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8 Practical Gifts to Give Your LGBTQ+ Friends on Their Wedding Day

By Mikey Rox

Brush oﬀ your LGBTQ+ friends’ wedding registry – what kind of basic bitch gifts a blender anyway? – and consider a practical-but-stillthoughtful present that the happy couple can put to good use without taking up much (or any) space in their home. Here are eight ideas to get you started.

1. Moving Crew

If the newly betrothed are relocating soon, do a solid and purchase a moving package. This can be pricey, so if you can’t aﬀord to hire several hours of full-service moving, ask your mutual friends to pitch in or put on your charitable caps and DIY the move together. The only cost of going the latter route is time and energy, plus you’ll get in a great workout outside of a bedroom.

2. Dance Classes

3. Home Repair Supplies

Home repairs (even small ones) add up quickly – especially if they have to hire someone. To help alleviate this cost, surprise the lawfully wedded with a hodgepodge of tools and other household must-haves in a nice toolbox for convenient and aesthetically pleasing storage. Another helpful around-the-house idea is to gift painting essentials –trays, rollers, brushes, and drop cloths – with a gift certiﬁcate to a nearby hardware store so they can choose the colors to freshen up their home.

If the two saying ‘I do’ have four left feet, present them with prewedding dancing lessons. Attending several sessions a few months before the wedding will give the rug-cutting duo more confidence on the floor when they’re in the spotlight for the first time.

4. Cooking Lessons

Cooking isn’t everyone’s favorite hobby, but it’s one of those few daily opportunities that spouses can take advantage of to grow closer. If the couple isn’t kitchen savvy, introduce them to the wonderful world of from-scratch satisfaction with cooking lessons. Private lessons can be held in their home, or you can ﬁnd a local establishment that oﬀers lessons. The latter will be much less expensive than the former, and it’ll give your friends an opportunity to mix and mingle with other couples with whom they already have something in common.

5. Homemade Craft Booze

If your pals are booze lovers, add a personal touch to one of their favorite beverages by brewing a case of homemade suds, fermenting wine, or bottling gin. To add even more ﬂair, dress the bottles with custom labels that you can order online that celebrates their wedding day. The recipients will enjoy kicking back and relaxing with your pickme-up gift, and they’ll likely think fondly of your creativity and care every time they crack oﬀ a cap.

6. HitchSwitch Gift Card

While not as common in LGBTQ marriages as it is in straight unions for one partner to change their last name to the other partner’s, plenty of LGBTQ couples are traditionalists – and more power to them. To make the name-changing process stress free, set them up with HitchSwitch, an online namechanging service that removes all the hassle of assembling, ﬁlling out, and ﬁling forms, starting at $39. It’s not a super-exciting gift, but it’s one less thing they’ll have to worry about as they start their new life together – and they’ll appreciate that sentiment very much.

burden. Make it easy-breezy for your freshly married friends – who should be spending their ﬁrst year having fun under the sheets instead of sweeping behind the stove – by surprising them with several hours of cleaning services scheduled for the beginning of spring and fall.

8. Language-Learning Software

One of the advantages of your friends being LGBTQ+ and bound by marital law is that they’re likely a DINK (Dual Income No Kids) couple that has money to burn. (No oﬀense to all you parents out there, of course, but your days of jet setting are over for a while.) Thus, they have the incredible opportunity to see the world at their leisure if they’re savvy savers. You can help make their vacation even more enriching and fulﬁlling by gifting them language-learning software. The beauty of language-learning software – besides becoming part of an entire population of people with whom they can now converse – is that it’s conducive to couples using it together, which will help fortify their relationship even more.

7. Deep Cleaning Service

We gays like to keep a clean house (most of us anyway), and while weekly spot cleaning is a breeze, the twice-yearly deep clean is a

Mikey Rox is an award-winning journalist and blogger whose work has been published in more than 100 outlets across the world, including CNN.com, The Huﬃngton Post, The Advocate, Instinct magazine, and Out.com, among many others. Connect with Mikey on Instagram @mikeyroxtravels.

Tanzer is in the business of escapism - and escape you shall. A singer, composer, DJ and visual artist, Tanzer is known for her cinematic, high-glamour, escapist works that are at once intensely powerful, deeply fragile and darkly humorous. Her work spans stages, clubs, galleries and festivals and fuses musical forms to a multitude of performative and artistic outcomes. Her musical compositions move from opera to disco and from the experimental to pure pop - exploring self-image, gender, romance and the power of the alter ego. Her film and curatorial works are renowned for their elaborate dreamscapes and meticulous aesthetic that take stylistic cues from ‘70s retro-futurism, Euro-camp and Australian pop culture nostalgia.

@tanzertanzertanzer www.tanzertanzertanzer.com

@tanzertanzertanzer

TANZER also announces new mini-album

DISCO AUTOMATIC

to be released on April 22, 2022

Australian-based singer, DJ, artist and proud queer community member Tanzer, has released her new disco-tinged single, “Fantasy,” alongside the new music video, a sci-fi heartbreak epic and an ode to doomed love.

In the music video, directed by Alex Smith, Tanzer urges her toxic lover to abandon all logic and reason for one more sip of poison before their inevitable demise. The video was shot on tube-based cameras from the late ‘70s, and was inspired by the retro-futuristic camp of Barbarella, Cicciolina’s ‘80s TV performances, and the promotional videos of spiritual group Unarius Academy Of Science.

Of the visuals Tanzer says: “I am, in fact, a Gemini, and relished the chance to show off my range as both a split personality and master of disguise in this video.” In the music video, which takes place between a spacecraft and smoky space corridors, Tanzer embodies many characters including hard-working drones, a giant golden space creature, and a lusty space leader.

In addition to releasing “Fantasy,” Tanzer has announced her upcoming mini-album Disco Automatic, which will arrive on April 22, 2022. The 6-song release shows the range of Tanzer’s multi-hyphenate abilities in all of its disco, pop, operatic majesty. The accompanying videos also dazzle with an array of themes from Drag (including Tanzer’s Drag King persona) to Sci-Fi and so much more.

Tanzer traveled all the way from Australia to the micro-state of San Marino this year to enter “Fantasy” into the national final for the Eurovision Song Contest - a lifelong dream for Tanzer, who grew up in Rome, Italy watching the infamous song competition.

She may not have won the chance to perform at Eurovision, but she amassed a huge cult following along the way, with countless fans glued to her high-camp Instagram video diaries documenting her Eurovision adventure.

Disco Automatic will include some of Tanzer’s previously released tracks including “Deep Fried Disco,” which was inspired by the fantastic, camp songs we all know and love. A love letter to ABBA, Sheryl Lee Ralph and 1980s Eurovision, the song tells the story of an imaginary place where one can find solace, play and escape through music. The accompanying music video paints a dazzling picture of glamour, escapism and celebration of the queer community. The mini-album will also include the previously released track “Tango,” a bizarre, funky disco banger featuring lyrics in English and shabby Australian-Italian.

Text and Images Provided by The Karpel Group

WIshing and Hoping

I don’t feel incomplete without a life partner. Is there something wrong with me?

by Scott King

Hello. It’s nice to meet you. A little about me? Hmmm. Well, I’m the only one in my family of my generation, on both sides, without a spouse or a life partner. I’m not the only LGBTQ either.

No, I ain’t sweatin’ it.

It can be awkward, though. While a huge chunk of the family travels in a mini- or caravan, Uncle Scott shows up by Megabus or rental car. Is this what they mean by the unbearable lightness of being?

Everyone wants the best for me. And by best for me they mean to ﬁnd a partner. I get a vague sense that they want me to have a job, career, and save for retirement. But more than anything, they want me to have a partner.

I’m not resisting. I know that resistance is futile. But it’s just not where my energy is.

Part of the reason I don’t have a partner – and, please, hold your snickers here – is because I don’t covet having one. I covet deep friendships. I covet connection with strangers, which I satiate through a nice chat with the lady hooking me up with a ﬂat white latte or through interactions with dudes on Scruﬀ. I make it happen. I say yes.

I’m starting to feel like a tourist in my own life. But I don’t hate it. This is the stuﬀ of great art. Of great storytelling. If only I understood about arc.

I do hear the ontological clock ticking. I just hit 40. Er, maybe a better way to put it is that 40 hit me. Not hard, but directly. I see it now. Literally every year there are new 25-year-olds who think they’re the center of the universe and that their youth and beauty will last forever. Nothing WILL ever change, except that they will be replaced. Things move on. The game plays itself.

I don’t follow the Carrie Bradshaw model. Dating various men that I might meet in furniture stores or cocktail parties or helping me retrieve the stockpile of prophylactics that have just ﬂown out of my purse. I don’t date to try on men to see if they ﬁt. I only date somebody if I already like him and think he’s groovy. Sometimes it takes six months of acquaintance to realize this. Sometimes it takes two seconds.

I met someone a few weeks ago. It was awesome. It was instant. We made out for like four hours at a party at a bar. It wasn’t that kind of party or that kind of bar. I almost punched a troll who was bugging us. It felt dangerous. It felt sexy. I felt alive.

The way I see it, I only have about 10 years left to ﬁnd a partner, or a partner in crime, based principally upon looks. After that, I’m really going to have to bring it with the personality. Because if I am in fact your daddy, I am not your sugar daddy. Sorry, kiddo, but there’s nothing left in the bowl.

Friendship also gets harder with age. Trickier. Especially making new friends. I think I’ve pretty much perfected the art of asking people out on nonsexual, non-romantic dates, to see if we click as friends, without pissing them oﬀ or making them feel rejected.

It didn’t work out, though. He was too high maintenance. I bet Bonnie and Clyde never imagined the bickering and arguments they would get into on all those intrepid road trips.

And despite my age, almost all of my close friends also are not married. Am I broken or is this merely the inevitable result of existential demographics? Birds of a feather? It’s not that I don’t have anything in common with people, of any age, who are married with children. It’s just that we don’t have the one most important thing in common that bonds people together: free time.

Ah yes. Freedom. Give me liberty – or give me domesticity. The family. The home. Well, I do have a home. One that I nurture and take pride in. It’s just that my home is not a nest or nursery. It’s a salon.

Its community. It’s connection. It’s kicking off your heels and having a kiki. When I’m in a different place in my life, when I want something else, I’ll know it. In the meantime, I’ll keep graciously smiling at people when they tell me they hope I find someone someday.

So, anyway. You wanna hang out?

Peach Scene @

SOCIALIZERS

PHOTOS BY RUSS BOWEN-YOUNGBLOOD

Peach Scene @

WUSSY MAG

RUPAUL GIRLS PT2

PHOTOS BY RUSS BOWEN-YOUNGBLOOD

Peach Scene @

HAPPY SPRING TIME, PEACHES!

This week is all about pushing yourself to be a better you. Spring is a time for renewal and whether that means finally hitting the gym that much harder or cleaning your apartment/condo since it's much overdo, we got you.

Put in the headphones, get this playlist and make sure to get busy because we got the beats and you've got the passion. Fuel your day with these hard hitting hits, remixes and new music from artists you might not know.

BARS

3 Bulldo g s 893 Peachtree S t NE

4 Fr iend s 736 Ponce De Leon Ave NE

6 My Sister’s Room66 12 th S t NE 7 X Midtown 990 Piedmont Ave NE

BARS not on map

2 Blake's 227 10 th S t NE 1 FUTURE ATLANTA 50 Lower Alabama St. SW Suite

Dini

10th& P iedmon t 991 Piedmont Ave NE

Camp ag nolo 980 Piedmont Ave NE

G’s M id t o w n 219 10 th S t NE

Henr y ’s 132 10 th S t NE

L a H acienda 900 Monroe Dr NE

Guac y Margys 502 Amsterdam Ave NE

Peach Scene @ SNAPS

BARS & CLUBS

MIDTOWN

BLAKE’S ON THE PARK blakesontheparkatlanta.com

227 10th St NE

BULLDOGS

893 Peachtree St NE

FRIENDS NEIGHBORHOOD BAR friendsonponce-atl. com

736 Ponce De Leon Ave NE

MY SISTER’S ROOM mysistersroom.com 66 12th St NE

X MIDTOWN fb.com/XMidtownX 990 Piedmont Ave NE

THE T

modeltatlanta.com 465 Boulevard SE

CHESHIRE

HERETIC hereticatlanta.com 2069 Cheshire Bridge Road

BJ ROOSTERS bjroosters.com 2043 Cheshire Bridge Road NE

868 Joseph E. Boone Blvd NW 840ATL 840 Joseph E. Boone Blvd NW ANSLEY

MIDTOWN MOON 1492 Piedmont Ave NE

FELIX’S 1510 Piedmont Ave NE

THE HIDEAWAY 1544 Piedmont Ave NE

MIXX mixxatlanta.com 1492 Piedmont Ave NE

OSCAR’S oscarsatlanta.com 1510 Piedmont Ave NE

WOOFS woofsatlanta.com 494 Plasters Ave NE

EAST ATLANTA, GRANT PARK & EDGEWOOD

MARY’S marysatlanta.com 1287 Glenwood Ave SE

SISTER LOUISA’S CHURCH sisterlouisaschurch.com 466 Edgewood Ave SE

DINING

MIDTOWN

10TH & PIEDMONT 10thandpiedmont. com

991 Piedmont Ave NE

G’S gsmidtown.com 219 10th St NE

HENRY’S henrysatl.com 132 10th St NE

LA HACIENDA lahaciendamidtown. com

900 Monroe Dr NE

DEKALB

LIPS ATLANTA atldragshow.com 3011 Buford Hwy NE

RETAIL

MIDTOWN

BARKING LEATHER AFTER DARK barkingleather.com 1510 Piedmont Ave NE

CHESHIRE SOUTHERN NIGHTS VIDEO 2205 Cheshire Bridge Rd NE ANSLEY BOY NEXT DOOR MENSWEAR boynextdoormenswear.com 1447 Piedmont Ave NE

GCB & PLEASURES brushstrokesatlanta. com 1510-D Piedmont Ave. NE

FITNESS

URBAN BODY FITNESS urbanbody tness.com 500 Amsterdam Ave N

CHESHIRE GRAVITEE FITNESS graviteeatl.com 2201 Faulkner Rd NE

SPAS/BATHS ADULT

FLEX SPA exspas.com

76 4th St NW

CHESHIRE

March 9th - 16th

Kat Von D @ Masquerade | March 9th (7 PM)

Live Nation presents...

Wednesday, March 9th, 2022

Hell at The Masquerade

Kat Von D

7:00 PM Doors

$15 ADV / All Ages

Tickets available @ The Masquerade Box Office

5th Annual Atlanta Tattoo Arts Festival @ ATL Convention Center | March 11th- 13th

The Atlanta Tattoo Arts Convention will feature over 300 of the World's Best Tattoo Artists, tattooing live! See sideshows, live human suspension & more!

Ritual's Steampunk Party @ Heretic | March 11th (10 PM)

Welcome to a night of industrious exploration and the curiously bizarre. The Victorian and Industrial world clash in the dreams of Steampunk. RITUAL gives you an opportunity to cosplay in theme or feel free to come in your favorite goth/industrial club wear.

Special guest DJP is returning along with DJ Celebrytie spinning a delightfully dark mix of your favorite goth industrial dance tracks.

$10 †† 21 and older †† 10pm

Be sure to check out the tarot readings in the chill room. Vendors and Artists to be announced!

Proof of vaccination or current negative test required.

The Heretic always has lots of free parking and fantastic drinks!

Luck of the Square @ Colony Square | March 12th

Colony Square is thrilled to be hosting our annual Luck Of The Square celebration!

At the top of the morning, we'll kick off the fun by cheering on the runners of the St. Patrick's Day 5K in The Front Loop. As we move into the afternoon, Midtown will officially go green for the annual Atlanta St. Patrick's Day Parade.

Finally, the real fun will start with our Luck Of The Square celebration in The Plaza. Enjoy live music, drinks, face painting, photo ops + more shenanigans.

Visit go.colonysquare.com/luck for a full schedule of events + registration information for the St. Patrick's Day 5K.

Pub Crawl on the Beltline | March 12th (12 PM - 4PM)

From Inman Park to Piedmont Park, the East Side Trail on the Atlanta BeltLine connects some of the best restaurants and bars in town!

Join us on Saturday, March 12th to try them all!

Enjoy up to five complimentary beverages along the BeltLine along with awesome food and drink specials at each participating location.

Get your crew together and join us for Pub Crawl on the BeltLine: Summer Edition

Tickets Include:

• Up to (5) complimentary drinks at our partner bars

• Souvenir Pub Crawl on the BeltLine koozie

Shamrocks & Shenanigans @ LIVE at the Battery | March 12th (3 PM)

Presented by Baileys and Miller Lite

SHAMROCKS & SHENANIGANS

SAT, 12 MAR 2022 at 3:00PM

21 & Over

OnSale: Fri, 21 Jan 2022 at 10:00AM EST

Get ready to enjoy everything GREEN with us for Shamrocks & Shenanigans on Saturday, March 12th! Time to bring all your favorite Irish themed entertainment to Live! at The Battery! We’re celebrating St. Paddy’s with signature drinks, green beer, and live entertainment to keep your St. Paddy's fun going, you won't want to miss out!

Destination Unknown 80s New WAve Party @ The HIghlander | March 12th (9:30 PM - 3:30 AM)

It’s that time again! Destination Unknown - the raddest ‘80s new wave dance party bringing you your favorite retro futuristic anthems - returns Saturday, March 12th, at The Highlander! If you just can’t get enough of the old new wave, join DJs Twitch and DJIT of TWIJIT, and party host extraordinaire MJ Lee, for "Destination Unknown", a deep dive into the glam trash, glossy deviance and fiercely flamboyant tracks that (re)defined ‘80s dance floors. Whether you’re a basket case or brain, a sporto, waistoid or dweebie, you’ll dance to the synthpop of the ruthlessly stylish New Romantics, the agitated disco-not-disco of post-punk and the beautiful misery of goth-rock. I mean, like, no duh, it’s gonna be so choice!

Doors at 9:30. $10 cover (cash only)

Emerald Party w/ DJ Joe Gauthreaux @ Heretic | March 12th (10 PM - 3 AM)

Scecond Sunday Drag Brunch @ Guac Y Margy's Midtown | March 13th (1 PM - 3 PM)

JDrag Brunch! Sunday at 1PM! Bottomless Mimosas! Breakfast tacos! NO COVER.

Host: Aqua De’Laroja

Co-Host: Linuxx Lovee

Special Guest: Changes monthly 502 Amsterdam Ave NE Atlanta, GA 30306

TEA DANCES ARE BACK! @ Guac Y Margy's Midtown | March 13th (3 PM - 7 PM)

On Sunday, March 13th, we are bringing back the tea dance in our huge back room! Featuring DJ NEON THE GLOWGOBEAR!! NO COVER!

Come early to catch DRAG BRUNCH from 1PM - 3PM!

Location: Guac y Margys Midtown