01/20/23, Vol. 13 Issue 21

About the cover: Courtesy photo by Clique

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REFLECTIONS ON THE BLACK ATLANTA LEATHER LIFE: A PERSPECTIVE FOR BLACK HISTORY MONTH

J. Tebias Perry

In 1997, when my military service ended, I returned to Atlanta. I set out to discover who I was and what was guiding me toward the man I would become. I knew I was gay, and I was intrigued by the notion of the kink/ BDSM world.

After a stint in the Miami/Fort Lauderdale area, I once again returned to Atlanta, this time with a newfound freedom of spirit and the knowledge that I now knew who I was. Fearless and ready to explore, I began my journey into the leather life.

The gay and leather scenes in Atlanta have always coexisted, yet they rarely mingled. I was introduced to Onyx, an organization focused on people of color, bisexuals, and gay men. Prior to this introduction, my overall perspective had been limited. Onyx offered the opportunity to accept my selfdetermination and allowed me to embrace my agency over my Blackness and my place as a Black leatherman.

I have to admit that at that time I knew little about the divide that had existed within the various subcultures of the kink/ BDSM community. Sadly, racism had a place alongside that divide, and it continues to.

The Atlanta Eagle, a bastion of the Atlanta leather community for 38 years, has provided safe space and a warm welcome to Onyx SE and other organizations as a home bar and venue for club events.

The synergy between the Eagle and Onyx, combined with DJ Ron Pullman’s sounds, create an amazing harmony and a stronger experience for Black leathermen.

The Hideaway, under the direction of Jeffrey Gwenn and “Mother,” has also remained a safe and welcoming space.

An original Onyx Pearl shared a personal

reflection with me that took place at Bulldogs in the mid ’80s. She recalled being the very first POC to gain entry to the then “hardcore allwhite male leather bar.” There was Backstreet, the Armory, and The Cove in Morningside; POC visibility in the leather life was on the rise.

In 1984, Ron Moore became the first Black man to take the title of International Mr. Leather. His message and visibility in turn helped reinforce and shape the visibility of many Black leather communities across the U.S.

In 1996, Jill Carter became the first International Ms. Leather. Genelle Moore followed in 1997, which made Ron and his sister the only standing brother-sister duo to hold international leather titles. These pioneers and countless others afforded POC a way forward and paved the way for so many amazing competitions and victors. The momentum is still here.

In certain spaces, I would hear that the Tom of Finland man is the “ideal” leatherman and anything less is substandard. I also began hearing these supposed truisms:

“Black men do not look good in leather.”

“Anyone with dreadlocks should not wear

leather; the two don’t go together.”

“I would love to have a Black submissive.”

“Have you ever been dominated by a white leather daddy?”

These ideas are damaging and only serve to limit potential for POC in the leather life. Due to my mentorship and learning about Black excellence and leather leadership, I never subscribed to that line of thinking.

The truth behind many accounts observed and witnessed by Black people was fact-checked by the late Vern Stewart, affectionately known as “The Wicked Witch of the East.” He shared countless stories during Onyx Blackouts at the Parliament House in Augusta, Georgia, and in the Atlanta area. Vern was an original influencer!

The history of POC leather dates back as far as gay culture. The Atlanta Black leather community is a subculture just like R&B and rap are. We inspire and we influence. We move forward to provide space for more diverse and inclusive change.

Hear from members of Atlanta’s Black leather community on page 12.

J. Tebias Perry COURTESY PHOTO

Staff reports

Read these stories and more online at thegavoice.com

Atlanta Pride Announces 2022-2023 Community Reinvestment Grant Recipients

The Atlanta Pride Committee (APC) has announced its 2022-2023 Community Reinvestment Grant (CRG) recipients.

The CRG supports organizations doing critical work to benefit members of the LGBTQ community in the Southeast. APC’s 2023 priority funding categories include health services, transgender, and queer youth initiatives. This year, the grant will disseminate more than $70,000 among these organizations.

“No organization can achieve transformative justice and equity alone,” said Jamie Fergerson, APC’s Executive Director. “As Georgia’s oldest LGBTQ organization, it is our responsibility to give back to the community in a tangible way. By sharing our staff and their expertise, low or no cost opportunities to participate in the Atlanta Pride Festival and Parade, and tangible cash support, we support our grantees and community partners in continuing the work which benefits our shared communities.”

The 2022-2023 Grant Recipients are:

• Acceptance Recovery Center

• AID Atlanta

• All-1-Family, Inc.

• CommunityScape Services, Inc.

• Compassionate Atlanta

• Historic Atlanta • I Am Human Foundation

• Out Front Theatre Company

• Out on Film

• Paint Love

• Pets Are Loving Support, Inc.

• PFLAG Rome, Inc.

• Trans Housing Atlanta Inc.

Advocacy Groups Criticize New Biden Immigration Policies

The Biden administration’s expansion of the use of “expedited removal” of Cubans, Nicaraguans, Haitians and Venezuelans who enter the U.S. from Mexico without

legal authorization has sparked widespread criticism from advocacy groups that specifically work with LGBTQ and intersex asylum seekers and migrants.

The Department of Homeland Security will create a humanitarian parole program for Cubans, Haitians, and Nicaraguans that combines “safe, orderly and lawful pathways to the United States, including authorization to work, with significant consequences for those who fail to use those pathways.”

Cubans, Haitians and Nicaraguans through a U.S. Customs and Border Protection app “can seek advance authorization to travel to the United States and be considered, on a case-by-case basis, for a temporary grant of parole for up to two years, including employment authorization, provided that they: Pass rigorous biometric and biographic national security and public safety screening and vetting; have a supporter in the United States who commits to providing financial and other support and complete vaccinations and other public health requirements.”

DHS notes Venezuelans, Cubans, Haitians and Nicaraguans “who do not avail themselves of this process, attempt to enter the United States without authorization, and cannot establish a legal basis to remain will be removed or returned to Mexico, which will accept returns of 30,000 individuals per month who fail to use these new pathways.”

The U.S. Supreme Court on December 27 ruled Title 42, a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention rule that closed the Southern border to most asylum seekers and migrants because of the pandemic, must remain in place.

The Biden administration has sought to end Title 42 but Arizona and 18 other states that include Texas filed a lawsuit. The Supreme Court is expected to hear oral arguments in the case next month.

“I don’t like Title 42 at all, but it is the law now,” said Biden, who predicted the pandemic-era policy will end this year.

“I wanted to make sure there was a rational way to begin this now.”

Immigration Equality Executive Director Aaron C. Morris in a press release said, “Every LGBTQ and HIV-positive refugee has the right to apply for asylum in the United States.”

“Requiring our community to file for asylum in unsafe third countries will have mortal consequences for many of us,” he said. “Immigration Equality strongly condemns any proposal by the Biden administration to restrict asylum to LGBTQ and HIV-positive refugees. The United States has a great capacity to protect and support asylum seekers and refugees, maybe more than any other nation. President Biden must stop creating barriers to protection, and instead do everything in his power to facilitate the safe relocation of all LGBTQ and HIVpositive people fleeing persecution.”

San Diego Pride Executive Director Fernando Z. López, like Morris, said “asylum is a human right and an LGBTQ issue,” noting consensual same-sex sexual relations remain criminalized in 68 countries and “people can be put to death simply for being themselves” in 10 of them.

Advocacy groups criticize new Biden immigration policies. PHOTO BY SHUTTERSTOCK.COM / STEWART REID

AbsoluteCare

Primary

THE McCARTHY ERA BEGINS IN CONGRESS

Victoria A. Brownworth

Read the full article online at thegavoice.com. It was 1:04am Saturday morning (January 7) when Kevin McCarthy finally won the Speakership after 15 ballots and a long battle with 20 far-right members of the GOP’s House Freedom Caucus. It was the first time since Reconstruction there had been so many ballots. Even on the final ballot, six of the holdouts, led by Matt Gaetz (R-FL) and Lauren Boebert (R-CO), refused to vote for McCarthy, voting “present” instead, which allowed McCarthy to garner the majority needed to win. McCarthy’s final total was 216 votes to 212 for Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY), who had unified support throughout.

The long vote battle prompted one Twitter influencer to comment, “So after all that it turns out we DO negotiate with terrorists.”

McCarthy’s ascendancy is bad news for women and LGBTQ people and signals that the next two years will see no passage of bills in support of either group — and likely passage of bills that will negatively impact them. McCarthy has been in the House for 16 years and has a history of anti-LGBTQ and misogynist stances. He is staunchly anti-abortion and also opposed to same-sex marriage. McCarthy has voted to strip about $500 million in federal funding for Planned Parenthood, which impacts both women and LGBTQ people, and he also supports the Hyde Amendment and opposes any federal funding for abortion.

McCarthy was a supporter of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA). After President Obama instructed the Justice Department not to defend the law in court, McCarthy supported House Republicans’ legal defense of the law. When the DOMA case reached the Supreme Court in 2013, McCarthy joined then-Speaker John Boehner and House Majority Leader Eric Cantor in an amicus brief supporting DOMA.

Last month McCarthy voted against the bipartisan Respect for Marriage Act and has previously voted against the Equality Act twice. McCarthy also refused to support the Do No Harm Act, which clarifies that the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA) is intended to protect religious freedom without allowing the infliction of harm on other people, notably LGBTQ people.

As House Majority Leader, McCarthy also led efforts to repeal the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA or Obamacare). In July 2022, McCarthy supported a GOP bill that would block federal funding to colleges where trans women are allowed to participate in sports with cisgender women. A separate bill would allow transgender people to sue medical personnel who helped them transition as minors.

This history highlights how problematic

McCarthy will be. The week-long fight to be elected Speaker was unprecedented and marked an ignominious and fraught first week of the new 118th Congress, which wasn’t sworn in until nearly 2am Saturday morning. There was even a physical altercation on the floor of the House between Gaetz, Rep. Mike Rogers (R-AL) and McCarthy in which Rogers had to be restrained from assaulting Gaetz. For a party claiming their narrow majority was a mandate from the American people, it was anything but a unified front.

McCarthy’s acceptance speech, which followed a rousing alphabet of Democratic wins over Republican failures by House Minority Leader Jeffries, was a series of contradictions. After saying he would always put the country first, McCarthy laid out what he would prioritize as Speaker. He said that he and his party were committed to a “future that’s built on freedom. Where

children come first and are taught to dream big — because in America, dreams can still come true. A commitment for a government that is held accountable.”

He did not mean Donald Trump and January 6 insurrectionists, though, because immediately after the House adjourned, he was telling reporters that Trump was owed a debt of thanks, saying, “I do want to especially thank President Trump. I don’t think anybody should doubt his influence. He was with me from the beginning… he was all in.”

In his acceptance speech, McCarthy asserted, “We believe government should be there to help you, not go after you. We’re gonna pass bills to fix the nation’s challenges from wide open southern borders to America-last energy policies to woke indoctrination in our schools.”

That last point is LGBTQ people. McCarthy holds the current GOP stance that kids are being “groomed” to be LGBTQ in schools, which has led to a spate of anti-LGBTQ GOP-led legislation in state legislatures. LGBTQ advocates are concerned that McCarthy’s close relationship with Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) might lead him to support Greene’s proposed bill, the “Protect Children’s Innocence Act.” The bill makes it a felony to perform any gender affirming care on a minor and it permits a minor on whom such care is performed to bring a civil action against each individual who provided the care.

In his acceptance speech McCarthy promised transparency and that the actions of Congress would be witnessed. “The debates will be open for you to witness what happens in the People’s House.” But C-SPAN tweeted, “NOTE: C-SPAN cameras are no longer in the House chamber. We have resumed using the feed from House/government-operated cameras.”

C-SPAN sent a letter to McCarthy requesting the cameras be allowed in the House chamber. McCarthy did not respond. The transparency McCarthy promised has ended before it began.

Kevin McCarthy, Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives

PHOTO BY SHUTTERSTOCK.COM / SHIRLEY PRESTON

The History of Portraiture as Power:

When it comes to history, there may not be a way to learn from and feel the truth of the past quite like art. Starting February 8, 200 years of Black history will be on display at Spelman College Museum of Fine Art in an exhibit titled Black American Portraits. The exhibit depicts Black figures in a range of media, such as painting, drawing, prints, photography, sculpture, mixed-media and time-based media and opens alongside the release of a book by the same title, co-edited by the co-curators of the exhibit, Spelman College Museum of Fine Art Executive Director Liz Andrews and Tate’s Britton Family Curator-at-Large Christine Y. Kim.

Andrews spoke to Georgia Voice about the upcoming exhibit and book, the radical power of portraiture, and the impact of displaying Black joy and abundance amid a narrative riddled with violence.

Quotes have been edited for clarity.

Tell me about the exhibit and what people can expect to see, as well as the curation process — what were you keeping in mind when looking for pieces to include?

The opportunity to put together this exhibition arose in the summer of 2020. We all know what was going down then: the pandemic, the pandemonium, the unrest. That was a time, that we’re still in, when there were very serious calls for organizations like museums and cultural institutions to put their money where their mouth is. Everybody talks about diversity and inclusion and these values, but so often it is all talk or just surface level. So, we knew that people were going to come out in droves for the Obama portraits … We wanted to use that as an opportunity to give people a history.

Portraiture is a tool of power that has been used for centuries. For example, traditional portraiture that we inherit for Europe is a way

for monarchs and wealthy people to create an image for all of time — not necessarily an accurate image, or the most realistic image, but an idealized image. Portraiture is something that Black Americans have used for the entire existence of this nation to present a counternarrative, because of course the images of Black people that were used to justify slavery were these caricatures: the mammy figure, the Sambo figure, loud, ignorant, uneducated. We wanted to show people that portraiture is something that has been seized by Black Americans in order to present images of our own making…

With this exhibition, it covers over 200 years of art, the earliest piece being a painting of a sailor believed to be Paul Cuffe, and that’s

from 1790 or 1800. It goes through the invention of photography, the early 20th century and the Harlem Renaissance, the ’60s and ’70s Black protest art from the Civil Rights Movement, through the ’90s and the emergence of identity as an organizing factor for art and academic disciplines. And it goes all the way through today; the newest work in the show is being finished right now. So there will be a work from 2022 that will only be at the Spelman presentation by the artist Calida Rawles.

People can expect to arrive at the gallery and see a very full history, see work from across time and across media; we have everything from paintings to sculpture, we have collage, we have photography, prints…

We will have a total of 118 works; 114 of them are coming from Los Angeles County Museum of Art [LACMA] and then we have four new acquisitions from Spelman that we’re adding … We wanted to make sure that womenidentifying artists were front and center, and also that we took it as an opportunity to make some acquisitions for our collection.

I would like to talk more about what you said about portraiture as a tool of power, because you said something about a portrait being an idealized image of self. There’s this focus on Black love and abundance and these positive ideals that are in radical opposition to how Black Americans have

Katie Burkholder

BLACK AMERICAN PORTRAITS EXHIBIT COMES TO SPELMAN COLLEGE MUSEUM OF FINE ART

Ming Smith, Grace Jones, Studio 54 II, 1979, gelatin silver print, 12 x 18 in., Los Angeles County Museum of Art, promised gift of Janine Sherman Barrois and Lyndon J. Barrois, Sr. © MING SMITH, DIGITAL IMAGE COURTESY OF THE ARTIST

been portrayed by the broader society throughout history. Can you talk a little bit about that and how this collection of portraits is a tool of power in and of itself? Again, thinking about 2020, I remember when I first saw the eight-plus-minute video of George Floyd, and we’re seeing all these different images of violence on Black bodies. You need the visibility, you need people to see what’s happening, but at the same time it’s traumatizing to see that kind of violence inflicted on anyone, to have Black death and violence be so normalized in our psyche and in the images we see. So, this was also meant in many ways to be a salve, because we’re still living in the current state and aftermath of COVID-19 and everything that emerged out of that time, and there’s a very important space for art and images that make visible the violence and oppression of our nation, and I think there’s also an equally important need to joy, to be inspired by the beauty of life. Like you said, because the dominant lens of this nation, for the vast majority of our history, has demonized Black people, it is in some ways a radical act to say, ‘We’re going to look at images that humanize, that celebrate love and family and abundance — and complexity, it’s not all fluff but things that really can inspire.”

I’d like to shift to talk about the symposium y’all are hosting on March 2 and 3. Can you tell me about that and the speakers who will be presenting?

That I’m very excited about. When you very first walk into the gallery … you walk through this central path and there’s a wall right in front of you that’s … the first thing you see. On that wall, will be two very large paintings … on the left there will be a painting by Amy Sherald, who did Michelle Obama’s portrait for the National Portrait Gallery, and then on the right a figurative painting by Calida Rawles … to the left of those two, there will be a quilt by Bisa Butler of Chadwick Boseman.

Our opening night panel is going to be moderated by Naima Keith, who is a curator and the head of education and public programs at LACMA. She will be moderating a panel of those three artists, and they’re all women-identifying artists that graduated from HBCUs … I think there’s a really powerful story to tell about the fact that these

three women artists all were nurtured by and honed their artistic skills at HBCUs. So, the opening night of the symposium will be that panel with those three artists, and then we’ll have the art historian Bridget Cooks speaking, we’ll have [photographer] Deborah Willis, we’ll also have performances by both alumni and professors from Spelman College … It’ll be a nice, primarily women-centered gathering of the minds: curators, artists, and art historians.

To shift again to this book you’ve been working on, tell me about that. The book is meant to be an evergreen

commemoration of this collecting effort and this exhibition. It also features over 200 years of art — it’s not all the works in the show, and there are works included in it that are not in the show that are in LACMA’s collection. It’s kind of a statement taking ownership for the fact that LACMA has, like most other major art museums, missed the mark for decades at a time when it comes to showing art by artists of color, by Black artists. So, it has essays by myself — I did an essay on works from LACMA’s collection on photography — my co-curator wrote an essay about the collection effort, there’s an essay by Hilton Als that I think will really impact people. Jeffrey Stewart

has an essay called “Beyond the Master” that I think is excellent because it talks about the ways that portraiture has traditionally been reserved for the upper classes, for upholding white supremacist capitalist patriarchy. Then there’s a big section of plates of gorgeous images of works that are in the collection.

The exhibition was inspired by a show done in 1976 by David Driskell called Two Centuries of Black American Art. It was pretty much the first major museum survey of Black American art ever, and it originated at LACMA. The exhibition itself was very powerful, but the catalog was and is for some people like a Bible, it’s such a foundational text. So, putting together not just an exhibition that comes and goes away, but having the works in the collection for generations to see and then having a book that people can go to at any time and any place and learn through essays but also just learn through the images, was really important to us. I imagine [the book] having a life on its own.

Do you have anything you’d like to add that we didn’t cover?

We have a public opening reception on Friday, February 10, from 6pm to 8. It will be a celebration of the show, and we really want people to come out. The show is on view from February 8 through June 30, and the gallery hours are Wednesday through Saturday, noon to 5. A lot of museums have a steep entry price, frankly, but the museum is free and open to the public. We hope that people come out to see this show because … I love all the contemporary stuff by artists working together, but there’s also such incredible work by artists who were working 100 years ago who laid the groundwork for all the incredible things that we see today.

I know this is a specifically LGBTQ publication, and we very much made an effort to be inclusive and to have work that represented many different kinds of families and identities within Blackness, because we are not a monolith.

Black American Portraits is on display at Spelman College Museum of Fine Art (350 Spelman Lane SW) from February 8 through June 30. Learn more at museum.spelman. edu. You can purchase “Black American Portraits” at delmonicobooks.com.

Bisa Butler, Forever, 2020, cotton, silk, wool, and velvet quilted and appliquéd, 86 x 42 in., Los Angeles County Museum of Art, gift of D’Rita and Robbie Robinson. © BISA BUTLER, PHOTO © MUSEUM ASSOCIATES/LACMA

William Dorsey Swann:

THE FIRST DRAG QUEEN

The first drag queen was a queer activist born enslaved.

Born into slavery in 1860, William Dorsey Swann is the first known queer activist in the U.S. and the first person to describe themselves as a “queen of drag.”

Yet despite holding such an incredible title, the world had largely forgotten about him until January 2020, when The Nation published an article about Swann by researcher Channing Gerald Joseph.

Joseph explained in the article that he discovered Swann about a decade earlier by stumbling upon a Washington Post article from April 13, 1888, titled “Negro Dive Raided. Thirteen Black Men Dressed as Women Surprised at Supper and Arrested.”

The article described a police raid on a drag ball, from which several attendees escaped, while others physically fought back. Ultimately, officers arrested 13 men, whose names were printed in the paper.

“You is no Gentleman,” Swann boldly said to the police lieutenant leading the raid.

An article from the same day in The Evening Star was titled “A Drag Party Raided” and even describes Swann as the “Queen.”

This instance of Swann and other attendees fighting back against the police is the first documented case of physical queer resistance in the U.S., and it happened almost a century before Stonewall.

Swann was arrested again in 1896. This time he was sentenced to 10 months in prison for holding a drag ball and the false charge of “keeping a disorderly house,” a charge

usually applied to brothels. There has been no evidence uncovered to suggest Swann ran a brothel or engaged in sex work.

Swann was educated and even wrote a letter defending his character and demanding a pardon from President Grover Cleveland, who refused. In doing so, Swann became the earliest known American activist to use the U.S. political and legal system to defend queer rights.

This means that Swann was engaged in both the first known violent act and the first known nonviolent act of queer resistance in U.S. history.

Having a ball

Since his discovery, Joseph has done more research on Swann and the early drag balls of D.C. He plans to release a book titled “House of Swann: Where Slaves Become Queens.”

He discovered that the House of Swann’s balls were similar to those of today, with mothers and “queens” leading close-knit groups. He noted that terms regularly used today like “sashay across the floor,” “vogue,” and “strike a pose” appeared in articles from the 1930s.

These drag balls were often spread by word of mouth at places like the YMCA and consisted of formerly enslaved people, cooks, coachmen, butlers, and other working people, mostly people of color. Swann’s balls usually included singing and dancing and featured a cakewalk, where a hoecake was awarded to the best dancer.

In his The Nation article, Joseph cites an article from the Washington Critic on January 14, 1887, that reads:

“Six colored men, dressed in elegant female attire, were arraigned in the dock at the Police

Court this morning on a charge of being suspicious persons … They nearly all had on low neck and short sleeve silk dresses, several of them with trains … corsets, bustles, long hose and slippers, and everything that goes to make a female’s dress complete.”

The Washington Post article from the following year also described “wigs of long, wavy hair.”

House of Swann

The 1887 party took place at the home of Swann’s lover, Pierce Lafayette, who was previously enslaved by the vice president of the Confederacy. It was during this time years prior that Lafayette’s relationship with Felix Hall marked the first ever recorded same-sex slave relationship.

The 1887 arrest captured the attention of hundreds of onlookers and countless newspaper readers across the nation, and the large publicity meant an increased risk for

Swann and his queer family to gather.

However, Swann was used to attention, having made the news multiple times over the years, starting in 1882, when he was arrested for stealing party supplies.

Despite the risk, the drag community continued to gather, with two regular attendees being Swann’s younger brothers. Long after Swann’s retirement from the drag scene in the late 1890s, his brother Daniel J. Swann continued to host parties and provide costumes for the drag community until his death in 1954. Unfortunately, there are no known photographs of William Dorsey Swann, and the year of his death remains a mystery.

Leaving behind an incredible legacy of activism and drag excellence, Swann has directly shaped the art of drag and the course of history. We owe it to him to make sure his story is never forgotten again.

Luke Gardner

William Dorsey Swann HISTORICAL PHOTO

MEET CANZARA, HIV/AIDS ADVOCATE AND ATLANTA DRAG QUEEN

“Southern. Black. Queer. That’s how I identify,” Zavier Mason, 27, (@canzara_szn) said in an interview with Georgia Voice. Mason, who performs under the pseudonym Canzara, moved to Atlanta in 2017 after graduating with a bachelor’s degree in Psychology and Biology from the University of Alabama.

By day, Mason works as a project coordinator for the Rollins School of Public Health at Emory University. They spend their days researching behavioral science, educating the public on why barriers to STD testing and safety exist, and resources to circumvent those barriers, which includes access to PrEP.

Their mission to educate and provide access to STD testing and treatment is personal. Zavier is HIV-positive and very open about their status.

“I am very upfront about who I am,” they told Georgia Voice. “Not everyone is as open as me, so I wanted to create a space for other people going through it, especially in Atlanta.”

In Atlanta, one in 51 people “may be infected with HIV/AIDS at any given time,” according to the CDC. On Dec. 1, World AIDS Day, the CDC listed Georgia as No. 1 for new cases of HIV/AIDS. In 2020, the CDC reported that over 60,000 Georgians live with HIV. Black people in the South made up 72% of new cases, Latino people made up almost 10%, and white people made up 16%.

Even though HIV/AIDS can be survived if caught early and treated quickly, the health care system in Georgia proves to be ineffective at providing necessary assistance and access to adequate medical care. Gov. Brian Kemp implemented a “work requirement” on the joint federal and state program Medicaid in Nov. 2022, following his reelection. The plan requires individuals to work or volunteer for a minimum of 80 hours per month to access Medicaid. Georgia is the only state in the country with this restriction. Without access to health care, many people are not able to work, which leaves them vulnerable to financial and health problems.

By night, Zavier performs in drag shows across Atlanta, using their platform to educate people on the HIV/AIDS epidemic happening in the South.

When they first moved to Atlanta five years ago, it wasn’t long before they discovered the diverse drag scene that finds a home in Atlanta. On their first outing in drag, they won second place in the 2018 Peach Pit Pageant, hosted by Southern Fried Queer Pride.

“I used the freedom I saw on the drag stage to bring myself up after a few depressive months,” they said. “Instead of building myself up, I built up ‘Canzara.’”

Since then, Canzara has been making waves in the Atlanta drag scene; you may recognize them from the House of ALXNDR (@houseofalxndr)

“My research and my drag are for the same people,” Mason said. Their life is dedicated to supporting and being a part of the vibrant LGBTQ community in Atlanta, which they credit for allowing them to be themselves.

Mason stressed the importance of community

for everyone, especially young queer people in the South.

“It takes time to find [community], but I feel that the only reason that I have the strength to be authentic is because there are people in my corner that support me,” they said. “Not to say that it’s not scary, or that people don’t walk away … it just doesn’t matter because I have my community.”

One of their favorite moments in drag was when anti-LGBTQ protestors gathered at the Human Rights Campaign PRIDE Luncheon and Mason took center stage as Canzara and posed in front of the crowd.

“Authenticity is power,” they said of their openness, which has allowed them to help others find the help and resources they need. “Existence is resistance.”

You can follow Canzara on Instagram @ canzara_szn and Tiktok @bottleofrozae.

Adalei Stevens

Canzara, HIV/AIDS advocate and Atlanta drag queen PHOTOS VIA INSTAGRAM

“I am very upfront about who I am. Not everyone is as open as me, so I wanted to create a space for other people going through it, especially in Atlanta.”

A LOOK INTO ATLANTA’S Black Leather Community

In honor of Black History Month, prominent members of Atlanta’s Black leather scene discuss race, exclusion in the community, the freedom of leather, and the vision of a better future.

“My hope for the Black Atlanta Leather community is that we focus on intentional healing internally and achieving sustainable equity externally. According to Malcolm X:

‘If you stick a knife in my back nine inches and pull it out six inches, there’s no progress. If you pull it all the way out that’s not progress. Progress is healing the wound that the blow made. And they haven’t even pulled the knife out much less heal the wound...’

My prayer is that we heal the wounds caused by historic systemic racism, provide salve of compassion for our present divisions and join for a better future for everyone.”

— Mstrs Dionne ‘Choc-Trei’ Henderson

“What if we didn’t have to settle? What if we didn’t have to hide?

These are some of the questions I allowed to lead my search for a retreat center as a Black, queer, kinky sex worker/witch hosting retreats for folks that look, think, and play like I do. I am out, visible (showed my whole ass, literally, on Netflix) and easily located on Google. The number of times I have been told, after having my deposit refunded, that I am probably not a good fit for their facility affirmed my need to hide who I am to hold space for my community.

Thankfully, I was built for this. My background in non-profit management made me hear an opportunity in a ‘no,’ and after over 15 years of fundraising for communities that are often relegated to the shadows by mainstream society, I understand the need for space very differently than I might if I were privileged differently.

It is in that light that I create and hold space, knowing the way a sense of home affirms and how worthy we are of being affirmed. I know firsthand how much the worry of being outed by those who have enough financial means to build the spaces we need to retreat to can steal away bits of our humanness. No more hiding in the shadows.

Luxury. Comfort. Rest. All of that for all of us.”

“The Black Atlanta community will always have a special place in my life! I came of age in this city, still evolving as a slave, as a man of trans experience, and as a gay man. The Founding men of Onyx Southeast were welcoming and showed strength in Black faggotry, without a glimmer of shame, yet still leather. It was no doubt I wanted to be a full brother of Onyx. Atlanta is full of the history of strong Black people; let their memories continue to uplift the Black Atlanta community and let that energy flow through them to help welcome in the future.”

—Dana Prosser

“I have been in this lifestyle a long time, and I can remember a time when the Black leather community was very underground and hidden. Over the years, I have seen this change more and more. POCs are coming forward and making themselves known through education, visibility in events and contributions and even becoming title holders. I feel this will continue even through adversity as long as we always remember to “Keep LOVE in the Lifestyle!””

—Goddess Amina

“The Atlanta Leather Community is diverse, persistent and evolutionary! We’re not always seen, but ALWAYS PRESENT!”

—Remi Johnson

REMEMBERING LYNN BARFIELD

Read the full article online at thegavoice.com.

She was affectionately known as the Mayor of Midtown, a dynamo with an ever-present smile, plentiful hugs and kisses and the ability to warm up to everyone. Hazel Lynn Barfield, 51, passed away unexpectedly on December 8, 2022.

A memorial service for family and friends was held December 17 at Fischer Funeral Care and another took place in Midtown at Blake’s on the Park January 9. Both were filled to capacity, with lines literally spilling out the doors.

Born in Jonesboro, Barfield attended the University of Georgia and while there, quickly befriended and became allies to many in the LGBTQ community and got involved in Athens’ annual Boybutante Ball. Her initial intention was to teach, but after moving to Atlanta, she became active in the nonprofit arena, buoyed by the work she’d seen her UGA friends do. She served as a development liaison between Hands On Atlanta and the CocaCola Company and with the Georgia Department of Natural Resources as a community and volunteer liaison for park rangers and management staff. Later she became the executive director of Enlight Atlanta, seeking to establish gay and straight alliances in high schools and colleges. Barfield also volunteered for organizations such as Chris 180, AID Atlanta and the More to Love Foundation, served as the board president for For the Kid in All of Us, and was on the Mayor’s LGBTQ advisory board.

Many in the LGBTQ community met Barfield when she worked the door at Blake’s, checking IDs for those entering and earning another nickname — Mama Lynn.

Barfield was honored as an Atlanta Pride

grand marshal in 2011 and later worked with Atlanta Pride Committee as its operations manager from 2018 to 2021. Steven Igarashi-Ball, the organization’s director of equity and engagement, credits Barfield with leading him to his current job.

“In 2021, Lynn and I were collaborating on a community project,” he said. “I called her to schedule a meeting, and she asked if I was calling to apply for a job listing with Atlanta Pride. I told her I was very happy at AID Atlanta and wasn’t looking for a new position. For the next several weeks, she told me I needed to apply for [it]. I finally sent her my resume just to get her to leave me alone. I didn’t get the job she wanted me to apply for, but submitting my resume led to creating the role I now have.”

“My story is so Lynn — she was a tenacious connector and constantly sought ways to engage others in her love of community,” he said. “I am grateful I got to call her a friend and a colleague, and I hope my life will have a fraction of the impact that hers had. It’s probably not good to be jealous of someone’s funeral, but Lynn’s memorial made me hope to be remembered similarly. She was a friend to many, and a champion of even more.”

Many friends and colleagues shared remembrances at the December 17 service, including Atlanta City Council member Matt Westmoreland.

“Whether you met her through CHRIS 180, AID Atlanta, the More Love Foundation or For the Kid in All of Us, it is a testament to

how powerful her legacy will live on by the overflow out of this building that is taking place right now,” Westmoreland said. “She was a tireless advocate, an incredible ally.”

Tony Patterson, who met Barfield in 1995, called her a “comforter” to him and his family. “She had a very intuitive spirit,” Patterson said. “She could be in a room with 200 people and hug you and say the right words at the right time.”

Speaking at both the December 17 and January 9 events was Tony Kearney.

“Thirty years ago, I moved to a little town called Athens, Georgia,” Kearney said. “I was going to be there for two years, but the people there changed my life. I remember meeting Lynn as a student, and there was joy emoting from her body. We became friends. I joked with her [later in our friendship] that she was Facebook before Facebook. She was the networks of all networks.”

All who met Barfield have a story, and I have mine. Like so many, I met Lynn when I lived in Athens after attending the University of Georgia and she was one of the first people who offered unequivocal support after I came out.

Barfield was ordained to officiate weddings and a few weeks before her passing officiated the wedding of friend Bruce Twee Roy Jr. and SeoulJuicy Dior.

Jim Smith, one of Barfield’s closest friends, also remembered her at the December 17 memorial service. He said he felt there wasn’t anyone Barfield didn’t get along with.

“She was magic, lightning in a bottle,” Smith said. “She knew how to light up a room. I don’t know what I am going to do without her. She could be so mad at something one day and the next day let everything go. Life is too short. Don’t hold grudges. Live every day like she did, and love like she did.”

Jim Farmer

Lynn Barfield COURTESY PHOTO

The Function of Place— HISTORICAL ATLANTA BLACK LGBTQ COMMUNITY SITES

Read the full article online at thegavoice.com.

To be Black and queer and free, one must establish a home and find or form a family to which one can be held whole as they are. Thirty years ago, Black queer Atlantans were acting as if they dared believe that they could be free. They dared boldly as all Black people must do or perish, to claim their own territory, to reform themselves as a proud people with recognized rituals and places for respite, recreation and resistance. They were running clubs, founding organizations, holding space, attesting to themselves that they mattered, and would hold themselves accountable to each other as never before. The ’90s were the definitive moment in which Atlanta’s Black queer community declared itself as such by occupying brick and mortar sites and rendering services to their own.

Back then, the club was still the cornerstone of queer social life, an indispensable institution for community building in Atlanta. AntiBlack discrimination was quite the normal practice of white-owned bars — including Bulldogs, which now relies solely on Black patronage. Black patrons were routinely rejected by demands for extra pieces of ID at the door. “They didn’t want us there, so we didn’t mix,” said Dallas Collier, a wellknown hair stylist.

Black bars began springing up in the mid’80s not only in response to institutional racism; Black gays were outgrowing the need for “discreet” (as in closeted), invitation-only private mixers that typified the ’70s. Henri McTerry was one of the most prominent figures during this shift. Collier recalled

McTerry’s popular tea dances at Alexander’s, a restaurant in the Southern Bell building. He cited the Marquette as the oldest existing gay bar. There was a demand for more bars that provided space, music, and stylings that fit Black cultural tastes. Opened in 1984, Foster’s Lounge was one of the first such venues. Owner David Foster, a Detroit resident, opened his bar after having his girlfriend Loretta Young apply for the liquor license. Foster’s was widely popular among Black men until the eponymous owner had to shut it down due to legal challenges. In 1986, Young transferred the license and named her new bar after herself: Loretta’s. Loretta’s far surpassed the success of Foster’s and became Atlanta’s flagship bar.

Amidst a male heavy landscape, Black lesbians were creating social spaces as well. Gloria McClury was a prominent social organizer known for her intown women’s parties. She and McTerry (both deceased) enjoyed a great deal of mutual respect and affection. In 1988, she opened Friends at the corner of Spring and 3rd across from Loretta’s. In 1990, a white lesbian couple Beverly McMahon and Dana Ford opened the Otherside Lounge at 1924 Piedmont. The Otherside primarily catered

to women and was open to all genders. They established an R&B night on Wednesdays that drew a mostly Black crowd of lesbians, gay and bisexual men, and transgender folks, and it became one the most diverse parties in the city.

The clubs were not the only brick and mortar sites to serve Black LGBTQ community. The ’90s also saw an outgrowth of advocacy organizations, churches, and service providers housed throughout the city. In 1997, the Atlanta Lambda Center opened at 828 West Peachtree to share the same building as AIDS Survival Project and the Atlanta Pride Committee. Influenced by artist/activist Tony Daniels, the Lambda Center housed a number of Black queer-led organizations and events including Speakfire, a spoken word gathering that attracted all genders. Tony Jones, former pastor of Unity Fellowship of Atlanta, recalled how instrumental Daniels was securing an affordable fee for Unity Fellowship: “They knew that as a grass roots organization, we needed a seat at the table we could afford.”

Many who came of age before smart phones and social media feel a deep sense of loss

as clubs and other physical venues are disappearing without being replaced. Largely in response to COVID-19, the popular use of Zoom means shifted our social sphere from physical reality to onscreen projection. For Black LGBTQ people of a certain age, this registers as a loss of options for affirming inperson spaces. Some have been able to adapt and maintain social interactions and avoid isolation. Others arguably in the majority may feel cut off and left with less support. While we can see and hear each other, we cannot hug or feel a handshake, nor can we smell another’s scent through a computer screen. These sweeping changes to our way of life have incurred benefits along with the losses. How might a history of Black quee-centered cultural sites and in-person gatherings teach us to improvise newer ways of real connection across and within generations? As we learn more of our history including our tradition of creating change through creating space, we may clearly see ourselves as a people within a people with a past of glories and scars, facing a present we determine day by day. As we accept both the inevitable nature of change and our proven ability to innovate and adapt,

may trust the promise within an always uncertain future.

Craig Washington

we

Bulldogs Atlanta PHOTO VIA FACEBOOK

“Anti-Black discrimination was quite the normal practice of white-owned bars — including Bulldogs, which now relies solely on Black patronage. Black patrons were routinely rejected by demands for extra pieces of ID at the door.”

Jimmie Daniels

THE HARLEM RENAISSANCE AND BEYOND (1908–1984)

People say the Harlem Renaissance began with writers such as Zora Neale Hurston and Langston Hughes and all the other poets, playwrights, intellectuals, and novelists celebrated in a 1925 collection of essays titled “The New Negro: An Interpretation” by queer philosopher and educator Alain Locke.

Others say the birthing point was the 1921 musical, “Shuffle Along.” Composed by Eubie Blake with book by Noble Sissle, it ran on Broadway for three years and featured several important firsts: incorporation of syncopated jazz, a line of professional female (and Black) dancers, a Black show with no “blackface,” a desegregated audience, etc. The careers of bisexual women performers like Josephine Baker and Florence Mills were launched here.

Consider this: there would have been no real Harlem Renaissance without the moneys generated by all the music pumped into the clubs, speakeasies, and rent parties. There was a furious demand for musicians, vocalists, and entertaining impresarios. Performers crafted music that grew into new places and forms. The dancers and prancers innovated and everyone needed waiters and cooks and coat checks, whether reading the new literature or not.

We queers claim performers such as Gladys Bentley and Bessie Smith, but we need to widen the net and claim the queers who made everyone feel good and included

and daring — and not taken advantage of, whether they were or not.

That was the job of the people with a mic. Someone who personified that was a man named Jimmie Daniels.

Daniels grew up in Arkansas and went to New York in ’27 to take college business classes. Harlem was so exciting at this moment, but he graduated with a degree and went back South. He began working for the president of the Century life Insurance Company, a plum post he threw away because Arkansas was so racist, and Harlem so beckoning.

In 1928, Daniels returned and appeared in a number of stage plays in New York. He readily made many friends among Harlem luminaries, including his lifelong bud, the lesbian Alberta Hunter.

Daniels posed and modeled and was a muse for Richard Barthé. He decided to throw his top hat into the ring of cabaret singing. He performed at Harlem’s Hot-Cha speakeasy. The famous illustrator E. Simms

Campbell created the well-known caricature map of Harlem, citing famous spots, illegal activities, and advice. For Club Hot-cha, the map reads, “Nothing happens before 2 am.” and suggests you “ask for Clarence.”

Much of what Daniels sang there were show tunes and what would become jazz standards, and he won a dedicated gay following in Downtown, Midtown, and Uptown (the people thronging the mass of the Harlem clubs were often “the Downtown crowd,” i.e., mostly white, well-heeled and glamorous, looking for liquor, “hot” entertainment and the frissons of rubbing against Uptown, with its “underworld” connections and the relatively free flow of sex and sexuality).

With the dual assault of the Depression in 1929 and the end of Prohibition in 1932, Harlem was not the place to be, at least for Downtowners. Even some Black folks left —the unemployment rate in Harlem was officially 50 percent. From 1933 to 1934, and again in 1935, Daniels performed in Monte Carlo and London. He then spent four years performing in Paris, but returned to the U.S. as the war loomed.

From 1939 to 1942, Daniels owned and operated his eponymous Harlem supper club on the ground floor of a building on West 116th Street. According to nyclgbtsites.org, “The famed nightspot hosted European royalty, high society from both sides of the Atlantic, and Black and white, gay and straight notables from the arts.”

In 1942, he joined the army. His honorable discharge said he had been a supply clerk. But mostly, he entertained the troops, and then rebuilt his career enough that he became the emcee at the Bon Soir Supper Club in Greenwich Village. During his 10 years there, he built up a clientele that was queer and straight, Black and white. He featured varied talent, including one of the first gigs for a girl named Barbra Streisand.

Through the ’60s and ’70s, he continued his career with managing clubs, organizing parties, and performing as a vocalist to his devoted followers. Despite having a number of boyfriends and husbands, he eventually lived with Alberta Hunter, taking care of her in her old age, and died of a stroke in 1984.

María Helena Dolan

Jimmie Daniels HISTORICAL PHOTO VIA LIBRARY OF CONGRESS

“From 1939 to 1942, Daniels owned and operated his eponymous Harlem supper club on the ground floor of a building on West 116th Street.” nyclgbtsites.org

Alan Cumming Headlines Reality Series, ‘The Traitors,’

Queer-Themed ‘No Straight Lines’ Debuts on PBS

Alan Cumming is a busy man, and he shows no sign of slowing down.

The actor’s latest project is hosting the new reality series, “The Traitors,” which just dropped on Peacock.

In the series, 20 contestants, including some celebrities like Ryan Lochte along with civilians, come to a Scottish castle and compete on missions with a cash prize awaiting the winner. Three of these participants, though, have been designated as “traitors” and devise a way to take the prize from others. Each week, a new person is “murdered” and leaves the show. “The Traitors” is a 10-episode binge based on the popular Dutch series of the same name.

Cumming said that he has never been a part of anything like this. He watched the Dutch version, which he enjoyed, and spoke to the producers about what they were planning.

“I really liked the idea that I was playing this James Bond-y type villain,” he said. “The fact that I was playing a character really excited me. I became addicted to the Dutch one and being at the center of this one, having it all happen around you, was such fun. So juicy. Terrible things happen, and people are awful to each other.”

Photos of the contestants hung around a mantelpiece over the fireplace in the castle and each morning Cumming would come in, find the picture of the “murdered” contestant, and hurl it to the floor.

The first couple of episodes were written before he joined the production, but everything changed once filming began. He had an earpiece in his ear with a producer talking to him, which took a while to get used to.

“You had to be very in the moment,” he said. “I had to be very flexible and [learn] to go with it. It’s hard to describe it — it’s like acting as an immersive piece of theater. As soon as I left my room I would potentially be

on camera and dealing with the contestants.”

“The Traitors” differs from its Dutch predecessor.

“It’s much more histrionic, with a bigger budget,” Cumming said. “Everything is bigger and louder, and people are more hysterical.”

He knew only a handful of the participating celebs before he came aboard, but knew how obsessive reality competition can be.

“I watched one season of ‘The Bachelor’ and I became obsessed,” he said. “Especially if it’s toying with your emotions. You are watching people deceive each other and lie and seeing how badly behaved people will go.”

The Scottish mansion lends proper ambience.

“We’re far away from civilization,” Cumming said. “[The mansion] has this gothic spooky element, an added layer of theatricality. This is the campiest thing I’ve ever been in, and I’ve been in some camp things.”

The adorable documentary, “No Straight Lines: The Rise of Queer Comics,” after a great festival run two years ago, debuts on PBS next week. It’s about five pioneering LGBTQ cartoonists who have helped make the industry mainstream from the 1970s moving forward. Those five are Alison Bechdel, Jennifer Camper, Howard Cruse, Rupert Kinnard, and Mary Wings. Bechdel, for one, achieved worldwide notoriety with

“No Straight Lines” director Vivian Kleinman said that a friend encouraged her to get involved, but she didn’t know initially if she was the right person. She attended the world’s first gathering of LGBTQ cartoonists in New York in 2015.

“The first minute I walked into the conference hall I was astonished,” she said of LGBTQ folks in attendance. “All around were a variety of queer people of all colors and stripes, all engaged together. I had heard a lot of stories, and for a documentary filmmaker — bingo. It was a subject I did not know a lot about that had great storytellers and a plethora of images.”

Most of the subjects had been lined up already, but she and the producers went back and forth about whose stories to tell.

“We worked out a selection that I think excludes some very key people but also allows people to have a connection to the five main people who are approached and a curiosity to explore further,” she said.

MORE INFO

“The Traitors” is now streaming on Peacock.

“No Straight Lines: The Rise of Queer Comics” debuts on PBS January 23.

Jim Farmer

the success of the graphic memoir and Broadway musical, “Fun Home.”

Actor Alan Cumming stars in “The Traitors.” PUBLICITY PHOTOS

RUPAUL’S DRAG RACE SEASON 15

VIEWING PARTY

JANUARY 20, 7:30PM

FUTURE ATLANTA

Come watch the show on the big screen every Friday, hosted by Phoenix and Coco Iman Star! No cover.

4B

JANUARY 20, 10PM

DISTRICT ATLANTA

JOCKS ‘N SOCKS

JANUARY 20, 11PM

THE EAGLE

Featuring music from DJ Moose. Sports attire strongly encouraged.

BLACKOUT PARTY

JANUARY 21, 10PM

THE HERETIC

Music by DJ Stan Jackson. No cover.

STOP LIGHT PARTY

JANUARY 21, 11PM

THE EAGLE

Featuring music from DJ Neon the Glowgobear.

MUG CHECK! AN OPEN STAGE DRAG SHOW

JANUARY 22, 9:30PM

Every month, MSR and House of ALXNDR provide an open stage to everyone interested in drag — from newcomers to tenured talent. Each performer will receive a report card at the end of the night where they are graded in the areas of Stage Presence, Performance, Outfit, and Professionalism. The highest scoring performer will be invited back for a paid performance at the next MUG CHECK show.

DRAG ON! GUYS AND DOLLS EXTRAVAGANZA SHOW

JANUARY 23, 10PM

BULLDOGS

Hosted by Will Depree St. James and Tatianna Tuesday Dickerson every Monday.

ATLANTA ALL STARS WEEK 2

JANUARY 24, 9PM

FUTURE ATLANTA

SHOW TUNES TUESDAYS

JANUARY 24, 9PM

OSCAR’S MARTINI BAR

With Daddy C.

TUESDAY NIGHT TRIVIA

JANUARY 24, 9PM

THE HIDEAWAY

First place wins a $50 bar tab!

MARYOKE

JANUARY 25, 9PM

MARY’S

RUPAUL’S DRAG RACE SEASON 15

VIEWING

PARTY

JANUARY 27, 7:30PM

FUTURE ATLANTA

Come watch the show on the big screen every Friday, hosted by Phoenix and Coco Iman Star! No cover.

BEARRACUDA ATLANTA

EVENT SPOTLIGHT

STOP LIGHT PARTY

THE

EAGLE

JANUARY 21, 11PM

Featuring music from DJ Neon the Glowgobear.

WINTER

BEEF BALL 2023

JANUARY 28, 10PM

THE HERETIC

Gogo dancers all night, with music from

DJ Paul Goodyear. Tickets via Eventbrite.

THE GAGA BALL: A DANCE PARTY

JANUARY 28, 10PM

THE BASEMENT

Calling all Little Monsters! Let’s have some

EVENT SPOTLIGHT

LUXX NOIR LONDON FROM RUPAUL’S DRAG RACE

MY SISTER’S ROOM

JANUARY 28, 10PM

From RuPaul’s Drag Race season 15, Luxx Noir London headlines at MSR! Meet and greet starts at 9pm. Tickets at wussymag.com. (Photos via Facebook)

fun, this beat is sick — the winter Gaga Ball is here! Serve your best Gaga-inspired look and dance the night away with the Mother Monster. Tickets at basementatl.com.

LUXX NOIR LONDON

FROM

RUPAUL’S DRAG RACE

JANUARY 28, 10PM

MY SISTER’S ROOM

From RuPaul’s Drag Race season 15, Luxx Noir London headlines at MSR! Meet and greet starts at 9pm. Tickets at wussymag.com.

HOUSE BY DEFINITION

JANUARY 28, 3AM

FUTURE ATLANTA

This new event celebrates all genres of House music, from Techno to Soulful. Tickets at future-atlanta.com.

XION WITH NINA FLOWERS

JANUARY 29, 3AM

FUTURE ATLANTA

Tickets at future-atlanta.com.

THE MORNING AFTER –MORNING PARTY

JANUARY 29, 7AM

FUTURE ATLANTA

Hosted by GA Boy Events. Tickets at future-atlanta.com.

DRAG ON! GUYS AND DOLLS

EXTRAVAGANZA SHOW

JANUARY 30, 10PM

BULLDOGS

Hosted by Will Dupree St. James and Tatianna Tuesday Dickerson every Monday.

SHOW TUNES TUESDAYS

JANUARY 31, 9PM

OSCAR’S MARTINI BAR With Daddy C.

TUESDAY NIGHT TRIVIA

JANUARY 31, 9PM

THE HIDEAWAY

First place wins a $50 bar tab!

ATLANTA ALL STARS WEEK 3

JANUARY 31, 9PM

FUTURE ATLANTA

MARYOKE

FEBRUARY 1, 9PM

MARY’S

A STUNT QUEEN GOES TO CONGRESS (AND ANOTHER FACES JAIL)

Ryan Lee

Once characterized by bouncing checks and boosting merchandise from department stores, being a stunt queen has evolved to scheming against voters and stealing elected office. No one has deployed the stunt queen playbook — inventing achievements and assets, ghosting creditors, siphoning public dollars via welfare and tax fraud — as shamelessly and successfully as Donald Trump, but the term historically applied to gay men and drag queens who used various hustles to fund flamboyant lifestyles.

Guys like U.S. Rep. George Santos, the comically crooked Republican who duped New York voters into sending him to Congress. It’s impossible for me to read about Santos’s racket without thinking about our local gay political con artist, former Atlanta City Councilmember Antonio Brown.

Like Santos, Brown fabricated business credentials and led an imaginary charity while running for office and a trail of eviction lawsuits revealed both men were not keen on paying rent. While Brown might have never lied about his religion, the incongruence between his childhood faith and adult behavior suggests he was, at best, Jehovah’s Witness-ish: he attempted to evade one eviction by claiming a military deferment, even though he never served and the tenets of his faith ban enlistment, just as they shun holding public office.

As with Santos, Brown was dubbed “political catfish” by alternative media (specifically, this newspaper) prior to being elected. Not a single mainstream media outlet in Atlanta looked into Brown’s shadiness until federal prosecutors indicted him for bank and credit card fraud in 2020, and still their reporting was limited to the details of the criminal complaint.

Stunt queens cannot exist without rubes, and there’s a thin line between being gullible

enough to fall for fantastical cons and waiting on the suburban-based Atlanta JournalConstitution or an interloper from the New York Times to verify local news. It’s popular to fret about the financial challenges small, local media outlets face; but the glamour bias in news consumption is as much a threat and makes it no wonder so many people flocked like moths to the blazingly farcical tales of Santos and Brown.

Such was his faith in his dishonesty and the electorate being a bunch of marks that Brown announced his candidacy for Atlanta mayor after he was indicted for being a wholesale fraud. He won less than five percent of the vote, but an alarming number of queer supporters were willing to overlook the obvious because he was a vocal progressive with a pretty face — no matter that his camera-friendly politics felt as oblique as the rest of his biography.

This week Brown emerged from the hole he slunk into after his mayoral trouncing to plead guilty to the federal charges and he now faces up to 30 years in prison at his April sentencing. His journey is a reminder the Santos debacle is not a uniquely Republican problem, just as Trump illustrates being a stunt queen is not an LGBTQ phenomenon.

Gifted fabulists will forever be hunting prey to exploit, and your own discernment is your first (and too often only) defense against being stunted on.

RYAN LEE SOMETIMES ‘Y’

U.S. Rep. George Santos (l) and former Atlanta City Councilmember Antonio Brown OFFICIAL PHOTOS