10/16/15, Vol. 6 Issue 16

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GEORGIANEWS

Atlanta Black Gay Uprising takes root Movement to empower Atlanta’s black LGBT community sparked

by Blake’s dress code incident

By PATRICK SAUNDERS psaunders@thegavoice.com As director of Love Under Fire, Atlanta LGBT activist Branden Mattox worked to advance the cause of marriage equality in Georgia. Coincidentally, just a few weeks after the U.S. Supreme Court decided that matter, another event led Mattox to form a brand new movement.

The event in question was the discovery of a new dress code at popular Atlanta gay bar Blake’s on the Park on July 9. The dress code included restrictions like “No hoodies,” “No sagging pants,” “No bandanas/dew-rags” and “No oversized chains or medallions,” language that many in the community took as being racially motivated. Blake’s management took the sign down after an uproar in the community, but the wariness remained.

Now Mattox has partnered with others to start Atlanta Black Gay Uprising, with initiatives underway to get black LGBT-owned businesses off the ground and to honor black LGBT Atlanta history via an awards ceremony.

Shifting focus from interdependence to independence After the Blake’s incident in July, Branden was sure of one thing.

“My first response was that this should not be just about Blake’s on the Park, because I knew in my experiences with our community that we are very reactive,” Mattox tells Georgia Voice. “Something happens, we get excited, we get stirred up and then that passion and energy quickly burns off. Then we, in short order, return back to business as usual.”

Mattox and Gee Session-Smalls, co-founder of The Gentlemen’s Foundation and the one who discovered the dress code sign and posted it to social media that July evening, consulted with Georgia Equality executive director Jeff Graham about a constructive response to the issue of racial division in Atlanta’s LGBT community.

Branden Mattox was moved to start Atlanta Black Gay Uprising after the dress code sign incident at Blake’s on the Park in July. (Photo by Patrick Saunders)

“We need to stop looking for those gay people who are not black to be able to solve our problems. Yes, there are those who are out there who have tried to help solve our problems and I commend them but if you need a steak cooked a certain way, you’ve got to cook it yourself.”

—Branden Mattox While Mattox lauds Graham’s efforts in particular, overall he did not see the progress he hoped to achieve on the issue. So he started putting more effort into independence rather than interdependence, i.e. focusing on building up the black LGBT community in Atlanta instead of trying to bring together the black LGBT community with other races.

“We need to stop looking for those gay people who are not black to be able to solve our problems. Yes, there are those who are out there who have tried to help solve our problems and I commend them but if you need a steak cooked a certain way, you’ve got to cook it yourself,” Mattox says.

Hence, Atlanta Black Gay Uprising,

which Mattox makes a point to say is a movement and not an organization.

Venue, Atlanta black LGBT history awards in the works Mattox is aware of the reactions people have to the word “uprising” and realizes people will think the movement is a militant or violent one. Not so, he says, calling it more of a creative, nonviolent uprising.

One of the initiatives is The Baldwin Project, named after the late black gay writer James Baldwin. Mattox’s goal with the project is to put together a funding network to get black LGBT-owned businesses off the ground in Atlanta.

He is almost done putting together a board of directors for the project, and they had their first event on Oct. 15, a book club called the Success Society Book Club of Black LGBT Atlanta, which focuses on motivational and business books. “[The book club] is so we can condition our minds for enterprise, because that’s important,” Mattox says. “I think that it provides a demonstration to black gay people in general that we can start our own businesses, that we can support one another and practice group economics.”

Miko Evans, founder and CEO of talent agency and production company Meak Productions, is putting together an awards ceremony that will honor Atlanta’s black LGBT history.

And Chris Ford, a local black gay promoter, has started a crowdfunding effort to create a venue for Atlanta’s black LGBT community.

By day the venue, which will be called Future Unlimited, will be a space for group meetings, HIV/AIDS testing and counseling, a drop-in center for LGBT youth of color, book clubs, business workshops, and more. By night it will be a space for wedding ceremonies and receptions, designer exhibitions and shows, viewing parties and premieres, private social groups and meet and greet singles nights.

Holding out hope of healing racial divisions But while the Atlanta Black Gay Uprising movement will focus solely on building up Atlanta’s black LGBT community, Mattox says he hasn’t completely given up on healing the racial divisions within the city’s LGBT community, especially considering the expected fight to come over a so-called “religious freedom” bill and other troubling bills in next year’s legislative session.

“We’re all in the same community. It’s about reaching into our community and what we are together as a multicultural people who, if for no other reason than being gay and the experience of being oppressed, have found a reason to come together,” he says.

“Outside of the experience of the LGBT community you don’t see that happening.

That’s the opportunity for us to do something different and we have been failing at that opportunity here in Atlanta.”

4 News October 16, 2015 www.thegeorgiavoice.com

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GEORGIANEWS

Passing the torch one LGBTQ student at a time Point Foundation brings in famed LGBT activist for one-night-only performance

The Point Foundation

By The Numbers

2000

Applicants who applied for the 2015 scholarship

By PATRICK SAUNDERS psaunders@thegavoice.com The nation’s largest scholarship-granting organization for LGBTQ students continues to expand its footprint in Atlanta, and as part of that, it is bringing in famed civil rights activist David Mixner for a one-night-only benefit performance of his critically acclaimed “Oh Hell No!” on Oct. 29 at the Woodruff Arts Center.

The Point Foundation was founded in 2001 and provides not only scholarship money, but also mentorship, leadership development and community service training for LGBTQ students of promise.

Atlanta financial planner Louis Gary is a Point Foundation board member who helped form a local program for the group two years ago. His involvement stemmed from his and his longtime partner’s approach into semi-retirement and the battles yet to be fought after the U.S. Supreme Court struck down samesex marriage bans nationwide in June.

“When we are at this point in our development in equality, some of us need to put down the signs and the torches and pass them along to a highly educated group of individuals that are going to take those charges and move forward,” Gary tells Georgia Voice.

Mixner wanted to be part of passing that torch, having logged 50 years as a civil rights and anti-war activist. Newsweek once called him “the most powerful gay man in America.”

His performance of “Oh Hell No!” will be an evening of storytelling from a life in activism.

“I’ve always believed that if we believe we have no history, then we really feel like we come out of nothing. And far from not having a history, we have one of the most extraordinary histories of any community around,” Mixner says. “Unfortunately, most of our storytellers died of AIDS. Most of our mentors died of AIDS. So I’m trying to reawaken an interest in those stories, I’m trying to raise money for scholarships and also to make sure that those who are not here are not forgotten.”

36

Scholarship recipients chosen out of that group

85

LGBT activist David Mixner (left) will present a theatrical oral history on LGBT rights in an Oct. 29 fundraiser for the Point Foundation, which recently awarded a scholarship to Atlanta native Dani Planer (right).

Details

David Mixner’s ‘Oh Hell No!’ Thursday, Oct. 29, 2015 at 7 p.m.

Woodruff Arts Center—Hill Auditorium Student tickets: $35 General Admission: $75 VIP Tickets (includes admission to after party): $150 www.pointfoundation.org/ davidmixneratlanta Atlanta student one of 2015’s Point Scholars Dani Planer is one such student who is benefiting from being named a 2015 Point Scholar. Planer, who identifies as transmasculine and prefers they/them/their pronouns, is a graduate of Atlanta’s The Galloway School and an advocate for transgender rights. Among other things, they helped designate an all-gender restroom option at the school, raised awareness about nonbinary and transgender issues within the academic community and led solidarity campaigns.

Planer has combined their passion for social justice with an artistic side, using writing, poetry and critical essays to advocate for trans-

gender rights. They did not expect to make it far when they first applied for the Point Foundation scholarship. But despite their concerns after submitting personal essays that they felt pushed things too far, Planer kept passing through to further rounds in the process.

“It was this feeling of being like, people are really getting what I am trying to say even though I didn’t think it would make much sense to anyone but me,” says Planer, who started their freshman year at Mount Holyoke College in Massachusetts this fall.

“I felt really privileged and really shocked.

I was just really excited to know that I’m going to interact with people I met [through the Point Foundation] and have a mentor when I go to college. I would have this whole community before I even get there, which is a really great feeling.”

Country singer, Broadway performer join Mixner Mixner came up with the idea for “Oh Hell No!” after falling critically ill a year and a half ago. Doctors gave him an 8 percent chance of getting out of the hospital.

“I realized that I had many stories that I hadn’t shared with the next generation about our struggle, especially from 1976

Current Point Scholars

214 Point Alumni

$18M

Amount of money directed to scholarships and programs serving scholarship recipients since the organization’s founding in 2001 when I came out to 1996 with DOMA and I thought it was very important to, in an entertaining way, present the information so that they would understand that they came out of something extraordinary,” he says.

But while he was more than accustomed to giving speeches, putting on a performance like this was an entirely different endeavor.

“It’s a huge change of pace and I was scared shitless,” he says. “But the cast and I met beforehand and said, ‘You know what? If it works, it works, but if it doesn’t, we’ve raised the money.”

It worked. Shows sold out in New York and L.A. and they received rave reviews.

Mixner will be joined by lesbian country singer Chely Wright and Broadway performer Chris Bolan (“Mamma Mia”) at the Atlanta show, and will follow that up with another performance in Chicago next month.

6 News October 16, 2015 www.thegeorgiavoice.com

GEORGIANEWS

4th annual Gentlemen’s Ball goes ‘Beyond the Masks’ Annual ball is challenging perception of black gay men through advocacy, mentoring and style

Details

By DARIAN AARON daaron@thegavoice.com

The Gentlemen’s Ball Oct. 31, 2015 Atlanta Marriott Marquis 6-11 p.m.

Tickets: $125–1,750 TheGentlemensFoundation.org

Halloween has just gotten sexier. The fourth annual Gentlemen’s Ball will take over Atlanta’s Marriott Marquis on Oct. 31 for a lavish black-tie gala. It has quickly become one of the hottest events of the year for black gay Atlanta.

The Gentlemen’s Ball is the creation of event planners and husbands Juan and Gee Session-Smalls. It is the signature event for their Gentlemen’s Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to the healthy development of gay and bisexual men of color through support, empowerment and mentoring.

Gee Session-Smalls tells Georgia Voice that the ball has completely evolved away from the couple’s initial concept.

“The original idea was to have a second-chance prom for the LGBT community,” he says. “However, after we came up with its name it quickly evolved into an event that celebrated the true gentleman, which we believe is a man that is confident in himself, generous in his giving and proud to stand tall in his truth.”

This year’s ball, appropriately themed, “Beyond the Masks,” will be co-hosted by Cynthia Bailey of The Real Housewives of Atlanta and by television host Karamo Brown. Audiences may remember Brown as the first openly gay black man on MTV’s The Real World. He returns for a second year as co-host.

A single father, model, and pop culture expert, Brown tells Georgia Voice that he agreed to participate this year after witnessing firsthand the work of The Gentlemen’s Foundation.

“I saw the impact the first year had on individuals’ lives,” says Brown. “And when you see that type of impact, you want to be a part of that again because you see that you’re effectively creating change and moving the conversation around what it

Session-Smalls is adamant about changing the experiences of young gay men of color who are at greater risk for depression and suicide.

“It’s so important for us to take what we’ve learned and share it with young men so that they don’t have to experience what we did,” he says.

“When we were growing up we did not have anyone that we could look up to, seek guidance from or simply embrace us for who we were.”

“It’s great to get dressed up to get involved, but it’s about the work that you’re doing day in and day out,” says Brown.

“That’s really where effective change happens. And The Gentlemen’s Foundation mentoring program is inspiring young men on an every day basis.”

The inspiration will continue at The Gentlemen’s Ball as LGBT leaders, straight allies and emerging voices in the black gay community are recognized with various awards throughout the evening.

Congressman John Lewis will receive the Gentleman of Alliance award, a new award added this year to honor LGBT allies. “Blackbird” director and creator of gay television series “Noah’s Arc,” Patrik-Ian Polk, will receive the Gentleman of Excellence Award. Vaughn Alvarez and Derrick Tillerson complete the list of honorees in the Gentleman of Promise and Gentleman of Service categories.

“It’s extremely important to give our own the chance to showcase their art,” says Session-Smalls. We’ve also added the Gentleman of Artistry award in which the winner will be decided by the fans and will not only be awarded, but will have the opportunity to perform live at the ball.”

According to Session-Smalls, this year’s masquerade-themed ball is one not to be missed.

“We learn from our mistakes with each ball and that makes us better. We hope our guests will leave inspired, motivated and amazed, but most of all enriched.”

www.thegeorgiavoice.com

Co-founder Juan Session-Smalls embraces an attendee at the 2014 Gentlemen’s Ball.

(File photo)

“We want to help transform how society perceives gay men of color. We want to help show our youth that you can be a proud gay man and there is nothing to be ashamed of.”

—Gee Session-Smalls, event planner of ‘The Gentleman’s Ball’ means to be black, gay, bisexual, or same gender loving.”

Guests attending this year’s ball will be treated to a decadent three-course meal, complimentary cocktails, networking, and music provided by DJ Richie Skye. Atlanta native and R&B singer Algebra Blessett will also perform during the evening. But Brown believes it’s the love that permeates the event that is its biggest draw.

“You’re going to feel immense amounts of love when you walk into the room.

People are laughing, dancing, the music, the food, everything is jovial and it makes you feel good about being alive,” he says.

“You’re going to walk away feeling better about who you are and about the strides

you’ve made in your life.”

Party with a purpose A key component of The Gentlemen’s Foundation and The Gentlemen’s Ball is mentoring gay and bisexual youth through their “mPact2” (Men Practicing, Affirming, and Celebrating Their Truth) mentoring program. The program focuses on promoting the spiritual and mental well-being of minority youth ages 18–25 through leadership and educational development.

“We want to help transform how society perceives gay men of color,” says Session-Smalls. “We want to help show our youth that you can be a proud gay man and there is nothing to be ashamed of.”

October 16, 2015 News 7

HEALTH ALERT

By MELANIE THOMPSON

The time to act is now!

This is our time. The time to end the AIDS epidemic in our community is now.

Now we have effective treatment capable of preventing progression to AIDS in people with HIV, often allowing them to live a normal lifespan. Now we have the tools to vastly decrease new HIV infections through effective treatment of people who have HIV (treatment is prevention) and combination prevention strategies including pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) for those who do not.

And now we have a blue ribbon task force on HIV/AIDS to provide transparency, leadership, and a Strategy to End AIDS in Fulton County. The question is no longer, “Can we do it?” but “Will we do it?”

Our answer has been disappointing thus far. Finally, it is time to say, “Yes, we can and we will!” And we must say it in unison, as a community. Will you be part of that voice?

On World AIDS Day 2014, Fulton County Board of Commissioners Chairman John Eaves and Commissioner Joan Garner participated in an event at which they heard that Atlanta’s young black gay and bisexual men are infected with HIV at rates similar to parts of Africa. They also heard that, as of that date, metro Atlanta ranked first nationally in its rate of new HIV diagnoses, and that, after 30 years, we still have no coordinated strategy to attack this problem.

Commissioner Garner asked, “What can Fulton County do?” The response was, “Take leadership.” And Chairman Eaves responded, “We will do it.” Two weeks later, they led the Board of Commissioners in creating the Fulton County Task Force on HIV/AIDS. This sentinel moment marked the first time that elected officials have taken concrete action to seriously address our epidemic.

The Task Force adopted as its primary mission to create and oversee the implementation of a “Strategy to End AIDS in Fulton County.” The Task Force adopted the overall goals of the 2020 National HIV/AIDS Strategy as the key goals of the new Fulton Coun8 Health News October 16, 2015

“The HIV/AIDS epidemic has plagued metro Atlanta, including Fulton County, for far too long. We have lost too many, and continue to see too many suffer needlessly.” ty strategy. These goals are to: Reduce new HIV infections Increase access to care and improve health outcomes for people living with HIV � Reduce HIV-related disparities and health inequities � Achieve a more coordinated local response to the epidemic � �

With input from colleagues in New York, Chicago, San Francisco, and elsewhere, the Task Force has created a plan to accomplish this work.

But the Task Force cannot be successful without robust community engagement and input. The Community Engagement Plan will evolve, but initially includes an online Community Input Survey to solicit recommendations for Strategy Objectives, and a series of four Community Listening Sessions to facilitate direct feedback to the Task Force in October and November. The survey is now available at www.surveymonkey.com/r/HNYD87X. The HIV/AIDS epidemic has plagued metro Atlanta, including Fulton County, for far too long. We have lost too many and continue to see too many suffer needlessly. Now we have a chance. Will we take it?

Melanie Thompson, MD is principal investigator of the AIDS Research Consortium of Atlanta (ARCA) and Chair of the Prevention and Care Committee of the Task Force.

Contact the Task Force directly at fchatf.gov@gmail.com www.thegeorgiavoice.com

Transgender actress Carmen Moore stars as ‘Felixia’ in a scene from ‘Drunktown’s Finest.’

NEWSBRIEFS Bisexual Atlanta filmmaker’s documentary premieres on PBS “Breaking Through: Out of the Closet, Into the Halls of Power,” a documentary about LGBT politicians made by a bisexual Atlanta filmmaker, received major exposure on Oct. 6 and during an encore presentation on Oct. 11 on PBS. “Breaking Through” director, writer and producer Cindy Abel started work on the project in 2010 after a rash of suicides caused by anti-LGBT bullying.

“We wanted to show that regardless of the barriers that seem to be in our way—sexual orientation, gender identity, race, poverty, addiction, homelessness, gender—any of those things that we think are going to prevent us from being something that we really want to be, those are all surmountable,” Abel tells Georgia Voice. “And it was a way of letting people know that if we’re willing to do the work and do what it takes, we can live open, authentic lives that are also full of love and very fulfilled.”

Abel isn’t the only Atlanta connection to the film, with a big chunk of screen time going to Atlanta City Councilman Alex Wan, plus interviews with Fulton County Commissioner Joan Garner, former Decatur Mayor Pro-Tem Kecia Cunningham and state Rep. Karla Drenner (D-Avondale Estates). www.thegeorgiavoice.com

Other LGBT politicians featured include U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wisconsin), Houston Mayor Annise Parker, former U.S. Congressman Barney Frank and many more.

Atlanta rainbow crosswalks become a reality just in time for Pride A crew of painters took over the intersection of 10th and Piedmont on Oct. 8 to bathe the crosswalks in the colors of the Pride flag, making the Atlanta Rainbow Crosswalks project a reality.

The project’s founder, Robert Sepulveda Jr., was on hand to paint a ceremonial stripe before the painters took over, working all night to finish the assignment. While the rainbow crosswalks will need to be removed

by Oct. 16, Sepulveda’s goal is to eventually make them permanent.

A sum of $44,000 was raised for the project via donations from the community, which has led to some criticism from those who believe the money could have been better spent on other LGBT causes—the most frequently mentioned potential recipient being LGBT homeless youth organization Lost-N-Found Youth.

Case closed: Georgia’s same-sex marriage lawsuit is history It took some time and some negotiating,

but it’s finally official: the case is closed on the federal class action lawsuit challenging Georgia’s same-sex marriage ban.

Many Georgians might have assumed that had already happened following the June 26 decision by the U.S. Supreme Court striking down same-sex marriage bans nationwide, but there was still some vital housekeeping to do.

Judge William Duffey asked the plaintiffs and defendants to file a joint status report by Sept. 15 with their decision, and after some discussions between the two, Lambda Legal was able to get them to agree to an entry of final judgment.

‘Drunktown’s Finest’ returns for special engagement The 2014 Sundance Official Selection and Out on Film jury award-winning film, “Drunktown’s Finest,” returns for a special engagement at 7 p.m. on Oct. 20 at Movies ATL. Lesbian filmmaker Sydney Freeland’s story of three young Native Americans striving to escape the hardships of life on an Indian Reservation—a rebellious father-tobe, a transgender woman and an adopted Christian girl, has garnered critical acclaim.

A portion of the proceeds will benefit The Trans Justice Funding Project. Tickets can be purchased online at fandango.com.

October 16, 2015 News 9

Outspoken “The personal self-doubt and the questions from critics were at times so similar it was hard to decipher the true opposition. Who do you think you are? What are you trying to prove? Those questions lived in my inbox and often came from the very group of people I was committed to uplifting through my work.”

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Editorial

Editor: Darian Aaron daaron@thegavoice.com Deputy Editor: Patrick Saunders psaunders@thegavoice.com Editorial Contributors: Melissa Carter, Jim Farmer, Vandy Beth Glenn, Shannon Hames, Bill Kaelin, Ryan Lee, Charles Stephens, Simon Williamson

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Business

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10 Outspoken October 16, 2015

Activism 2.0 Out front, out loud, online

By DARIAN AARON daaron@thegavoice.com “We all have a voice, it’s just up to us individually whether or not we choose to utilize it.”

I’ll never forget that advice or the person who gave it to me. It’s not by accident that the first time my thoughts were ever published or the moment I decided to use my voice involved activist and author Keith Boykin. “It All Started with Keith,” was the headline I wrote on the morning of May 25, 2006, on “Living Out Loud with Darian” (loldarian.blogspot. com), an LGBT news and social commentary blog I ran until 2011. I didn’t have a clue what I was doing in the beginning or how each published post would impact my life and the lives of those reading. I did know that much of the LGBT content I read online at the time appeared to have little to no interest in reflecting life as I experienced it. There was a void. So I started writing, and I’ve never stopped.

In hindsight, that has always been my modus operandi: don’t wait for others to do what you’re more than capable of doing. Stand up and speak out, now. I have no doubt that with every word I typed my subconscious was whispering, actually more so shouting these exact words of encouragement, especially on days when my spirit was depleted and my intentions were questioned. I was becoming a “digital activist,” and I quickly discovered

that activism in its various capacities comes with a price.

I wasn’t warned about the necessity of exercising self-care in the midst of struggle or else risk burning out prematurely. I must have walked away from my digital activism at least a half dozen times over the five years my blog was fully active.

The personal self-doubt and the questions from critics were at times so similar it was hard to decipher the true opposition. Who do you think you are? What are you trying to prove? Those questions lived in my inbox and often came from the very group of people I was committed to uplifting through my work. That was a hard pill to swallow, but I had to continue. After all, I was absolutely clear that it wasn’t about me, but about the unknown same-gender-loving person receiving the message that his life was affirmed and worthy to be celebrated and not denigrated.

I’d almost convinced myself that I no longer needed the same affirmation until all of those unknown unique visitors began to have names and stories of their own.

“I think your celebration of love is truly radical and the beginning—or perhaps continuation—of an essential change. Thank you,” a reader wrote in 2011 after the release of my coffee table book highlighting same-genderloving couples in long-term relationships.

“Darian, you speak for people who have no voice, have had their voices stolen, have given their voices away, have lost their voice, and/or have not found their voice. This is

why YOUR voice is so important,” another reader wrote in 2006.

It’s funny how inspiration is a two-way street.

While some in the community were working diligently to derail my efforts, there were twice as many who were inspired and inspired me in the process. The writer of the last quote was the late Atlanta gay minister and activist Paris Eley.

God, I miss him. But it’s through his life and the example set by others such as Boykin, E. Lynn Harris and Atlanta activists Craig Washington and Darlene Hudson that I mustered up the courage to live out loud. And it all started with the turn of a page or the click of a mouse. I know the written word is powerful and I’ll argue anyone down who thinks otherwise. It gave me purpose and allowed me to say that black lives, black LGBT lives and lives of all colors mattered long before the creation of the hashtag, and for that I’m grateful.

www.thegeorgiavoice.com

OUT IN THE WILD

By Simon Williamson

The ridiculous religion binary Simon Williamson lives with his husband in heteronormatively-assimilative fashion in Athens, after a year of surviving rural Georgia.

One of the things I detest most in the world is the gender stencils we’re forced into, robbing us of fabulous things we could have spent our childhood partaking in, like skirts and kissing boys. The gender binary is a bloody hideous tool with which our pliant society has been beaten, until recently.

But, dear friends, that is not the only binary that drives me madder than that whispery way Keira Knightley talks. The supposition that our people cannot be religious annoys me worse than a mosquito bite on the scrotum (we do some adventurous gardening).

I am surrounded by Christian homosexuals in my life, and to the degree I know, they are very secure in both their faith and their lives. I am not going to sit here and litigate what Christianity and its spokespeople say about same-gen-

“This happened to many of us in my generation, my cohort of early 2000s young black queer activists. Our hearts were broken one too many times.

Or we were betrayed. Or abused. Or taken for granted. Some of our elders were compassionate. Others were not.

This, I believe, made the difference.”

I’ve been organizing for as long as I’ve been breathing. It’s been mostly good, but not all the time. I got involved in this work never thinking it would be something I would do for this long. What was supposed to be a sort of gap year, the period between college and graduate school, became a gap decade. I never actually ended up going to graduate school.

This work, which has always felt more like a calling, ended up being my classroom, and it has been a pretty amazing one at that.

Early on, maybe the second year or so that I worked in HIV prevention professionally, I had a pretty hard time. I didn’t use the word “ageism,” or maybe more accurately “adultism,” to describe what I was experiencing, but looking back, that’s exactly what was happening.

I was opinionated, self-assured (at least www.thegeorgiavoice.com

dered people banging, falling in love with and objectifying one another, but it is quite obvious that the two ideas are compatible to those who have thought about them.

Mike Huckabee, who I’m happy to see is doing worse in the presidential polls than Christian Slater is in movies, has recently gone on a hate binge about a rainbow packet of Doritos deserving a Christian equivalent. I’m not quite sure what he expects, but if it’s a bread and fish flavor that lasts for 40 days and 40 nights, I’ll buy the thing for novelty’s sake. Huckabee, incorrect about so many things, has continued his trajectory into a black hole of perpetual wrongness by assuming that Christians are some sort of inverse of LGBT folks, creating the perfect opening for a pun scenario I choose not to exploit about how Jesus hung around with 12 men all the time.

This ugly turd of a scenario raised its pocked head when basketball player Jason Collins came out, and some gnomic windbag on ESPN began explaining to the world in whom and what Collins was entitled to believe.

Not only are our moral and sexual choices as LGBT people argued about by people who are not us, and not only do we need to get the highest court in the land to affirm for us the rights of marriage permitted to everyone else, we are also told explicitly what our religious beliefs are.

Mike Huckabee and this ruptured testicle from ESPN are trying to dictate which religions gay people are welcome in, taking a job originally meant for, you know, Jesus and his colleagues Muhammad, Buddha and Vishnu.

When I lived in London I knew plenty of queer Muslims, and Buddhism is something

“When I lived in London I knew plenty of queer Muslims, and Buddhism is something quite commonplace in the LGBT community nowadays (thanks hipsters). There are genuine Christians, Muslims, Buddhists, pagans, wiccans, Taoists, Hindus, atheists, agnostics, Jews and more who sit comfortably both in religion and on top of a penis.” quite commonplace in the LGBT community nowadays (thanks hipsters). There are genuine Christians, Muslims, Buddhists, pagans, wiccans, Taoists, Hindus, atheists, agnostics, Jews and more who sit comfortably both in religion and on top of a penis.

We are quite capable of working out our own religious values. The fact that we have to navigate a world that tried to undo us from childhood means we’ve had our beliefs tested more than Common Core. When it comes to religion, we know what we are talking about, because we have been confronted so many times by a malleable media that loves to magnify absurdity.

We have absolutely no right to dictate the religious beliefs of anyone else, or have them dictated to us. Gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender brothers and sisters, can I hear a “Hallelujah”?

THE ICONOCLAST

By Charles Stephens

On the cruelty of our elders Charles Stephens is the Director of Counter Narrative and co-editor of ‘Black Gay Genius: Answering Joseph Beam’s Call.’ some ways), and was very good at what I did. I kissed no rings, was rarely submissive, avoided the “nonprofit casting couch,” and sought impact more than positional power. This was how I embodied “black queer young adulthood.”

And though most of my community supported me and was quite kind (I will forever be grateful to ZAMI and ADODI Muse, for example) there were others, a small group, who made it their business to put me in check every chance they got. This happened to many of us in my generation, my cohort of early 2000s young black queer activists. Our hearts were broken one too many times. Or we were betrayed. Or abused. Or taken for granted. Some of our elders were compassionate. Others were not. This, I believe, made the difference. I still think I was one of the luckier ones; this is why I remained long

enough to tell the story. And yet, maybe I wasn’t that lucky, certainly not all the time.

At the first retreat I coordinated, a participant, twice my age or more, became so angry that I didn’t call on him (which wasn’t intentional; we ran out of time, and I apologized) that he expressed his anger right up in my face. He finally spat on me. I would like to think it was unintentional, but he certainly did not apologize, even as I wiped his saliva off my face. Then there was an email—someone made it their business to call me stupid (and misspelled the word “stupid” in the email), simply because he disagreed with something I said in a workshop.

There have been a few malcontents who would run into my then-bosses’ office every chance they got to express whatever frustrations they had with me. Of course this never

worked, and I always triumphed, always, but the desire to tear me down was no less hurtful. There have been times when I was cursed out and attacked just because I didn’t conform to the model of “young black gay activist,” which basically boiled down to being seen and not heard. Those were the days!

For many of my peers, those of us of my generation who co-founded college organizations, got started in nonprofits, did amazing organizing and cultural work, wrote brilliant blogs, and so forth, these kinds of aggressions were overwhelming and painful. So we fled.

And yet, as I approach many milestones next year, both personal and professional, I am lonely for my friends and comrades who started out with me, but ended up fleeing movement work for their sanity and well-being.

October 16, 2015 Outspoken 11

WORK

IT!

Atlanta dating service gives gay, bisexual men a ‘Better Way To Meet’

By DARIAN AARON daaron@thegavoice.com Atlanta is a gay man’s paradise. There is an abundance of beautiful, successful and intelligent men in the city. And if conversations had over brunch and on dating apps are any indication, there’s no shortage of Atlanta gay men who are in search of a meaningful connection or have given up on the dating scene entirely to embrace lifelong bachelorhood. If you unwillingly fit into the latter category it will behoove you to check out the Atlanta matchmaking service, “Better Way To Meet.”

Georgia Voice spoke with “Better Way To Meet” consultant Lamont Scales on what sets “Better Way To Meet” apart from other services and why Atlanta gay and bisexual men could benefit.

Georgia Voice: Tell us about the concept for “Better Way To Meet.”

BW2M: “Better Way to Meet” (BW2M) was launched on October 6, 2014, by two friends who were weary of using mobile apps and online formats to meet guys. BW2M’s concept is pretty simple: Old fashioned matchmaking for gay men looking for love.

BW2M clients meet with a consultant face to face, where they are screened and counseled. There are no apps or online profiles to scroll through, because the BW2M consultant does the matching for each client.

Clients are matched and sent on interactive dates (e.g. rock climbing, samba dancing, cooking class, etc.).

What size is the staff? Is there a physical location?

Currently, BW2M has one full-time staff member and uses contractors to recruit new clients and assist with matching clients.

BW2M clients meet with their consultant at local eateries in Atlanta (e.g. Starbucks, Panera Bread, and Einstein’s). Clients really appreciate the relaxed atmosphere.

“If you want a quick encounter that may only last for one night, by all means, continue to use mobile apps. Mobile apps are great for meeting guys quickly for adult fun! However, if you are searching for a more meaningful, safe and fun way to meet guys, then you should definitely consider BW2M.” —Lamont Scales, consultant of ‘Better Way To Meet’ What sets it apart from other dating services?

BW2M meets with every client face to face to make sure each client is ready to be in a healthy relationship. BW2M has a credentialed professional counselor on staff, and is the only matchmaking service owned and operated exclusively by gay men in Atlanta.

Is the service confidential?

Yes, the service is confidential. We respect our clients’ privacy by not allowing potential clients to scroll through a catalog of our clients.

A BW2M consultant does the selecting, and obtains permission from a client before sharing his information with a potential match. Also, we only share our clients’ first name with potential matches, so it makes it very hard to do a quick Facebook or Google search for the person.

How many clients are currently using the service?

As of October 2015, BW2M has over 300 clients utilizing the service with an 80-85 percent success rate. We define success as two clients who are still dating or interacting after their initial date.

What can a new client expect during the consultation phase?

During the consultation phase, most

‘Better Way To Meet’ avoids the mundane and specializes in interactive dates for clientele.

(Courtesy photo)

Details

‘Better Way To Meet’ www.betterwaytomeet.com 404-600-1104 clients feel like they are dating their consultant, because we [BW2M] really get to know our clients intimately to assist with finding the right match. An initial consultation is free of charge and typically lasts about 45– 60 minutes while having a cup of tea or adult beverage. Afterwards, clients are scheduled for their first date. Clients don’t pay any fees until a match is found for them.

Dating apps are extremely popular among gay/bisexual men. Should gay/ bisexual men give more consideration to services like “Better Way To Meet?”

If you want a quick encounter that may only last for one night, by all means, continue to use mobile apps. Mobile apps are great for meeting guys quickly for adult fun! However, if you are searching for a more meaningful, safe, and fun way to meet guys, then you should definitely consider BW2M. BW2M allows guys to develop genuine relationships that are long lasting and fulfilling.

What is your advice to a potential client who might be on the fence about trying a dating service?

Are you still single? If yes, try a service that will set you up for success! If you try the service, you’re almost guaranteed to meet a handsome guy who you would not have met outside of the service, while having a great first date!

12 Community October 16, 2015 www.thegeorgiavoice.com

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AY O C T 3 0

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ACTIVISTSINACTION Lesbian activist Lorraine Fontana Activist Lorraine Fontana continues to fight for equality for all people

By DYANA BAGBY She came out as lesbian in Atlanta in 1971 in the midst of “a radical/progressive women’s community.”

Lorraine Fontana, 68, a native New Yorker, is a veteran queer radical activist who moved to Atlanta in 1968 to work for VISTA as part of President Lyndon Johnson’s War on Poverty. Currently, she is active in many social justice organizations, including the Moral Monday movement.

She’s a founding member of the Atlanta Lesbian Feminist Alliance (ALFA), which created a safe, women-only space from 1972 to 1994, then later Dykes for the Second American Revolution (DARII).

For decades, Fontana has showed up to just about every single pro-equality rally organized in the city, and she can be counted on not only to watch, but also to make and hold up signs, take pictures and post to social media to record the event, and recently has been willing to be arrested for causes she believes in.

I’ve heard a lot about the ALFA house—what was it like to be there?

You can’t really say “the” ALFA house because there were three houses. We wanted to have a women-only space where we could have meetings, events, sisterhood, and invite people there. The first ALFA house was created because a bunch of us were living in a house off Mansfield Avenue [near the Sevananda Natural Foods Market]. This was about 1972 or 1973.

That neighborhood back then was very inexpensive. I think we rented the whole house for $125. That house of people decided to break up and then we got the main one, which everyone thinks about when they think of the ALFA

“Watching the civil rights movement when I was a kid on TV made me feel racism was one of the key problems in our country. And I’ve always really tried to connect those issues.” house, on McLendon Avenue. It was a duplex.

We always managed to arrange to have lesbians living on the other side. I lived there with my then-partner for a while.

Then there’s the sad part of story. We started thinking, “Why do we keep paying for rent?

Why don’t we have our own house?” So some women put down payment on a house in Kirkwood. It needed a lot of work. And for the last few years of ALFA we spent so much time trying to get people to help fix it up. The house was usable and we did meet there for a while, but there was never enough energy. Getting a house we thought would give us more energy and a place to build up our library and archives. ALFA closed and we had to sell the house. We used the money to pay off people who made the loans.

What does intersectionality of movements mean to you?

Intersectionality—we didn’t have that term but it was obvious to us those who started ALFA. We always wanted to stay connected to other issues. I’ve always done that.

For instance, when in the mid-1980s BWMT [Black White Men Together] started projects in other cities, doing anti-racist work, I worked with them to get passed an anti-discrimination ordinance for bars ... in the city of Atlanta. It was clear from the experiences of those in the black community that trying to

Lorraine Fontana, 68, is a veteran activist who continues to attend marches and rallies for social justice for all people. (Photo by Dyana Bagby)

get into predominantly white clubs they were discriminated against. The bars would triple card people, say this is a private club. I was an ALFA person working with BWMT because I thought it was important. And I would go with a group to gay bars to make sure they were following the ordinance, make sure they posted the policy in the bar.

How did the issue of race become important to you?

Watching the civil rights movement when I was a kid on TV made me feel racism was one of the key problems in our country. And I’ve always really tried to connect those issues.

It is the key issue to me in deciding whether we are ever going to be what our myth of America says we are. Everyone likes to cite the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, but they [the documents] don’t apply to everyone.

They didn’t apply to women, to black people, to Native Americans. That whole contradiction has been with us since the beginning.

What attracted you to Moral Monday?

When Moral Monday came to Georgia, I thought it was wonderful. They had key areas they wanted to focus on, but saw the connections with everyone. They were very

into having people talk to each other to work to make Georgia more progressive.

And now you’ve been arrested several times in civil disobedience actions with Moral Monday—demanding the state repeal its “stand your ground” law; demanding the state expand Medicaid; protesting voter suppression; and protesting the so-called Religious Freedom Restoration Act. What was that like?

I felt like I missed out on nonviolent direct action when I was younger [during anti-war, anti-racist, anti-imperialist protests]. I was going to a city college, still living at home, and my parents were already unhappy with me for moving to Atlanta. With Moral Monday, I felt like I now have my chance. I’m retired. I would be willing to do so if there was a cause I very much believed in. I can do it. Some people are still working and some young people don’t want to start their careers with a criminal record.

It’s very privileged when you do a civil disobedience arrest. You’ve consulted with attorneys, you get out every time. We only had to pay bail once. The other times we were let out on our own recognizance. So you’re only in jail from 10 to 15 hours at the most. And you are with other people. What we did see was the reality of the other people who were there. You hear all kinds of stories.

14 Activists in Action October 16, 2015 www.thegeorgiavoice.com

ACTIVISTSINACTION HIV/AIDS activist Brandon Kennedy Taking control of HIV and eradicating stigma

By DARIAN AARON daaron@thegavoice.com Brandon Kennedy is no accidental HIV/ AIDS activist. That becomes immediately clear within the first five minutes of discussing the topic with the 27-year-old Indianapolis, Indiana native turned Georgia Peach.

HIV has been living with Kennedy for five years. You read that right: HIV has been living with him and not the other way around.

That’s the attitude and approach Kennedy has taken from the day of his diagnosis and carried throughout his activism in the Atlanta LGBT community and online.

Georgia Voice spoke with the busy Kennedy about his activism, going public with his status, and a life dedicated to activism in between studying for his master’s in social work at California State University and a new internship with STAND, Inc., where he will be responsible for substance abuse and HIV/AIDS counseling and testing.

Georgia Voice: How did you make the decision to go public with your status?

Brandon Kennedy: I’ve always been extremely rebellious. I believe in staring adversity in the face and going against social norms. A lot of times it’s expected of people living with HIV to be ashamed and not disclose our status. I told myself that I was going to do the total opposite and show everyone how it could be done.

You strike me as the type of person who is knowledgeable about how HIV is transmitted. Did it come as a shock when you seroconverted?

I became infected while I was in a monogamous relationship. My partner tested positive but my results were still negative at the time.

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“At the time there were only a handful of black gay men between 16 and 25 who were open about their status.

I took it upon myself to give these guys the disease with a name.”

I tested positive later, so I had a little bit of a heads up that it could potentially happen. I kept getting tested once a month like my doctor recommended and one of those months the tests came back positive. I was working in an ER at the time and I grabbed an HIV test and went to the 16th floor of the hospital and gave myself a test. In the previous months my STD and HIV tests all came back at the exact same time, but this particular month only the STD test came back. This increased my anxiety and desire to know (my status), which caused me to give myself a test.

Were you always participating in some form of HIV/AIDS activism?

Yes. I remember an instructor assigning us to write a paper in college about a disease that affected us in one way or another and I wrote about HIV/AIDS. I wasn’t infected at the time but I was affected because it heavily impacted my community. It’s one of the reasons why I decided to reach out to AID Atlanta in March of 2010 to volunteer. I was diagnosed in June 2010 and a few months had gone by and I hadn’t heard back (from AID Atlanta).

In August of the same year I got a phone call asking if I was still interested in volunteering. That really resonated with me. Who gets a phone call six months later? I immediately started volunteering and shortly thereafter I

HIV/AIDS activist Brandon Kennedy shares his journey with HIV on his popular self-titled YouTube channel (Photo by Sean Howard)

started working with my peers.

At the time there were only a handful of black gay men between 16 and 25 who were open about their status. I took it upon myself to give these guys the disease with a name.

The term “full blown AIDS” is deeply problematic to me.

I hate that term so much. Ultimately, I don’t only blame society on a community base level for using that term; I also blame a lot of physicians and clinicians I’ve met personally who also use it. There’s no such thing as “full blown AIDS.” Either one has HIV or AIDS. There’s nothing about it that makes it “full blown.” And if you want to get into the specifics of the biology, we can talk about what that person’s viral load is which can fluctuate up and down, but even then there’s no such thing as “full blown AIDS.” We’ve come a long way from the days of condom use or abstinence as the only prevention methods for HIV. Where do you stand on PrEP?

I am a pro-PrEP advocate. I can’t say that I don’t understand where a lot of the criticism aimed at PrEP comes from because I do. A lot of people who shame promiscuity in general, PrEP just gives them another addition to their list. I come from a sex-positive perspective. I say have sex with who you want, where you want and as much as you want as long as it’s not causing an adverse effect in your life or the lives of those around you.

What advice would you give to someone who is newly diagnosed?

I believe all things happen in due time, but it will not happen if there’s no desire. If there is no desire to want to experience what I can only define as liberation, then the person is within him or herself a victim. That person has to want to not stay in the state they’re in. But if an individual doesn’t have the desire to be in a place where they feel liberated in relation to their HIV status and all other socioeconomic factors that surround it, then I really don’t see where the progression can start. The progression starts with the need to want it to happen.

October 16, 2015 Activists in Action 15

ACTIVISTSINACTION

Youth activist Quita Tinsley Activist understands how all movements are tied together

By DYANA BAGBY Quita Tinsley, 25, is pursuing her master’s degree in Women’s Gender and Sexuality at Georgia State University while also working (for the past year) as the youth activist network organizer at SPARK Reproductive Justice Now. She received her bachelor’s degree in journalism at GSU, and in 2012, she became involved with SPARK and learned that the reproductive justice movement spoke to all aspects of who she is and includes the struggles she faces as a queer black woman.

While an undergrad, she served as the activism chair for the Alliance for Sexual and Gender Diversity at GSU, and was also an intern at the Atlanta Regional Peace Corps office as the Marketing and Recruitment Assistant.

So, she’s busy. She took some time to talk to the Georgia Voice about activism, how movements are connected, not separate, and how seeing U.S. Rep. John Lewis marching in the rain let her know she was on the right path.

Is your family involved in organizing— is that how you became involved in social justice?

No, no one in my family is an organizer.

I come from a family of working class black folks. In the summers my mom would work in the fields to help the family. I learned about organizing through my own lived experience, about living as a black queer woman in the South.

“Coming to SPARK, I learned I can be an activist and at 25 what I say and think matters.

I’m always empowering folks, to let them know you have a voice, you have a story, you need to have confidence.”

I think it’s different when you’re just trying to survive. My family was teaching me survival skills. My mother calls me every day and is always asking me when I’m going to visit. Now when I visit, I go see my mother and immediate family, and my mom always reminds me to visit the other elders. I know I will probably never move back—it doesn’t feel like home. It was the home I was brought up in.

What attracts you to work for SPARK? Learning the history of reproductive justice [especially the roles of women of color and black women.] And the queer analysis SPARK gives it, knowing the history and that queer and trans folks’ bodies are also on the front lines. The laws being restrictive to us, health care not being accessible to us.

What about the different movements you are involved in, like Black Lives Matter and Black Trans Lives Matter?

Other movements? For me they are all connected together. It’s hard for me to say I’m a part of different movements. With reproductive justice, you can’t just talk about black folks and not talk about black

Quita Tinsley, 25, is the youth activist network organizer for SPARK Reproductive Justice Now. (Courtesy photo)

queer and trans folks. It’s all tied together.

But I do think a lot of people do see them as separate. But transgender rights are part of reproductive justice. Black lives, black folks, are on the front lines of being attacked by the state. This is all-inclusive of queer liberation.

What does activism mean to you?

Activism to me means political motivation in whatever avenue works for you.

There is a lot of criticism of activism on social media and on the internet, but, no, that is activism. Organizing rallies and getting people to rallies with a tweet is activism.

I’m my mother’s only child and my mother had me when she was 38. When I was growing up I didn’t grow up around a lot of young folks, so I took a lot of wisdom at a young age.

But I also have learned so much from young folks and my peers and folks younger than me. Coming to SPARK, I learned I can be an activist and at 25 what I say and think matters. I’m always empowering folks, to let them know you have a voice, you have a story, you need to have confidence.

What was the first rally you went to?

The first rally I went to was last year— the CNN rally for Mike Brown. [Some 5,000 people marched to the CNN Center to protest the shooting of Mike Brown, an unarmed black man, by a white police officer, in Ferguson, Missouri. The rally was organized via Twitter by black queer activist Aurielle Lucier, founder of #itsbiggerthanyou.]

I’m an introvert and have a hard time being in big crowds. But also, being a black person and knowing how in a political rally you can be arrested kept me away.

But last year a group of other friends and queer folks in Atlanta got together and I said this is the one I want to go to. It was very powerful. Coming to the rally with other queer, trans folks of color—my anxiety was lessened, and also being with my partner helped.

I remember seeing Congressman John Lewis marching in a three-piece suit in the pouring rain and I knew I was where I was supposed to be. This is the right time, the right moment for me to be doing this.

16 Activists in Action October 16, 2015 www.thegeorgiavoice.com

ACTIVISTSINACTION Lesbian activist Maggie Lopez Cianciullo Activist recalls battle with breast cancer

By DYANA BAGBY Maggie Lopez Cianciullo was born in Havana, Cuba, and was part of the first wave of Cuban refugees who fled the country to Miami aboard the Pan Am Freedom Flights.

At 56, she has spent many years in Atlanta dedicating her time and resources as an activist, serving as a board member with For the Kid in All of Us, which hosts the annual Toy Party and Backpack in the Park events.

She’s also a member of the Human Rights Campaign and believes in supporting all organizations that work to make our LGBT community better for all.

But in the past year or so, she’s taken a step back from being an “active supporter” in the LGBT community to more of a “general supporter” while still running her own business, Zeitgeist ARTifacts, an art consultancy and appraisal firm serving corporations and individuals with valuable collections.

As a breast cancer survivor, she says she is now able to come to grips with her diagnosis and treatment from five years ago while at the same time finally focusing on her overall health.

When were you diagnosed with breast cancer?

Five years ago. It was at the very end of September, the beginning of October of 2010. I had no history of cancer in the family. I had clear mammograms throughout the years. I had even thought about why should I have one that year when all the others had been clear.

When I got that initial call … saying let’s get an ultrasound, then they say let’s get a … biopsy. That’s when you start thinking, “Gosh, could this really be happening?” Then when you get that call back from the doctor you’ve seen for the past 10 years, and it turns out to be cancer—it’s a bizarre feeling. For me

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“I think the things I had the most trouble with were the people telling me how much an inspiration I was.

Nothing felt inspiring about it. This thing happened to me. There was no inspiration in the way I recovered.” it wasn’t devastating; it was shocking. It was like getting hit by a two-by-four.

What happened next?

You have to think about that your doctor has to recommend you to a surgeon. There is a lot to think about. Do you agree with the course of treatment? Do you need a second opinion? You are always thinking about it. At night I would wake up. I chose to have the mastectomy. But even after that you have to schedule the surgery and wait. You wake up and go to work, and socialize with friends.

You talk about it or don’t talk about it.

How did people react?

Some people had horror stories, what it was like when they went through it. They tell you these things but until you go through it yourself you don’t really know. Everyone’s experience is different. Then there were those who don’t know what to say and will say, “I know it will be all right.” How did they know? I’d rather they say I’m here if you need me. Not that it will all be fine. Which, frankly, it was.

You continued to stay involved in LGBT activism during your recovery. Why?

Maggie Lopez Cianciullo was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2010 and had a mastectomy.

(Courtesy photo)

I had my mastectomy on the day of Toy Party and I was a full-fledged board member at the time and I felt guilty I was not there.

I had a very difficult recovery because my arm got damaged during the surgery. A four month … recovery turned into an almost year and a half recovery. Life went on. I didn’t want to be home feeling sorry for myself or even dwelling on it, but it was always there at a low simmer. Only recently what went on has all come back to me in a more orderly way.

Maybe I used my activism as a way of coping. Here is an ah-moment for me. I was doing the Toy Party and Backpack in the Park. I went to all the HRC events I could. I marched in the Pride parade with For the Kid. And I never walk—I do not like being outside and walking. But that year I hopped, skipped and jumped throughout that parade. Looking back on that, it was just a way to cope.

As such, I’ve kind of let go of being closely involved with organizations. I’m stepping back to take care of myself like I didn’t be-

fore. It’s almost like a delayed reaction to what happened to me.

What are some of your other thoughts?

I think the things I had the most trouble with were the people telling me how much an inspiration I was. Nothing felt inspiring about it. This thing happened to me. There was no inspiration in the way I recovered.

I know when I met Patt [Cianciullo, her wife] she had recently lost her partner to ovarian cancer. She went on a bike ride in her partner’s memory for a cancer group.

There was this almost cult-like headiness over the survivor. I just couldn’t get into it.

I’m not into that whole celebration of the cancer survivor thing. Pink has never been my color. I know for many it inspires them.

For me, it’s not. I had the cancer; I support other people with cancer. But I can’t get into the mindset of the pink hurrahs. But at the same time I understand you need inspiration and hope to keep going.

October 16, 2015 Activists in Action 17

ACTIVISTSINACTION Trans activist Holiday Simmons Lambda Legal organizer, trans activist reflects on a diverse young career

By PATRICK SAUNDERS psaunders@thegavoice.com If you want to know how dedicated Holiday Simmons is to something he believes in, take this as an example—in 2004, several big-name actors swore they would move out of the country if President George W. Bush were reelected.

They didn’t, of course. But Simmons did, moving to Toronto for a year because he “was just really upset with the U.S.” over the outcome.

It’s that kind of persistence that has fueled him in his over 20 years of activism, including his current role as Director of Community Education and Advocacy for the Southern Regional Office of Lambda Legal.

Simmons talked with Georgia Voice about what led him to become an activist, what state representative convinced him to apply for a job at Lambda Legal, his role in the Black Trans Lives Matter Movement and more.

Was there one event in particular that led you to become an activist?

I think I started becoming an activist in high school with students with disabilities and a little bit around race issues. But I didn’t start prioritizing that point of my life until I quit playing soccer in my junior year at the University of Virginia.

[The University of Virginia is] definitely sort of old money, old South, a type of South that I had not experienced yet. So there was always some racist frat party that was happening, like gangster-themed. There was always sexual assault that was happening on campus that I could organize around. The LGBT student group was pretty active. We actually started the Day of Silence that is

“Even if, say, everyone could do that traditional in-the-streetswith-the-bullhorn, I don’t think that’s the only effective way, and it certainly can’t be the only way. There is the loud in-your-face, there is the quiet behind the scenes in meetings, there’s art—I really really want to uplift art as activism.” now more of a high school-led event, but it started at UVA’s campus while I was there.

Holiday Simmons grew up in what was then the ‘gayborhood’ in St. Louis, giving him early exposure to the LGBT community. (File photo)

So that’s what brought me to Lambda.

So then you get your master’s from Washington University, move to Toronto then New York. How did you get to Atlanta from there?

I was there for six years mostly working at GLSEN doing schools organizing. Part of that work is how I got to know the Atlanta LGBT community because I ran a weekendlong retreat for queer students of color that happened in Atlanta during Martin Luther King Weekend.

It was about the intersections of racial justice and LGBT justice and one of the events for that weekend was to have an intergenerational conversation with these young people coming from all over the country and local Atlanta organizers. So I organized that with [then Lambda Legal Community Educator] Simone Bell and that happened for about three years in a row.

And when I moved to Atlanta, because I wanted more space and warmer weather and just slightly nicer people, all the things that New York doesn’t have [laughs], I was looking for work. She was just starting her campaign to be, ultimately, a state representative and she was saying, ‘Hey, I’m leaving my job to go into politics so you should apply for it.’

What do you say to people who respond to the Black Lives Matter and Black Trans Lives Matter movements by saying “All Lives Matter”?

[Laughs] Fortunately I haven’t had to respond to that but if I had to, I would say that’s very true. All lives do matter, and there are particular lives that are disproportionately targeted and killed and not prosecuted fairly and actually don’t even have mass public sympathy and so that’s why we’re highlighting that those lives matter. Public appeal says they don’t, so through actions and hashtags and T-shirts we have to remind people that we actually do.

The meaning of the word “activist” has evolved over time. You used to think of an activist as someone who’s marching with a bullhorn or lying down in the street. Now there are digital activists, which some people would say is not activism. What is your definition of an activist?

I’m so glad you asked this question and it’s one that I’ve been speaking about since the Black Lives Matter movement started because there’s been such a heightened presence of a particular kind of activism which is the one you described

about being in the streets with the bullhorn.

I’ve had a lot of folks come to me and say, ‘Hey, I got a newborn, I can’t be in the streets’ or ‘Hey, I have a disability, I can’t be in the streets’ or ‘I have a prior record so I can’t get arrested.’

All of the reasons why not everyone can do that type of activism I’ve been really sensitive to, and I’ve been really encouraging people to locate their skill set and assert themselves there and also their comfort level and also the amount of risk that they’re willing and able to take.

Even if, say, everyone could do that traditional in-the-streets-with-the-bullhorn, I don’t think that’s the only effective way, and it certainly can’t be the only way. There is the loud in-your-face, there is the quiet behind the scenes in meetings, there’s art—I really really want to uplift art as activism.

So for all of those reasons, in order to have a wider audience and a deeper message, I think that we need more tactics in order to incorporate more people and be inclusive of more people. I really want us to have a more diverse portfolio around change that we make in general and definitely in Atlanta, because we’re a city that was built on the civil rights movement. [U.S. Congressman] John Lewis is still here to tell those stories. We definitely need to be creative in our approach.

18 Activists in Action October 16, 2015 www.thegeorgiavoice.com

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A T B LG E

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TIM’M

WEST CHALLENGES

THE NORM

By PATRICK SAUNDERS When Tim’m West was a child, he had a severe speech impediment, so he wasn’t able to pronounce his first name, Timothy, correctly. So it came out “Tim’m.”

Eventually he got over the impediment, but he wasn’t ready to start saying his name any differently.

“It just kind of stuck,” he says. “It’s not my name by birth but it’s the name I’ve gone by since I was a kid.”

Overcoming his speech impediment cleared a path for West to use his voice in larger and more diverse ways—LGBT youth activist, author, poet, scholar and rapper. He even landed a spot on CONTINUES ON PAGE 21 20 A&E October 16, 2015 www.thegeorgiavoice.com

Photo by Darren Calhoun Photography

Queer Atlanta activist and rapper releases sixth solo album, ‘ICONography’

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 20 LGBThistorymonth.com’s list of 2015 icons alongside Laverne Cox, Jason Collins, Robin Roberts and Edie Windsor.

And earlier this month, after a recent move to Atlanta from Washington, D.C., the queer renaissance man and board member at the National Center for Civil and Human Rights’ LGBT Institute released his sixth solo album, “ICONography.”

Move to Atlanta cures writer’s block West grew up singing in gospel choirs in his minister father’s church and later in a capella groups during college, but he didn’t formally get into a studio until the year 2000, as co-founder of the black, queer hip-hop group Deep Dickollective (DDC).

He recorded his first solo album in 2003 and proceeded to roll out a series of albums, either with DDC or solo, over the next several years while still pursuing his day job as an educator.

As far as his sound goes, he considers himself a “golden era hip-hop head” with an emphasis on the more politically conscious hiphop music that came out from 1987 to 1994.

He thought he might be done with his music career after going through writer’s block while briefly living in Washington, D.C. last year. That changed after he accepted a position as managing director of Teach For America’s LGBT Community Initiative and moved to Atlanta.

“Literally within weeks of coming to Atlanta I just had a burst of creative inspiration,” he says. “I think in part because Atlanta has a pretty vibrant music scene, a lot of artists and good energy.”

And out came “ICONography.”

Anomaly in the hip-hop industry West sings, emcees and does spoken word on his latest, with lyrics that address various social justice issues, including police violence against the African-American community.

But he includes love songs as well.

There’s also the occasional bit of house music, which West hasn’t used since his first album and which is a way for him to pay homage to black queer DJs, many of whom have passed away, like Frankie Knuckles.

“There was something about the energy and the urgency of their living that I think gave rise to a certain celebration and a celebratory moment,” he says.

As a queer rapper, West is a bit of an anomaly in the hip-hop industry even now, 15 years after his first album. www.thegeorgiavoice.com

Details ‘ICONography’

Available now $10 timmwest.bandcamp.com/ album/iconography Tim’m West ‘ICONography’ release party and performance Thursday, Nov. 19, 2015 Charis Books & More www.charisbooksandmore.com “I think the fact that we haven’t had a mainstream gay hip-hop artist is a testament still to the homophobia of the industry,” he says, noting that there is a vibrant underground scene of LGBT hip-hop in almost every city in the country.

“When you listen to mainstream radio there’s a certain limited number of topics that a lot of rappers talk about. You know, getting high, having sex with women, and their money and their cars,” West says. “I think there’s this idea of really challenging the notion of a rapper or a hip-hop artist.

You know, a hip-hop artist can’t be highly intelligent, can’t be very socially conscious, can’t also be engaged in nonprofit or corporate spaces to impact change.”

Masculine black LGBT rappers not accepted He also believes the white LGBT community has been slow to accept masculine black LGBT rappers.

“I think a masculine black man in the eyes of many gay white people is still seen as a threatening presence,” he says, citing Kaoz, Sonny Loubang, DDm, JB Raps and I.K.P. among other black masculine LGBT rappers whose messages aren’t resonating like they should.

Some have reached out to West as a mentor to talk about the issue.

“I’ve said, you know, interestingly and sadly, I think people would find you less threatening in the queer community if you were to gay it up,” he says. “But I don’t think that people should be inauthentic in their presentation and if you happen to be masculine, you’re just masculine. And that shouldn’t be a threat.”

He’s more matter of fact about his sexuality with “ICONography,” a stark contrast to his earlier work, when he felt more of a need to point it out.

“I really feel like that’s really what the change is, it’s getting people outside of our community to find that there’s something beautiful and moving about our stories, just like anybody else’s.”

October 16, 2015 A&E 21

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ACTING OUT

Set designer Adam Koch talks his spine-tingling creation As Serenbe Playhouse presents its third staging of the spooky “The Sleepy Hollow Experience”—with its tale of Ichabod Crane and the Headless Horseman—the company is promising even more thrills than before.

Though the show will again be directed by out artistic director Brian Clowdus, a new face has joined the crew this year through the Serenbe Artist In Residence program. Adam Koch has become part of the team as set designer. A twotime Helen Hayes nominee for Outstanding Set Design, he’s very much in demand these days. We caught up with the out Koch to talk about his new touches in the production.

Georgia Voice: Tell us a little bit about your background.

Koch: I am a Dayton, Ohio native. I had an early childhood obsession that turned into a lifelong passion for set and stage design for theater. When I was in high school I got recruited to go study at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, where I studied production design.

In 2007 I moved to New York City where I still live and work. Through my work the last few years I came onto Brian’s radar. When he realized they were going to need a new location for the show this year, we started talking about the possibility of redesigning it. And here I am sitting in the woods of Georgia now.

What shows have been some of your favorites pre-Serenbe?

Some of my favorites are “Million Dollar Quartet” in Chicago, as well as “Miss Saigon,” “Dreamgirls,” “Kiss of the Spider Woman” and “Bat Boy” (the last two of which earned him the Helen Hayes nominations in 2009 and 2015, respectively). I just did a version of “Saturday Night Fever” in Long Island. I’ve done 100-plus shows across the nation the last seven years.

What do you like about working with Serenbe?

In the world of stage design, there is a normal order of operations. The big question in professional and commercial theater is, ‘What show are we doing and how are we going to do it?’ What makes this so magical is that Serenbe Playhouse is kind of in reverse. It’s about where are we doing it. Based on that, you get to choose

22 A&E October 16, 2015

By JIM FARMER

Serenbe Playhouse revives ‘The Sleepy Hollow Experience’ in the woods of the Horesman’s Meadow. (Publicity photo)

Details

‘The Sleepy Hollow Experience’ The Horseman’s Meadow in Serenbe Playhouse 10950 Hutchesons Ferry Road Chattahoochee Hills, GA 30268 Through Nov. 1 www.serenbeplayhouse.com the material and the environment. It’s exciting to originate a specific piece of theater in concept but in its form and location. (Doing shows outside) there is nothing to start from; you can’t even plug in a light. You have to decide where the audience and actors are going and coming from. It’s like being a pioneer in theater.

Tell us about your version of the show.

We are doing it in the most cinematic way, tighter and tighter. The environment in its entirety is the show. It’s immersive. In addition, it has a Halloween sense of being alone in the dark, being chased. In reshaping the show, we have mapped out five different areas that lead from one place to another.

Have you worked in the area before?

No. This is my first time in Atlanta. I hope it will turn into more opportunities down the road. I love working here. Brian is a great guy to work with. www.thegeorgiavoice.com

EATING MY WORDS

By CLIFF BOSTOCK

La Duranguense, exploding the palate one spice at a time I’m a chile head—one of those people who can’t get enough spicy food in his mouth. I wasn’t really born that way. It’s like any other addiction. Once you start nibbling on mild jalapeños and chile con carne, it’s not long before you’re dousing all your food with Sriracha, then sending plates of Thai food back to the kitchen because it’s not sufficiently fiery. Mild jalapeños piss you off.

On a recent Friday night, my friend Brian insisted my regular dining group sample the relatively mild food at Taqueria la Duranguense (365 Pat Mell Road SE, Marietta, 404-966-9480). I normally won’t consider a drive to the hinterland of Marietta for a meal, but Brian raved persistently. He was right. It’s an amazing little dive whose name apparently refers to a type of music from the Mexican state of Durango.

So, be warned. The only atmosphere here is oxygen and the smell of mildly spicy stews. If you love vinyl tablecloths topped with rolls of paper towels, you’re going to love this place as soon as you walk through the door. It’s located in a run-down strip center in a neighborhood that is heavily populated by Latinos. And the woman behind the counter who takes your order (and cooks) speaks monosyllabic English.

Happily for you, there’s nothing on the brief menu, posted on the wall, that isn’t addictive.

It’s the kind of food that initiates a craving to go back and back again. The only thing available is gorditas, which translates as “little fatties.” Imagine thin pocket bread made of masa (corn flour), griddled until slightly crispy, and then stuffed with all manner of ingredients.

I was excited—very excited—to see one of my favorite Mexican dishes. I’m talking about chicharrón, which are fatty pieces of pork skin. Typically, they are fried to make what we call “pork rinds,” folded into tortillas and topped with salsa. But they are also fried and then stewed in green or red salsa until they are tender. Usually I prefer the slightly sour green version, but I have to say Duranguense’s red version has more complex flavor and spiciness. It’s mild! But you can add hot sauce.

I also sampled an ovo-lacto-vegetarian www.thegeorgiavoice.com

(Photo via Facebook)

option—rajas con queso. Rajas are strips of charred poblano peppers (whose piquancy varies) and queso is the classic white cheese, sometimes combined with heavy cream. The melting cheese coats the strips with absurdly velvety texture and, in fact, can temper a fiery pepper with its dairy base. Another vegetable option is nopales (chunks of cactus), which did not make it to our table.

Unfortunately, when I visited the restaurant around 8:30 p.m., it had already sold out of a number of dishes.

Prices, by the way, are embarrassingly low: $3 for each gordita. Two will fill any average diner, but we got three each and could barely waddle out the door.

Does La Duranguense earn any complaints? Two minor ones. First, calling the restaurant is useless. When they answer the phone, nobody says much of anything and hangs up. Second, sometimes the sauces can be overwhelming to the degree that they mask the flavors of the meat. As hard as it is to do, eat slowly and give your tongue a chance to fully explore the ingredients. You know. Like sex.

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They are made with hogs grown and processed here in Georgia.

Rusty and his crew are proud of what they do and stand behind their products. They are just happy to do what they do and I appreciate that. It comes through in the end product.”

– Kevin Gillespie

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Cliff Bostock, PhD, is a longtime Atlanta food critic and former psychotherapist who now specializes in collaborative life coaching (404-518-4415), www.cliffbostock.com.

October 16, 2015 Columnists 23

B

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LGBT

BETS

Our Guide to the Best LGBT Events in Atlanta for Oct. 16-29

TA N A AT L EVENT

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SATURDAY, OCT. 17

Julianne Moore and Ellen Page star in ‘Freeheld,’ about a detective diagnosed with cancer trying to leave her pension to her partner, now playing at the UA Tara Cinemas. (Publicity photo)

FRIDAY, OCT. 16

Chuck Leavell of the Rolling Stones, Michelle Malone and Randall Bramblett unite tonight at the Chastain Park Amphitheatre for Rock Chastain, a benefit concert for the Chastain Park Conservancy. Doors open at 7 p.m., $50, chastain parkconservancy.org/events/rock-chastain

EVENT SPOTLIGHT SUNDAY, OCT. 18

The 25th annual AIDS Walk Atlanta and 5K Run, which raises much needed funds for AIDS service organizations throughout the metro Atlanta area, is today, ending at Piedmont Park, www.aidswalkatlanta.com (Photo via Facebook)

24 Best Bets October 16, 2015

Edie Cheezburger presents “The Other Show,” the most unique drag show in Atlanta. Admission is $5, Jungle, 10 p.m., www.jungleatl.com Come join Mr. and Mrs. Atlanta Eagle for a fun night with the folks of Alphabet Soup Atlanta. Enjoy cocktails, Jell-O shots and great conversation. 10 p.m.–3 a.m., Atlanta Eagle, www.atlantaeagle.com

SATURDAY, OCT. 17– SUNDAY, OCT. 18

The Fall Festival on Ponce offers amazing arts and crafts, www.facebook.com/ events/784304161661829

SATURDAY, OCT. 17

After two sold-out seasons, Serenbe Playhouse is proud to revive “The Sleepy Hollow Experience” in thrilling (and bone-chilling) new ways, directed by openly gay artistic director Brian Clowdus. For its third season, the show will be more barbaric than ever, taking the tale of Ichabod, Katrina, and Brom Bones to new heights. Through Nov. 1 with an 8 p.m. show tonight, www.serenbeplayhouse.com.

It’s two parties in one.

The Florida-Georgia Rodeo Association (FGRA) presents the Boots-n-Briefs underwear auction. The night, which benefits Lost-n-Found Youth and FGRA, features fun, dancing and a Best Dressed Cowboy and Cowgirl contest, Heretic, www.hereticatlanta.com

SUNDAY, OCT. 18

DJ Lydia Prim gets everyone dancing at Xion Atlanta, 3 a.m., Xion Atlanta, www.cariocaproductions.com

Make joyful noise with the Sisters of Sequin at Gospel Brunch, with performers Bubba D. Licious and Justice Counce, 12:30 p.m. followed by a 1:30 p.m. show, Lips Atlanta, www.lipsatl.com Regina Simms and Piper highlight The Return of Witches and Bitches, 9 p.m., Friends on Ponce, www.friendsonponce-atl.com

MONDAY, OCT. 19

Lily Tomlin is generating Oscar buzz for her role as a lesbian grandmother in the new film, “Grandma,” now playing in metro area theaters.

Trans and Friends is a youth focused group for trans people, people questioning their own gender, and aspiring allies. Charis provides a facilitated space to discuss gender, relevant resources and activism around social issues. This is a project of the Feminist Outlawz and is co-sponsored

by Charis Circle’s Strong Families,

www.thegeorgiavoice.com

Whole Children. Donations are accepted. 7–8:30 p.m., www.charisbooksandmore.com Enjoy games with hairy men at Woofs Game Night, 8 p.m., www.woofsatlanta.com Channel your inner Madonna at Blue Monday Karaoke with Kyle Kirkland, 10:30 p.m., Burkhart’s, www.burkharts.com

TUESDAY, OCT. 20

Join the Atlanta Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce (AGLCC) tonight at the Atlanta headquarters of Google for a highly informative workshop on using Google services for web, marketing, and enhancing the technology you already use. 6–8 p.m., 10 10th Street NE #600, Atlanta, Ga. 30309

WEDNESDAY, OCT. 21

The 2015 GLAAD Atlanta, hosted by Miss Lawrence, will feature a cocktail reception with great drinks and food stations, a silent auction, performances and more.

All proceeds benefit GLAAD’s work to accelerate acceptance of the LGBT community. 6–9 p.m., 3109 Piedmont Estate and Gardens, www.glaad.org

THURSDAY, OCT. 22

SAGE Atlanta hosts its weekly social hour and potluck, 10 a.m., Phillip Rush Center, www.rushcenteratl.org

FRIDAY, OCT. 23

Join Charis in welcoming local author and professor, Elisabeth Sheff, to talk about her new book, “Stories from the Polycule: Real Life in Polyamorous Families.”

The first of its kind, this anthology brings together stories, poems, drawings and essays created by real people living in polycules.

Children describe life with more than two parents; adults share what it’s like to parent with more than one partner. 7:30–9 p.m., www.charisbooksandmore.com More than 30 artists from around the U.S. and abroad have created works of art in clay for the exhibit titled “Taboo: Sexuality and Identity in Ceramics,” the purpose of which is to provoke thought and stimulate conversation while demonstrating the ability of ceramic art to have a relevant voice in the social and political discussions of our time. Now running through Oct. 31, Signature Gallery, www.thesignatureshop.com

SATURDAY, OCT. 24

Enjoy Sunday Funday Brunch, with $3 mimosas and $5 Bloody Marys, noon

www.thegeorgiavoice.com

SATURDAY, OCT. 24

Netherworld Haunted House, a legendary haunted attraction serves up thrills and chills every year to an ever-growing legion of loyal fans. This year features two new haunts: The Rotting, filled with nightmarish ghosts and undead horrors, and Vault 13: Unearthed, a secret underground base swarming with science fiction madness. Netherworld has raised the bar once again with new special effects, over-the-top sets, and terrifying actors. Through Nov. 7, Georgia Antique & Design Center. 6624 Dawson Blvd., Norcross, Ga., www.fearworld.com (Courtesy photo) to 4 p.m., My Sister’s Room, www.mysistersroom.com Jerusalem House presents the Hocus Pocus Halloween Party with an open bar with DJ Sean Mac, celebrity judges and a costume contest with a $3000 prize, 7 p.m., W Atlanta Midtown, www.jerusalemhouse.org/halloween

SUNDAY, OCT. 26

DJ Caprice rocks Bulldogs, 893 Peachtree Street, Atlanta, Ga., 30308, www.facebook.com/bulldogsbaratlanta

MONDAY, OCT. 26

They’ve been doing it for 15 years and have never been better. The Stars of the Century hit the stage at Jungle Atlanta for an unforgettable show led by emcees Miss Sophia and Joe Jackson. Featuring performances by Necole Luv Dupree, Archie Bonet, Stasha Sanchez, Raquel Lord, Damoni Hall Dickerson, Trinity Bonet and more, 11 p.m., www.jungleatl.com

TUESDAY, OCT. 27

Drag royalty is on display! Tuesday night is poker night at The Model T, beginning at 7 p.m., www.modeltatlanta.com

WEDNESDAY, OCT. 28

Nicole Paige Brooks, Mychelle LaCroix DuPree and Mo’Dest Volgare host Wild Out Wednesdays at Felix’s, www.felixsatlanta.com Ruby Redd’s Birdcage Bingo starts at 8:30 p.m., with $3 well drinks all night, then Tyler King hosts Beauty and the Beat karaoke at 11 p.m., The Hideaway, www.atlantahideaway.com

THURSDAY, OCT. 29

Faces Lounge in Marietta’s new All Star Cabaret is every Thursday at 10:30 p.m. and 12:30 a.m., 138 Powers Ferry Road, Marietta, Ga. 30060 Phoenix of “Rupaul’s Drag Race” is part of Dancefloor Divas at 11:30 p.m., Burkhart’s, www.burkharts.com

EVENT SPOTLIGHT WEDNESDAY, OCT. 21

Join Charis in welcoming author Kate Harding with her new book, ‘Asking for It: The Alarming Rise of Rape Culture—and What We Can Do about It.’ Every seven minutes, someone in America commits a rape.

In the new book, Harding combines indepth research with an in-your-face voice to make the case that twenty-first-century America supports rapists more effectively than it supports victims. 7:30–9 p.m., www.charisbooksandmore.com (Publicity photo)

October 16, 2015 Best Bets 25

THAT’S WHAT SHE SAID

By MELISSA CARTER

The power of individual truth You are an inspiration.

Regardless of whether anyone has ever said that to you, I wanted you to know.

That’s because, as a member of the media who has spent decades learning the craft of self-promotion, I have come to realize my biggest inspiration comes from people whose names no one recognizes.

As the “oops baby” in my family, I developed a self-image of not belonging. As incorrect as that perception is, as a child I thought I was adapting to an environment of outspoken elders who left little room for me to express my feelings. That’s why, when I heard Patty Murray on Nashville radio and saw Jessica Savitch on national television, I knew a profession with a captive audience was for me. I would speak and someone would listen.

And I had something to say. I came out on 99X in 1996, in an effort to include gay couples in a dating segment the morningshow team of Barnes, Leslie, and Jimmy aired each week. I shared my struggles with a chronic illness on The Bert Show, hoping the story of my kidney transplant would inspire people to become organ donors. And listeners to my current show on B98.5 have followed the anxious months of bringing Mr. Carter into the world via surrogate and the struggles some couples have with creating a family.

Some would consider me an activist for my work these past two decades. My ability to grab a microphone while climbing up on a soapbox has indeed satisfied a personal desire to create change in the arenas of gay and patient advocacy. And I got what I wanted as a child: for people to listen to what I have to say. However, my inner child came to realize that a one-way conversation did not make her whole.

I’ve grown to understand the point of my job is not to share my life on air in order to become more popular. That’s the misconception of many of my colleagues. Instead, I

“I’ve grown to understand the point of my job is not to share my life on air in order to become more popular. That’s the misconception of many of my colleagues. Instead, I open my world in hopes of a connection, so that my listeners and I don’t feel alone.” open my world in hopes of a connection, so that my listeners and I don’t feel alone.

An activist is usually defined as a person who campaigns for some kind of social change, the most common image depicting an angry face and a fist in the air. I’ve certainly formed that posture more than once, and have been more than happy to march down several city streets, from Midtown to outside the White House. But there are many who can’t relate to that effort.

Being loud and proud may be a nice swift kick that knocks a hole in an oppressive wall, and certainly serves as a good first step. But after that initial effort is made, I believe sharing what we have in common is the true key to any change. That’s why you are an inspiration: because your story is as important as mine.

Melissa Carter is one of the Morning Show hosts on B98.5. In addition, she is a writer for the Huffington Post. She is recognized as one of the first out radio personalities in Atlanta and one ofthe few in the country. Follow her on Twitter@MelissaCarter

26 Columnists October 16, 2015 www.thegeorgiavoice.com

SOMETIMES ‘Y’

By RYAN LEE

Post-gay politicians Alex Wan looked gay Sunday. In the sense that he was walking in the Atlanta Pride parade, waving a rainbow flag, wearing a blue feather boa and prancing down Peachtree in a way that made me think, Oh yeah, Alex Wan is gay.

It’s often been easy to forget that we’ve had openly LGBT council members in Atlanta since Cathy Woolard broke the barrier in 1997. While Woolard’s victory christened District 6 as “the gay seat” on the Atlanta City Council, and the jurisdiction spans Midtown, the three successive lesbian and gay occupants of the seat have been “post-gay” officeholders.

Woolard and her successor, Anne Fauver, were both considered policy heavyweights and able council members, but neither showed leadership on LGBT issues that arose while they were in office: the preservation of Midtown’s LGBT culture (and affordable housing) during the economic and demographic makeover the neighborhood has undergone this century; discrimination complaints from LGBT citizens against private businesses or the Atlanta Police Department; or city and state legislation impacting same-sex couples, including perfunctory opposition during Georgia’s anti-gay marriage amendment fight in 2004.

It’s understandable that openly LGBT elected officials would want to establish that they serve all constituents and are not fixated only on LGBT issues, but if proving that leaves them mute on our issues, it makes the importance of having openly LGBT officeholders more symbolic than practical.

Wan was likewise silent during the swell of public opposition to the state’s so-called “religious liberty” bill earlier this year, after accusations of racial discrimination at a prominent Midtown gay bar, throughout the creation of the Rainbow Crosswalks and the debate about whether they should be washed away after Pride. Aside from the electoral go-go boys he enlists to hold campaign signs outside Ansley Mall, the only interest Wan has shown in LGBT residents was his failed plan to wreak gentrification upon Cheshire Bridge Road by replacing its gay clubs and sex shops with more “respectable” businesses and resiwww.thegeorgiavoice.com

“It’s understandable that openly LGBT elected officials want to establish that they serve all constituents and are not fixated only on LGBT issues, but if proving that leaves them mute on our issues, it makes the importance of having openly LGBT officeholders more symbolic than practical.” dents—essentially, to Midtown-ize the strip.

With an influx of families and young heterosexual professionals, the Midtown that Wan represents isn’t perceived as the same gayborhood it was in the past, meaning it might not be considered politically responsible for Wan to champion LGBT issues. However, as the council’s only openly gay member, Wan’s leadership is desperately needed on a gay issue that affects all parts of the city.

Earlier this year, Atlanta was ranked among the top cities in the United States for HIV transmissions, with black gay men bearing the worst of the epidemic. While most HIV policy is carried out by county and state governments, the silence from Wan and other Atlanta officials while a crisis rages within the city limits is negligent and indefensible.

At one point during Sunday’s parade, a UHaul truck lumbered down Peachtree Street, “decorated” with a lone poster board featuring the logo for Stand Up 2 HIV, a community initiative. The Stand Up 2 HIV campaign has done much to fight the spread and stigma of HIV in Atlanta, but its parade entry offered a disheartening visualization of how little is being done to save gay men of all ages and ethnicities.

Still, that lonely sign affixed to a rental truck felt like more effort on the issue than has been done by Atlanta’s sole openly gay council member.

Ryan Lee is an Atlanta writer.

October 16, 2015 Columnists 27

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all Prices Plus taX, tag and include $499 doc fee with aPProved credit. not resPonsible for mis-Prints. 2015 subaru forester 2.5i Premium lease term 36 months, $0 security dePosit, 10,000 miles Per er year, not all customers will qualify, with aaPProved credit thru subaru motors finance, total out of Pocket at lease signing $1,900, 36 Payments of $299.00 , includes all ta Xes and $499 dealer document fee. lease disPosition fee at lease term $300, Purchase oPtion $50. residual value at lease end $16,347.00. Prices good until oct 31st 2015. taXes

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