Tuesday, January 22, 2013
Longtime Midtown GLBT retail store announces expansion plans; National Conference on LGBT Equality: Creating Change - opens in Atlanta on Wednesday.
In December, Midtown's gay variety store Brushstrokes celebrated its 23rd anniversary. This month, the Midtown GLBT (gay lesbian bisexual transgender) retail store at 1510 Piedmont Avenue announced that it is expanding. Its adult store, Brushstrokes Pleasures, will take over contiguous space formerly occupied by the King and I Thai restaurant in the Ansley Square shopping mall in March. The King and I Thai has two units and will be vacating the unit that Brushstrokes Pleasures will expand into while the restaurant will continue operating in its original space. The store began in a tiny Highland Avenue hallway space 1989 with greeting cards, T-shirts and a tanning bed. With the recent addition, the combined stores will total 7,000 square …
Monday's inaugural parade featured seven members from the Midtown-based Atlanta Freedom Bands marching and playing with a 200-plus member band representing the Lesbian & Gay Band Association.
It was quite the gay presidential inaugural day Monday in our nation’s capital. After taking the oath of office for a second term, President Barack Obama delivered an inaugural address that highlighted the issue of equality, including his hope for equal treatment of gay Americans for the nation’s “gay brothers and sisters.” The president, who made mention of the 1969 Stonewall riots, touched upon a theme that “all men are created equal” by mentioning issues from poverty to immigration to women’s equality to homosexuality. Obama said: “We are true to our creed when a little girl born into the bleakest poverty knows that she has the same chance to succeed as anybody else, because she is an American, she is free, and she is equal, not just in…
Saturday, January 12, 2013
From the denial of same-sex couples attempting to obtain marriage licenses, to a local pastor withdrawing from President Barack Obama's inauguration program over past views expressed on "ex-gay" therapy, the LGBT community was in the news all week long.
It was a newsworthy week for the Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender (LGBT) community in and around Midtown. On Monday, five same-sex couples tried to obtain marriage licenses at the DeKalb County Courthouse in Decatur in a campaign designed to draw attention to Georgia's laws prohibiting marriage between people of the same gender. One after the other, five couples stepped up to the counter of the DeKalb Probate Court office and said they wanted marriage licenses. Reporters were on hand to document the five couples' efforts, having been alerted by We Do, an effort of the Campaign for Southern Equality. After the couples were turned down, they walked out of the courthouse to be greeted with cheers from an estimated 75 supporters waiting …
Thursday, January 10, 2013
City ranks ninth in The Advocate's 2013 list of the Gayest Cities in America. Also, the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force’s National Conference is coming to Atlanta this month.
Is Atlanta becoming less gay? Or is it the same as it ever was? On Wednesday, The Advocate released its annual list of the “Gayest Cities in America” and Atlanta, which had topped the list just three years ago, retained its 2012 ranking as the ninth gayest city in the country. Tacoma, Wash., was named the gayest city in the nation, one of three cities in the top five from the Evergreen State. Among the criteria listed factoring in the ranking included, “LGBT elected officials, HRC Corporate Equality Index 100s, Concerts by Scissor Sisters, Uh Huh Her, Girl in a Coma, and cast of Glee, Fabulous shopping, Transgender protections, Gay rugby, Bisexual resource groups, Roller Derby, and Marriage equality.” From The Advocate: Atlanta (pop. 432,…
Friday, December 14, 2012
Atlanta Police Department releases a video featuring 23 LGBT officers explaining to young gay people the levels of happiness, potential, and positivity their lives will reach if they can just get through their teen years.
The day after Atlanta’s mayor announced his support for gay marriage, the city’s police force released a video touting its support for the Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender (LGBT) community and encouraging LGBT youth that “It Gets Better.” Much to the approval of many in the pro-gay Midtown community, Mayor Kasim Reed signed a city council approved resolution Tuesday that supports marriage equality for same-sex couples. Previously, the mayor had said he was “wrestling” with his personal beliefs on the issue, while saying he was an advocate for equal rights for gays and lesbians. But for the Atlanta Police Department (APD), such support has been in place for some time now. The video premiered Wednesday showcases APD LGBT personnel from many …
Tuesday, December 11, 2012
"So proud of our Mayor. It may have taken some time, but in the end, his reaching the right conclusion is what we celebrate today." - District 6 Atlanta City Councilman Alex Wan
The week after the Atlanta City Council approved District 6 Councilman Alex Wan’s resolution to support marriage equality, Mayor Kasim Reed Tuesday signed it in announcing his support for gay marriage. The resolution supports the city’s lesbian, gay, transgender and bisexual community by endorsing marriage equality for same-sex couples. Previously, the mayor had said he was “wrestling” with his personal beliefs on the issue, while saying he was an advocate for equal rights for gays and lesbians. “Today marks an important day as I announce my support for marriage equality,” said Reed in a city release. “It is well known that I have gone through a good bit of reflection on this issue, but listening to the stories of so many people that I …
Wednesday, December 5, 2012
District 6 Councilman Alex Wan introduces legislation supporting marriage equality.
During the same Monday meeting in which it controversially voted to give itself a more than 50 percent pay raise, the Atlanta City Council tackled another hot topic by approving a resolution to support marriage equality. District 6 Councilman Alex Wan introduced the legislation and the resolution passed by an 11-2 vote with councilmembers Howard Shook and C.T. Martin voting against. Since the state has in place a constitutional ban on marriage equality, the resolution is expected to have almost no legal impact in Georgia. But it certainly caused celebration in certain portions of the gay-friendly communities of Midtown, Virginia-Highland, and Morningside that Wan represents. On his Facebook page Monday evening, Wan posted: "Proud to share …
Tuesday, October 23, 2012
With the Nov. 6 General Election quickly approaching, a Midtown singing group encourages voter participation, and asks Atlanta Pride festival-goers for their words of encouragement for LGBT youth who are afraid to come out.
Election Day is two weeks from today and early voting, which began on Monday, Oct. 15, continues through Nov. 2. As of Monday across Fulton County, more than 45,000 people had cast ballots since early voting began. The heaviest turnout has been in southwest Atlanta, where nearly 8,800 people have voted at the Adamsville Recreation Center, and in College Park, where more than 11,000 people have voted so far. Voters can cast their ballots Monday through Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday voting will be offered at the Buckhead Library on Oct. 27 from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Remember to bring your picture ID so you can vote. Here are the early voting locations for Fulton residents: The Midtown-based lesbian singing duo Bria and Chrissy …
Friday, October 19, 2012
The chicken fast food chain says the term was not meant to be anti-gay
The Chick-fil-A on Peachtree Industrial Boulevard in Chamblee is making national headlines for one of its fliers, which reads, "Only a fruitcake wouldn't love our party trays." The blog, Towleroad, first posted the flier late last week after one of the blog's Twitter followers tweeted it. On the heels of this summer's controversy about Chick-fil-A CEO Dan Cathy's statements about traditional marriage and the national spotlight on the company's donations to organizations devoted to heterosexual-only lifestyles, the "fruitcake" term has caused quite a stir. Chick-fil-A says the term "fruitcake" was about an actual fruitcake. The restaurant chain's CMO Steve Robinson told national gay magazine The Advocate this week: "This is an advertisement…
Saturday, October 13, 2012
The annual Atlanta Pride Parade kicks off Sunday at 1 p.m. from the MARTA Civic Center Station assembly area on West Peachtree Street.
Atlanta Pride, the biggest LGBT event in the Southeast, is in full swing and the party is on! Let us see your most colorful pictures from the 42nd Annual Atlanta Pride Festival here. Just click on the "Upload Photos and Video" button above and let all of Midtown see your Pride! And while you’re at it, tells us why Pride still matters, as Atlanta-based playwrite and author Topher Payne wrote about this week for the GA Voice. Of course, Sunday brings the annual Atlanta Pride Parade. It kicks off at 1 p.m. from the MARTA Civic Center Station assembly area on West Peachtree Street. It will travel east on Ralph McGill Boulevard, north on Peachtree, east on 10th and terminates at the Charles Allen gate on 10th. The parade lasts approximately …
Hunt Archbold
6:29 am on Wednesday, January 23, 2013
clancey, while the article didn't indicate the restaurant was closing, thanks for the clarification about the current King and I Thai status and that info has been added to the story. more ›