of the community — I simply see no reason NOT to be an ally of the community. As an African-American woman who’s had to fight the double battle of racism and sexism, I’ve never seen a reason not to tie the LGBTQ struggle with both the race struggle and the gender equality struggle. In my eyes, discrimination should either be condemned on all fronts or it shouldn’t be condemned at all — there’s no in between. If I can’t stand for LGBTQ equality then I can’t stand for women receiving equal pay, and if I can’t stand for that then I can’t stand for police targeting the black community. It’s not equality if everyone isn’t worthy of it.

I’ve witnessed the agony that typically follows

a coming-out story: isolation from family, segregation at school, and overall alienation from the whole of society. LGBTQ people are treated as outsiders, foreigners at every turn, and yet they persist, enduring separation from the people who are supposed to be closest to them and they adhere tightly to their values, for bending, breaking, and wavering are the things that this tough life teaches them never to do. As I watch them rage war against prejudiced viewpoints and challenge a government that attempts to steal their unalienable rights, I see them as boundary pushers, as justice warriors, as constraint breakers — and I salute them.

The most common weapon formed against them is the Bible. People preach that being with the same sex is a sin. To these sanctimonious people, I would encourage taking note of the millions of deaths within

the LGBTQ community, a result of pure hatred and targeted violence — useless carnage must be a much more harmful sin than samegender love. As stated best by Young M.A, a lesbian rapper who owns her sexuality with raw confidence, in her song “Kween:” They talk about me like they past perfect Like they present pretty, like they future flawless Like this world ain’t got drug addicts and alcoholics Rapists, robbers, dealers, murder, extortion Like me being gay is so fucking important I’m an ally of the community because I’m an ally of equality, of love, of life. We live on a planet that is literally tilted, so imagine if we somehow forced it straight: The whole of our existence would be disrupted. If we can accept an entire planet that isn’t straight, then surely we can accept people who aren’t either.

Once Upon A Time, There Was OutWrite Books Craig Washington There are a few remaining brick-and-mortar sites that hold memory in a senile city that rushes to pave its early queer paradise. Where 10th & Piedmont now sits, there was a once bookstore named Outwrite. “Atlanta’s gay and lesbian bookstore and coffeehouse” was founded by visionary Philip Rafshoon and opened on November 5, 1993 in Midtown Promenade. By 1996 — the same year Atlanta hosted the Olympics — the shop relocated to one of Midtown’s most popular intersections. Within a 1-mile radius of the new location, a string of gay establishments including the Armory, Loretta’s, and Backstreet were thriving. The venues that helped establish Midtown as a gay enclave would all be swept under the gay-sanitizing tide of regentrification, later followed by the Outwrite’s own demise. As in all whitedominated “gayborhoods,” people of color encountered racism of varied forms in Midtown — including lack of representation.

18 Voices August 3, 2018

PHILLIP RAFSHOON AT OUTWRITE BOOKS (PHOTO COURTESY OF THE SPECIAL COLLECTIONS AND ARCHIVES, GEORGIA STATE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY)

Some of my younger brothers reported being racially targeted by Outwrite staff for sitting in the lounge without making a purchase.

Despite such tensions, Outwrite maintained a diverse base and many black patrons felt welcome there.

What made Outwrite indispensable was its

unique functions. It began serving unmet needs at a time by which its community was ready to be so served. With the dawn of the nineties came a flourishing of LGBTQ writers, activists, and visibility.

Outwrite offered a place to find work by queer artists, enjoy performances, hold town-hall forums, and connect over coffee and bagels. Like its older sister shop Charis Books and More, Outwrite was a makeshift community center. Author events featured figures like James Earl Hardy, E. Lynn Harris, RuPaul, and Franklin Abbott, who otherwise may not have been as accessible to Southern audiences. This was particularly significant for black LGBTQ fans whose artists had less exposure. People from all parts Georgia and out-of-staters gathered to bask in such a welcoming space. Adodi Muse, the self-titled gay Negro ensemble performed there as did their writers’ collective. Among the signatures on the store’s signing wall, my favorite was Essex Hemphill’s humble autograph: “Thank

you for inviting me to your shop.”

In 2012, the venerated outlet closed its doors.

I have not yet fully gotten over it. I miss sipping coffee with Paris Eley or the aptly named John Speaks on the tiny corner porch.

I felt guilty for not doing more to raise the alarm when I thought there was still time. I resented our community for letting Outwrite wither, opting for convenience and Amazon. com discounts. In time, I came to understand that Outwrite endured long enough to live out its purpose. Its impact is manifest through today’s LGBTQ cultural outlets and meeting centers. With its rainbow flag perched in plain view above that unmistakable sign, Outwrite was a bright beacon of self acceptance and community investment like few before it.

For years, Outwrite served as the concluding landmark for the Pride Parade. Onlookers would crowd its festooned front to witness marchers take that final right turn onto 10th St. There was no place more fitting to cheer us on and welcome us home! www.thegeorgiavoice.com

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August 3, 2018 Ads 19

ACTING OUT

New Malaysian comedy-drama like a “Downton Abbey” set in Asia Jim Farmer When out actor Nico Santos — best known for his work on TV’s “Superstore” — finally got around to reading Kevin Kwan’s wildly successful 2013 novel “Crazy Rich Asians,” he knew he had to play the role of Oliver T’sien in the movie. He’s part of a rich ensemble in the new film version.

Nico’s friend was meeting with the director about possibly being in the movie, and called to tell him about Oliver. Nico wasn’t familiar with the book but when he discovered the character, he knew it would be perfect casting. “It said he was in his 30s, wears glasses, is gay, and loves fashion.

I said, ‘I need to play this part,’” says the actor. “I devoured the book and called my agent and told him he had to get me in for it.” Eventually, he got an audition and soon after got the role. Once he got the news, he was on a plane headed to Malaysia for a sixweek shoot.

“Crazy Rich Asians” is a comedy-drama about an Asian-American woman (Constance Wu) who meets her boyfriend Nick’s parents only to find that they’re one 20 Columnists August 3, 2018

DETAILS

“Crazy Rich Asians” Opens August 15 Metro Atlanta theaters

of the richest families in Singapore — and they are not keen of their son dating her.

Nico’s Oliver is Nick’s second cousin who works for an auction house in London.

Nico calls Oliver an outsider in his own family. “He is not as rich as other members of the family but he is trying to be in good graces with this group,” he says. “He does a lot of their bidding. He’s an errand boy who takes care of a lot of stuff for them.

Whatever the family needs, he helps them out. As someone who is a person of color and is queer who knows what being the outsider is like, that is who Oliver is.”

Some of the information about Oliver was included in the book but not in the film, but for the most part everything was there — including what Nico deems “the juicy stuff.” The book has spawned two sequels.

Though nothing was said about the sequels

when filming, the actor admitted he would certainly be game for them, fully aware of the book’s reach and appeal.

“I think it’s kind of why ‘Downton Abbey’ was so appealing to people. It’s a peek into the lives of these people that are so mysterious to the outside world. Stories of wealth and excess and glamor have always been popular, but this is set in the background of Asia and a lot of people just don’t know much about it. And there are so many universal themes in the book. I think that’s what’s resonating.

It’s really about finding love and acceptance and not feeling like an outsider. It’s not just an Asian story for an Asian audience.”

Born in the Philippines, Nico moved to the US with his family when he was 16.

He studied acting at Southern Oregon University and eventually moved into standup (including gigs on “Chelsea Lately”) and acting in Los Angeles. He is about to return for his fourth season on “Superstore.” It’s been a great experience for him. “I always thought I’d be playing small roles, and to be given this platform is incredible,” he says. “I get to play an openly queer Filipino immigrant character and you never see that on television.” www.thegeorgiavoice.com

EATING MY WORDS

The Battle of the Upper-Crusts Cliff Bostock The so-called Pizza Wars have been waging in Atlanta for about 10 years now. Although it’s entirely true that pizzerias like Varasano’s, Fritti, and Antico changed the game in town by bringing our city thin, tomato- and bufalabased Neapolitan pies baked in 1000-degree ovens Satan would envy, we also saw a great improvement in thicker New York- and Chicago-style pizzas. The wars got nasty when two pizzaioli (pizza makers) met on a street corner in Midtown and suffocated one another to death in a pizza-dough showdown that rocked the city for about seven minutes before critics led us to the next 34-minute favorite. (That’s a slight exaggeration.)

One of most recent pizzerias to join the combat is Firepit Pizza Tavern in Grant Park, in the new Larkin development (519 Memorial Drive). This is at least the third pizza joint within barely a mile. There’s old-timer Grant Central Pizza & Pasta on Cherokee Avenue, where I’ve eaten for years.

There’s also the new Your Pie, a cafeteria-like

newbie in the George apartment building on Memorial. Rumor is that a fourth pizzeria is opening, along with a zillion other restaurants in the exploding Memorial corridor. Firepit, whose main decorative feature is windows, is definitely targeting the area’s influx of younger residents with adventurous tastes.

Prices may look higher than usual at first, but everything is portioned for two or more.

What makes the restaurant unique? You can start with the celebrity owner, Leslie Cohen, a protégé of Richard Blais and winner of the Food Network’s “Cutthroat Kitchen.” Further, the talented executive chef is Shaun Whitmer from the defunct Ammazza (forced to close when two cars separately slammed through the front of its building). I loved Ammazza.

Firepit is also unique in that it doesn’t adhere to traditional starters. My favorite so far has been the cheapest ($6) — a take on Mexican-style street corn. Two cobs are halved, skewered, and rolled in a pesto mayo followed by another layer of parmesan and basil. It’s a great education in the natural

pairing of sweet and funkishly savory. I also loved the most expensive app ($12) — juicy slices of pork belly atop four oblongs of toast with goat cheese, basil, and a tomato jam that was, I admit, maybe a bit too sweet or heavily portioned. Nostalgia also rules. There are huge, curlicued pretzels to tear apart and plunge into melted cheese and beer. You can choose from four styles of chicken wings but I couldn’t resist the “unicorns” which turned out to be dry-rubbed after bathing in a Calabrian oil.

On to the pizzas. Cohen describes her pies as “Detroit-style.” This was a first for me. Wiki tells me they are normally cooked in rectangular pans, but Cohen uses round ones. The 12-inch specialty pies (about $20 each) are sliced into squares, although the outer pieces are of course small triangles. The peripheral crust is well browned; the bottom is slightly crisp. It’s all delicately chewy. I’ve tried two. My fave was

topped with spicy capicola, caramelized onions, Calabria peppers, fresh basil, and honey-tinged ricotta. I’ve also ordered a pie with goat cheese, prosciutto, lemon, arugula, and parmesan. For some reason, this pie came to the table much thicker than the other and the ingredients were somewhat lost in each bite. The arugula was lightly anointed — with the lemon, I presume — but I prefer mine dry and starkly peppery.

You can build your own pizzas, so don’t be scared of the fancier ingredients. There are also sandwiches. I tried one, a classic grinder, but it’s already off the menu. It deserved its fate; the squishy hoagie roll was no match for the ingredients. There’s a patio and a bar with an extensive beer and wine list. That helps, because you’re likely to wait awhile.

Cliff Bostock is a former psychotherapist now specializing in life coaching. Contact him at 404-518-4415 or CliffBostock@gmail.com.

DINING GUIDE TO ADVERTISE, CONTACT: JBRAMS@THEGAVOICE.COM

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August 3, 2018 Columnists 21

BEST BETS Our Guide to the Best LGBTQ Events in Atlanta for August 3-16 FRIDAY, AUGUST 3

The acclaimed lesbian-themed “Night Comes On” opens at Plaza Atlanta today, with various showtimes.

Written by out actor/director/playwright Colman Domingo, the play “Dot,” directed by Kenny Leon at his True Colors Theatre Company, is a comedy about aging parents and midlife crises in a Philadelphia neighborhood.

7:30pm tonight, running through August 12.

Southwest Arts Center

THURSDAY, AUGUST 9

Out of Box Theatre opens the play “Bat-Hamlet.” Bat-Hamlet tells the tale of a Dark Knight that emerges from betwixt the pages of Shakespeare to exact revenge on his murderous uncle, King Jester.

8pm Running through August 25 Out of Box Theatre

SATURDAY, AUGUST 4

Atlanta Prime Timers meets today at 3pm.

Phillip Rush Center Annex Come watch drag superstars at Saturday Night Sensations, starring Shavonna Brooks, Evah Destruction, Raquel Rea Heart, and Myah Ross Monroe.

11pm Midtown Moon

SUNDAY, AUGUST 5

Join Ruby Redd and crew and flashback to the 1980s for Cowtippers Heifer Review. This heifer-sized show will include all the dancing divas and campy queens that have become famous.

1–4pm Cowtippers Steaks & Spirits

MONDAY, AUGUST 6

Trans and Friends is a youth-focused group for trans people, people questioning their own gender, and aspiring allies, providing a facilitated space to discuss gender, relevant resources, and activism around social issues.

7–8:30pm Charis Books and More The PFLAG support group for parents and families of LGBTQ children meets today.

7:30–9pm Atlanta International School

TUESDAY, AUGUST 7

Following up on last year’s success, Bar Wars is back. Bar Wars is a friendly mixology competition between local bars/ restaurants to see who will raise the most a) online and b) through their tip jar, at the Bar Wars event. All proceeds benefit the AIDS Walk Atlanta & 5K Run.

22 Best Bets August 3, 2018

6–9pm Cowtippers Steaks & Spirits The Atlanta Dream host the Las Vegas Aces.

7pm McCamish Pavilion

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 8

At the 5th Something Old, Something New Bridal Show, you’ll find exactly what you need to make your wedding absolutely perfect. This is your chance to meet industry professionals from all around Atlanta, and find your perfect photographer, caterer, wedding planner, and more. Visit their beautiful building, enjoy complimentary food and drinks provided by their wonderful team of caterers, and walk away with a Something Old, Something New tote bag packed with wedding planning essentials.

Admission is free and complimentary valet parking will be provided.

5–8pm The Historic Academy of Medicine The fifth issue of gutwrench., an online, Atlanta-based literary magazine

known for compelling narratives and diverse voices, launches in August at GutwrenchJournal.com, and is having an event to mark this milestone. Come out tonight and enjoy original work from Atlanta area writers including Theresa Davis, Alayna Huft Tucker, Ellaree Yeagley, Knox Junior, Maddie Fay, and Myke Johns.

The event is hosted by Gina Rickicki of Naked City and Dad’s Garage Theatre Company.

8–11pm Highland Inn & Ballroom Lounge

THURSDAY, AUGUST 9

SAGE Atlanta’s bi-monthly meetings occur from 10:30am–1pm on the second and fourth Thursday of each month.

Phillip Rush Center Annex Join the Atlanta Pride Committee at the Bi Visibility Night. This event is a space for bisexual and pansexual folks to socialize and get to know one another.

Have any questions? Feel free to email Kimble@AtlantaPride.org.

6–9pm TEN Atlanta

FRIDAY, AUGUST 10

Join the Metro Association of Professionals (MAAP) the second Friday of each month for the It’s Friday – Mix, Mingle and Network session. This is a chance to leave work week behind and connect with other like-minded professionals over drinks, laughter, and good conversation.

Open networking begins at 6pm. First time guests have complimentary entrance.

TEN Atlanta Fourth Tuesday Atlanta hosts Happy Hour tonight from 6–9pm at Midtown Tavern.

Out of Box Theatre opens the play “Bat-Hamlet.” What if Shakespeare had conceived the melancholy Dane as a costumed crime fighter? Bat-Hamlet tells the tale of a Dark Knight that emerges from betwixt the pages of Shakespeare to exact revenge on his murderous uncle, King Jester.

Once resolved to avenge beloved King Police Commissioner Gordrick’s death, Hamlet dons the persona of Bat-Hamlet, a flashier and

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8pm Running through August 25 Out of Box Theatre Every Friday at midnight, it’s time to slip on those fishnets and makeup for the greatest live troupe in the city, Lips Down On Dixie, Inc., for a righteous party in front of the big screen for “The Rocky Horror Picture Show.”

Midnight Plaza Atlanta

SATURDAY, AUGUST 11

The High Museum of Art has opened the major touring exhibition “Outliers and American Vanguard Art.” The show brings together more than 250 diverse works by more than 80 trained and untrained artists, and includes sections and featured works by artists including Greer Lankton, Zoe Leonard, Forrest Bess, and Henry Darger that examine sexuality and gender. Together, the works on view offer an unprecedented overview of the profound impact of American self-taught artists on the evolution of modern and contemporary art over the past 100 years. They also reveal how these artists galvanized the mainstream art world to embrace difference and diversity across race, region, class, age, and gender.

12–5pm Running through September 30 The Atlanta Queer Literary Festival (AQLF) Book Club has chosen “Tales of the City” by Armistead Maupin as its reading selection for Summer 2018.

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THURSDAY, AUGUST 16

Aurora Theatre’s excellent version of the musical “Newsies,” adapted

by Harvey Fierstein, continues tonight.

8 pm, Running through September 2

3pm Ponce de Leon Branch Library

SUNDAY, AUGUST 12

Serenbe Playhouse and out director Brian Clowdus present the musical “Titanic” and will actually sink a ship each night.

8pm Running through August 19

Cameron Post” — directed by Desiree Akhavan, starring Decatur’s Chloe Grace Moretz, and winner of the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance — opens in Atlanta.

Midtown Art Cinema

MONDAY, AUGUST 13

Another acclaimed film based on a book, “We the Animals” — starring Raul Castillo from “Looking” — also opens today.

Midtown Art Cinema

TUESDAY, AUGUST 14

Don’t miss Halcyon live tonight at Eddie’s Attic.

7pm

Join CLIMAX Monday tonight from 7pm–3am at the Atlanta Eagle.

Enjoy free pool tonight and beats by rotating DJs at Bulldogs, which just celebrated its 40th anniversary.

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 15

Play “Let’s Make a Deal” with host Ken tonight at Friends Neighborhood Bar. 6–10pm

THURSDAY, AUGUST 16

Hosted by Brent Star, Game Night at My Sister’s Room feature no cover charge, food and drink specials, and plenty of games and festivities.

7pm Aurora Theatre’s excellent version of the musical “Newsies,” adapted by Harvey Fierstein, continues tonight.

8pm Running through September 2

UPCOMING FRIDAY, AUGUST 17

The acclaimed “The Miseducation of

WUSSY returns to The Heretic for a poptastic sugar sweet taste of Juicy Fruits featuring The Vixen from season 10 of “RuPaul’s Drag Race.” Wear your most colorful and bold neon pops of color for the dance floor and photo booth. The event is hosted by Taejah Thomas with shows by Dotte Comm, Orchid, Royal Tee, Taejah Thomas, Taylor Alxndr, Ellisorous Rex, Evah Destruction, and The Vixen.

10pm–3am Heretic Atlanta

SATURDAY, AUGUST 18

Join Charis in welcoming local author M. Jackson to kick off the new series of local author spotlights. Jackson is the author of the “Speechless” series, an omnibus of poetry featuring the already published “Speechless: #UneasyThoughts” and “Speechless: #NostalgicBliss” and two more upcoming books. Besides reading, Jackson will meet and greet patrons.

2–3pm Charis Books and More

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Suggestions of Sex: Subtle As A Sledgehammer Melissa Carter There is a time and a place for every lesson, and the other morning in the car was not the time.

My son, Mr. Carter, is a big fan of trains.

Large and small, real or from the Island of Sodor (where Thomas the Tank Engine lives), all he wants to play with or talk about or wear are trains. So it comes as no surprise that when he’s in the car and being entertained by my phone, it’s by videos on YouTube of trains.

The other morning he asked to watch videos of real trains on the way to Grandma’s, so I simply did a search of ‘steam trains’ and handed him the device before we left. If you are a frequent YouTube watcher, then you know for every video you watch there is a selection beside it of related videos. Thus, there would be several for him to choose from and satisfy his need during the half hour it would take to get to his MiMi’s house.

My phone’s Bluetooth is connected to my car, so the sounds from the phone echo from my speakers. That way I know exactly what he is watching and can hang up from my controls on any accidental phone calls he may make.

What was different about this particular morning was a familiar song that blared in my car immediately, “Sledgehammer” by Peter Gabriel. Not just once, but the beginning of the song played over and over. It was then I realized

26 Columnists August 3, 2018

that the ‘steam train’ search must have triggered the video for the aforementioned song, and he only wanted to see the stop-motion steam train circle around Gabriel’s head.

Admittedly, I had a mix of emotions as the song played and I mouthed along to the lyrics.

On the one hand I was nostalgic to this highschool-era hit that I had heard and danced to many times. On the other, knowing the song well enough to understand what Mr. Gabriel was talking about, and knowing the video had at least one suggestive feature, I was a little uncomfortable exposing my child to it so young. But I also never want to be that parent who overreacts to the things a kid has no concept of, so I continued to pantomime along until we got to our destination.

Another realization that this particular morning provided me was the amount of people who enjoy music but never listen to the lyrics — such as anyone currently questioning why “Sledgehammer” is a questionable song.

Even I understood in the 80s what the man was getting at, but it seems many adults thought he was simply talking about trains and planes and industrial tools. I discovered this after relaying the Mr. Carter story to my friends, several who fit the naive category. I just encourage these ladies to remain at my son’s awareness level and not worry about laying down their tracks or their fruit cakes. It’s just number cars bumping.

One of the first out radio personalities in Atlanta, Melissa’s worked for B98.5 and Q100. Catch her daily on theProgressive Voices podcast “She Persisted.” Tweet her! @MelissaCarter www.thegeorgiavoice.com

VOICES

PEDRO ZAMORA OF “THE REAL WORLD”

LGBTQ-TV: A History of Television and Queer Culture Conner Emery From black-and-white screens the size of our middle fingers, to wall-sized screens so big that you can see every wrinkle and imperfection on the face of [insert your least favorite politician, newscaster, or reality-TV star here], television has been a huge part of pop culture, and therefore our lives.

So naturally, it only makes sense that the LGBTQ community has been represented on the boob tube over the years, more and more as time has gone by. From GLAAD’s most recent annual report, “Where We Are on TV,” there were a total of 86 regular and recurring LGBTQ characters on primetime TV across the five major broadcast networks (ABC, CBS, The CW, FOX, and NBC).

This number was up from the previous year and has been climbing steadily year by year.

So how did we get here?

The earliest examples of queer culture being honestly and not mockingly represented through stereotypes in television starts in the 1970s. Major moments from that decade include the 1972 ABC TV movie, “That Certain Summer,” in which a recently divorced father must hide his relationship with his lover (played by “Grace and Frankie” star Martin Sheen) from his teenage son. The movie is considered one of the first realistic and sympathetic depictions of gay people on television.

Another example in the 1970s comes from one of the more popular sitcoms of the www.thegeorgiavoice.com

decade, “The Jeffersons.” In a Season 4 episode airing in 1977, George Jefferson reunites with his old Army buddy Eddie.

However, Eddie is now a transgender woman named Edie (clever). Two years prior to that episode, Norman Lear, the man who created a boom in 70s sitcoms, including “The Jeffersons” and “All in the Family,” had one of the first gay couples in television in a short-lived show called “Hot 1 Baltimore.”

The next boom in LGBTQ culture and television took place in the 1990s. At this point, these people weren’t just a rare hot ticket to bring out for ratings in guest roles — they were the stars of the shows. Ellen Degeneres coming out on her show drew over 40 million viewers, and after 84 Emmy nominations and a reboot today, “Will and Grace” is one of the most popular shows to air in the past 20 years.

With the boom of reality TV in the late 1990s, audiences fell in love with reallife people like Pedro Zamora. Zamora, a member of the third season of “The Real World,” became one of the first public faces who were HIV-positive and committed to his boyfriend in the first same-sex ceremony on television.

The best part about all this is that we’re only getting more and more progressive on television. The stuffy old TV executives are understanding that this is where the eyes are going. And with the rise of streaming services and mega popular shows like “Orange is the New Black” and “Transparent,” the sky’s the limit on where television goes from here.

August 3, 2018 Voices 27

RETURN TO FALL September 14–16, 2018 Featuring dance visionary Jiří Kylián’s Return to a Strange Land, a world premiere by rising Brazilian choreographer Ricardo Amarante & a special performance by Czech National Ballet.

Visit atlantaballet.com for tickets.

Groups of 10+, email groupsales@atlantaballet.com for assistance.

Jessica Assef. Photo by Rachel Neville.