04/21/23, Vol. 14 Issue 3

READY FOR BURGERS & BEERS

About the cover: Cover Photo by Shutterstock.com/ Lightspring

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SPORTS AND THE DANGERS OF EXCLUSION

It was the top of the bottom half of the 10th inning at Truist Park on April 10. The Cincinnati Reds had just scored a run, so the Braves needed two to win. With Austin Riley on second (as extra innings now start with a player on second base to make them go faster), Sean Murphy was first up to bat. With his first swing, he hit his first home run of the season, clinching the Braves a 5–4 win.

With more than 150 games left in the season, this was a relatively unimportant win for the Braves. And yet being there to witness it felt magical to me. It was poetic, a so-perfect-it-could’ve-been-written ending to a tense game. But the whole experience was also somewhat uncomfortable. Even though it was an incredible moment, being at that game felt like I was somewhere I didn’t truly belong. It felt like I was in high school again.

I hated sports in high school. On one hand, it felt to me like sports embodied everything I disliked: they were heavily gendered (which meant a general antiwoman bias, as all gendered things tend to exhibit) and valued body over mind. On the other, more real hand, I was severely unathletic. I was gangly, awkward, and asthmatic; my lack of athleticism was so obvious it became a running joke among my friends. Freshman year, before I wrote sports off as an option for me, when all my friends signed up for powderpuff football, I did too. I performed so poorly in practices that the “coaches,” boys who played football for the school, completely overlooked me and only played me for a couple minutes in the actual game

because I told them to. It was so profoundly embarrassing that even now it’s painful to remember.

There were no rules keeping me from participating in sports. There were no organizations dictating whether people like me were allowed to play against my peers. And still, just the perception of exclusion was enough for me not only to write off sports altogether, but also to hate myself and my body even more than I already did. My experience with sports as a teenager left such a bad taste in my mouth that I’m still having a difficult time allowing myself to truly enjoy sports almost a decade later.

I will never pretend to know what it’s like to be trans. But I know what it’s like to be a young person seeking acceptance, and how painful exclusion feels. I know my experience with sports was not as exclusionary as I felt it was. I know I was just experiencing the heightened insecurity and awkwardness of adolescence and that I am perfectly safe to enjoy sports as much or as little as I want to now. I wish I could say the same is true for trans kids. We who care about and love trans youth know the impact bills banning them from sports or empowering their peers to misgender and deadname them will have. They will have detrimental mental health impacts, if not outright leading to an increase in suicide. These kids will feel like they don’t

belong because there will be systematic rules in place explicitly telling them they don’t.

I wish that it would help to convince the lawmakers championing these kinds of bills of the harm they will perpetuate if passed. But it won’t because they don’t care. They don’t give a fuck about trans kids. I would say they care more about holding the hands of cis kids (especially cis girls) so that they don’t lose to the big scary trans kid than they do about the humanity of that trans kid, but I don’t even believe that’s actually true. These lawmakers literally do not care about anything other than maintaining their own power and the status quo that granted them that power to begin with. They’re more than happy to paint literal children as freaks unworthy of protection if that means they get votes.

Sports are fun. They foster community and connection with your peers and a healthy self-esteem. Those benefits should not be reserved for only some people. Sports should be for all of us, and queer people who love sports know that. This issue is dedicated to the people carving out a space for us to be our true selves and serves as a reminder, especially to trans kids and their parents, that regardless of what the greater society thinks of us, LGBTQ people will always take care of each other. We will create whatever space is necessary for us to experience the acceptance and love we all need and deserve.

Katie Burkholder

PHOTO

Read these stories and more online at thegavoice.com

Transgender Woman Ashley Burton Fatally Shot in Southwest Atlanta

A transgender woman was found fatally shot at an apartment complex in southwest Atlanta.

37-year-old Ashley Burton was found at the Elite at City Park apartments on Fairburn Road on April 11 morning, according to 11 Alive. Officers said they were called at 4:22am and found the victim on the breezeway outside the unit. Police believe the victim was shot inside an apartment and collapsed where she was found.

Police believe it was a domestic-related shooting.

“She ran out of the house, hollering and screaming, beating on doors,” Burton’s cousin, Ivory Carter, told 11 Alive. “This got to be personal. You shot her in her house, then you followed her outside and shot her.” Anyone with information that could help the investigation is urged to call the Atlanta Police Department at 404-5778477. Homicide detectives are investigating the murder, but no suspects have yet been identified by police. Carter told 11 Alive that she hopes Burton receives justice.

“I’m tired of all these incidents with transgender women just being pushed up under the rug,” she said. “We are human beings.”

40 Prominent Athletes Urge Congress to Drop Proposed Trans Sports Ban

A group of 40 prominent athletes including soccer player Megan Rapinoe and boxer Patricio Manuel signed a letter Monday urging lawmakers to drop a proposal introduced by House Republicans to ban transgender and intersex women and girls from playing on school sports teams.

The letter was issued by Athlete Ally, a nonprofit group that works towards creating more LGBTQ-inclusive athletic environments, just as momentum seems to

be building for a federal proposal modeled after statewide bans that exclude trans and intersex women and girls from competing.

“Right now, transgender and intersex human rights are under attack,” the letter states, “with politicians in Washington, D.C., pushing forward H.R. 734, the so-called ‘Protection of Girls and Women in Sports Act,’ which would stipulate that Title IX compliance requires banning transgender and intersex girls and women from participating in sports.”

“If this bill passes, transgender and intersex girls and women throughout the country will be forced to sit on the sidelines, away from their peers and their communities,” the letter continues. “Furthermore, the policing of who can and cannot play school sports will very likely lead to the policing of the bodies of all girls, including cisgender girls.”

According to the Movement Advancement Project, 20 U.S. states now have laws barring trans students from participating in sports consistent with their gender identity.

Record Number of Anti-LGBTQ Bills in 2023

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is tracking 452 anti-LGBTQ bills in the U.S., according to data the organization has compiled through April 11. These bills have been introduced in state legislatures across the U.S. since January and represent a new record — already more than twice the number of such bills introduced all of last year.

Education and health care are the main focuses of these bills. The ACLU says they are being advanced in state legislatures at

unprecedented levels. The bills include bans on access to gender-affirming health care for transgender youth and so-called parental rights bills that regulate curriculum and libraries in public schools, including any discourse on gender identity and sexual orientation. Nearly 300 education-related bills have been introduced in 2023, which is more than twice the number of similar bills in 2022, according to the ACLU data.

The ACLU notes that “new bills are filed nearly every day and the landscape is changing quickly.” In 2023, state legislatures have introduced four times as many healthrelated anti-LGBTQ bills and twice as many education-related bills than they did in all of 2022. Drag performances also are under heavy scrutiny for the first time.

Twenty-four of the more than 400 bills introduced in 2023 have already been signed into law in 11 states. A majority of these are healthcare and education related. Two of the signed bills ban drag performances in public spaces, while at least 39 bills targeting drag performances have been introduced in legislatures in 2023. This was not a category previously, according to the ACLU, but Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has added drag shows to his list of banned events and been very vocal on the issue.

More than two-thirds of the healthcarerelated bills introduced in 2023 intend to ban gender-affirming care for trans youth. Ten of those bills have been signed into law so far this year, according to a CNN review of state legislation and ACLU data. While 10 seems a benign number relative to 452, that’s more than triple the number of bills passed in 2021 and 2022 combined.

Transgender woman Ashley Burton was fatally shot April 11 in Southwest Atlanta. COURTESY PHOTO

Morris, Manning & Martin, LLP Announce New LGBTQ Business Practice Group

The law firm of Morris, Manning & Martin, LLP (MMM) announced on April 10 the launch of a new LGBTQ business practice group that will offer culturally conscious legal services to LGBTQ businesses and Fortune 500 companies. MMM is the first Southern law firm to launch a practice dedicated to LGBTQ business.

The firm has a long track record of pro bono work in the LGBTQ community. More than 50 firm attorneys participate in Atlanta Legal Aid’s Gender Affirming Name Change Project, a pro bono legal name-changing service for low-income transgender, gender nonconforming and nonbinary people. The firm scored a perfect 100 in the Human Rights Campaign Foundation’s Corporate Equality Index, an annual assessment of LGBTQ workplace equality, and earned Mansfield 5.0 Plus certification status, an objective measure of the firm’s commitment to diversity, including LGBTQ attorneys.

In launching this new practice, the firm will leverage the strength of its full-service business law practice with its lawyers’ deep understanding of the LGBTQ community. With strength in numbers, MMM’s Washington D.C. and Atlanta offices hope to support some of the country’s largest LGBTQ populations.

The National LGBT Chamber of Commerce (NGLCC) certified its 2,000th LGBTQ Business Enterprise in March.

“LGBTQ-owned businesses contribute nearly $2 trillion to the U.S. economy, and have created tens of thousands of jobs nationwide,” Chance Mitchell, Co-Founder & CEO of NGLCC, said in a press release. “As the number … continues to grow, so will our

positive impact on the nation.”

MMM’s LGBTQ business practice attorneys will counsel LGBTQ-owned and operated businesses, business owners, investors, brokers, buyers, sellers, and lenders on legal issues unique to the community, ranging from real estate and finance to mergers and acquisitions and litigation. The group will also help corporate clients fulfill their diversity goals by providing counsel on issues related to supplier diversity initiatives.

“The goal of this new practice area is to ensure LGBTQ clients have ample opportunities to find the structural support and build the professional relationships necessary to thrive in the business world,” practice co-chair Douglas D. Selph said.

“The firm’s experience and long-held commitment to equity and inclusion create an ideal platform to help LGBTQ businesses form strategic partnerships with other culturally aligned entities.”

“It’s the right thing that our firm needs to do. It’s no secret that there’s a lot of sort of increasing hostility toward the LGBTQ community throughout the South and in other parts of the country,” Selph added. “We want to continue supporting the [LGBTQ] community as a law firm and in business by recognizing LGBTQ-owned businesses and supporting them.”

Selph, who is a real estate and finance partner and the former president of the Stonewall Bar Association of Georgia, will co-lead the group with commercial real estate associate Charles E. Hicks. Hicks is an OUT Georgia Business Alliance ambassador and is actively involved in the LGBTQ community.

“Our vision is to become the go-to law firm for LGBTQ entrepreneurs in the South, and those who service those entrepreneurs and businesses to create an ecosystem of excellence,” Hicks told Georgia Voice. “By starting the LGBTQ Business Practice

Group, Morris, Manning & Martin hope we make it easy for LGBTQ businesspeople to identify us as a friendly and socially conscious place to bring their business, and we lower the barrier that might exist for folks in terms of knowing where to go.”

Hicks’ work to support and advocate for the LGBTQ community includes campaigning for the Stonewall Equality Scholarship Fund at UGA for LGBTQ law students in 2019, the first of its kind in Georgia law schools.

“We are thrilled to launch a formal practice to serve this historically underrepresented, yet rapidly growing, minority business sector,” Hicks said. “Our subject matter expertise combined with our value-based service model makes Morris, Manning & Martin the optimal partner for LGBTQ entrepreneurs and the community’s corporate allies.”

“OUT Georgia is incredibly proud to see Morris, Manning & Martin make such a bold, innovative investment in the growing LGBTQ+ business community,” Chris Lugo, executive director of OUT Georgia Business Alliance, said. “Aligning the firm’s values, expertise, and commitment to equity will drive significant impact for LGBTQ+ entrepreneurs, and we are honored to partner with the firm on these efforts.”

The practice will be supported by an advisory council made up of prominent firm partners who will offer LGBTQ businesses supplemental counseling services in their respective practice areas. Council members include real estate development and finance chair Matthew J. Sours, hospitality partner Catherine Morgen, intellectual property and chief diversity partner Daniel L. Huynh, private equity partner Scott L. Allen, corporate partner Larkin B. Ellzey, and litigation partner Jessica A. Rodriguez.

Adalei Stevens

The law firm of Morris, Manning & Martin, LLP (MMM) PHOTO VIA FACEBOOK

Woofs is Home for LGBTQ Sports Fans

Katie Burkholder

One of the most instantly recognizable mainstays of American culture is the sports bar. Sporting events are shown on huge LED flat-screens at every corner. Maybe there’s a couple pool tables, maybe there are darts. Bar food staples like wings, burgers, and mozzarella sticks are served alongside pitchers of beer as patrons cheer when their team scores and commiserate when they lose.

Upon walking into Woofs, you would assume it was one of the same — and in many ways, it is. Upon closer examination, though, you would see the clientele is not what you would typically find at a traditional sports bar.

“[Woofs] would be your traditional sports bar, the only difference is that we’re gayowned and -operated and extremely gayfriendly,” Woofs owner Gregory Hughes told Georgia Voice

What started as an annual Super Bowl party at Hughes’ home quickly grew into a beloved establishment among Atlanta’s LGBTQ sports fans. While they are welcoming to everyone (straight people included), for more than two decades Woofs has been the only sports bar in Atlanta specifically catering to the LGBTQ community.

“The world of sports can be, I’ll say, gayunfriendly,” Hughes said. “What people don’t realize is that there are a lot of gay sports fans and a lot of passionate gay sports fans. They [usually] can’t show that passion in a traditionally straight sports bar. They can’t jump up and down and kiss their partner — or they can do it, but it would get a lot of looks and probably some nasty snarls. In our environment [at Woofs], they can be open and who they want to be and celebrate with their other gay friends, and nobody looks sideways at it.”

With its success, Woofs was able to relocate and expand in 2019 and then survive through the COVID-19 pandemic thanks to the loyalty

“The world of sports can be, I’ll say, gay-unfriendly. What people don’t realize is that there are a lot of gay sports fans and a lot of passionate gay sports fans. They [usually] can’t show that passion in a traditionally straight sports bar. They can’t jump up and down and kiss their partner — or they can do it, but it would get a lot of looks and probably some nasty snarls. In our environment [at Woofs], they can be open and who they want to be and celebrate with their other gay friends, and nobody looks sideways at it.”

of both its customer base and employees. Last year, Woofs was even featured as one of the most popular LGBTQ bars in the country to view the Super Bowl in by HER; it was the only Southern establishment to be included.

Woofs uses this success to give back to the community that has supported it so ardently. As a sports-related establishment, it’s no surprise that Woofs supports and sponsors several of Atlanta’s LGBTQ sports leagues, including the Hotlanta Softball League, the Hotlanta Volleyball Association, the National Gay Flag Football League, and the Atlanta Bucks rugby league. The bar also

supports a number of nonprofits serving the LGBTQ community, like Lost-n-Found Youth, Pets Are Loving Support, Joining Hearts, AID Atlanta, and Jerusalem House, both with donations and by offering space to host fundraising events.

Coming up, Woofs will participate in Dining Out for Life on April 26. The annual dining fundraising event raises money for communitybased organizations serving people living with HIV. Atlanta’s supported organization is Open Hand Atlanta, which provides healthy meals and nutrition education to people struggling with chronic illnesses or food insecurity. On

— Woofs owner Gregory Hughes

April 26, at least 25 percent of sales made at Woofs and other participating restaurants will be donated to Open Hand.

Woofs will also host some of the Atlanta Bear Pride festivities happening from April 21 to 23. The weekend kicks off at Woofs for the warmup party on April 21 and the bar will also host a Sunday Funday party on April 23. You can find more information on these events and Atlanta Bear Pride on page 20 or online at atlantabearpride.com.

Woofs is located at 494 Plasters Ave NE. Learn more at woofsatlanta.com.

Customers at Woofs enjoy a game and libations.

PHOTO BY PROJECT Q / RUSS BOWEN YOUNGBLOOD

Stonewall Sports Atlanta Builds a Welcoming Queer Sports League

Sophia Ling

Read the full article online at thegavoice.com.

The flood of color-coded T-shirts catches the eye first; then it’s the friendly cheers, welcoming smiles, and vibrant queer energy that light up the lanes at Midtown Bowling. The logo gives them away; they are the Atlanta chapter of Stonewall Sports, an LGBTQ sports league.

Though the league started in 2010 in D.C., the Atlanta branch of Stonewall Sports is now one of the fastest growing chapters in the country. Founded in 2021, Stonewall Sports Atlanta started with 216 kickball members. Since then, the board has diversified and the league has expanded into four other sports: sand and indoor volleyball, tennis, dodgeball, and bowling. Today, kickball has over 580 members, and the league overall now boasts more than 1,600 players.

April 12 marked the second game of the new Remixx bowling season, where players registered as free agents and were sorted into random teams. Many of the players told Georgia Voice that they were roped into joining by their friends or discovered Stonewall Sports Atlanta through Facebook pages looking for team members. Bowling Director Laura Oudenaarden said she noticed a call for an all-women bowling team (which ultimately prompted the creation of the Queendom, a safe space for predominantly women, trans and nonbinary folks to come together in a cis male-dominated area that focuses on the community they create rather than any particular gender). Likewise, Anna Cole, a four-sport athlete in the league, discovered

the organization through Queer Women’s Network, another Facebook group.

With the randomness of the teams came bonding and friendship. Oudenaarden emphasized this and the value of community, a word repeated constantly throughout the night.

“Especially with this season, I wanted people to be more social with each other,” she said.

“I feel like it’s a very welcoming place, and there’s also a very growing women and [nonbinary] and trans population here too,” Cole said. “It’s nice to have a space for social activities that’s also not entirely run by cis gay men.”

Adding diversity into leadership that had been largely dominated by cisgender white men was challenging. Commissioner Ronnie Few struggled to get under-represented groups behind their mission at first, but

eventually, along with his co-founders, he tapped into bigger communities and groups to find more people to support and build the organization.

“I like being able to meet a lot of new people from different walks of life, and having sports where you can just connect,” Shaun Field, one of the bowlers, said. “LGBTQ nighttime spaces are diminishing, but if we can do things like this, that’s cool too.”

The sea of rainbow-colored shirts with the Stonewall logo is not just a symbol of team unity and community, but also a reminder for Few that he and his team have accomplished something incredible.

“I fell in love with the league and what it stands for and the atmosphere it creates for people,” he said.

These success stories are Few’s favorite part of the league.

“I love when people tell me their story,” he said. “I had a player recently thank me because [of the league] they felt comfortable to come to terms with their sexuality and now identify as nonbinary.”

In light of anti-trans and anti-gay bills getting passed around the country, the board is striving to work locally to diversify what Stonewall Atlanta offers. From partnering with sponsors to looking for spaces that are not necessarily bars so they can accommodate people who are sober or don’t enjoy drinking, they try to vet each space to ensure everyone is welcome. The board works to stay in touch with the trans community and to engage in continuous discussions on what Stonewall Sports can do to make them feel welcome, comfortable, and represented by the league. In the past six months, Stonewall Sports Atlanta has donated $6,000 to the Trans Housing Coalition, a grassroots crowdfunding project working to get Black trans women off the streets, and $10,000 to Georgia Equality.

In five years, Few hopes to see growth. He wants to see stronger and larger partnerships with big name sponsors and aims to get the chance to hold the national Stonewall Sports National Tournament and Summit in Atlanta one day. But most of all, Few hopes to see the day Stonewall Sports elects a trans commissioner in Atlanta.

“We are raised to believe that [heteronormative and gendered] is how it is, and this is how sports are and how they are meant to be,” Few said. “It was the same with women in sports for a long time. We need to fight for space.”

To learn more about Stonewall Sports Atlanta, visit stonewallsportsatlanta.org.

Stonewall Sports COURTESY PHOTO

Atlanta Pride Run Partners with Lululemon, Fundraises to End the HIV Epidemic

Katie Burkholder

One of the favorite events of Atlanta’s LGBTQ running community, the Atlanta Pride Run, returns for its 34th year this summer. As per usual, the 5K (which is a Peachtree Road Race qualifier race) will be held in Piedmont Park during Pride month, on June 4. This year, however, participants can expect a whole new experience.

Thanks to a new partnership with leading athletic wear brand Lululemon, this year’s course will be completely different from years past. Lululemon will support the run by covering race day expenses, marketing, custom running shirts and merch.

“We are thrilled to continue breaking down barriers with Lululemon,” Atlanta Pride Run President, DJ Pulce, said in a press release. “Our partnership with Lululemon has been a rewarding experience for not only us, but the entire Atlanta LGBTQ sports community.”

Lululemon has also pledged to use its brand to promote and spotlight the athletes in the LGBTQ community fighting for equality just by being themselves.

“Working with the Lululemon team is a true partnership,” Pulce said. “They listen to the challenges that face our community and seek to fix them.”

This year’s theme is “We See YOU,” symbolizing both the empowerment of members of the community who feel unseen as well as the importance of combating stigma via visibility to end the HIV epidemic in Atlanta and beyond.

“AIDS is the leading cause of death for Black men in Georgia between the ages of 35 and 44,” Pulce said. “Every donation

and registration is going to help those impacted by HIV and raise awareness for this devastating statistic.”

As always, Atlanta Pride Run participants will raise money to fund critical research, care, and advocacy to help end the HIV epidemic. This year’s will benefit local nonprofits include AID Atlanta, Bridge of Light, and Lost-n-Found Youth. Runners and walkers who wish to participate can either create a fundraising team or raise money individually. The top fundraising team will win a prize, and participants who raise $100 or more will receive special prizes, including water bottles, hats, and backpacks.

The top fundraising team currently is Front Runners Atlanta, a running and walking club for the LGBTQ community, which has raised almost $780 at the time of writing. Front Runners is hosting several fundraising events leading up to the race, including a margarita bust on April 29 at Zocalo, Drag Queen Yoga on May 6 at Dancing Dogs Yoga, and a bathing suit car wash at Felix’s on May 20. Learn more at frontrunnersatlanta.org/events.

Those who cannot come out on June 4 can participate virtually this year. Simply register for the Atlanta Pride Run Virtual 5K, download your custom digital bib, run or walk when and where you want on your

own time, and submit your results through raceroster.com any time from May 31 to June 4. You will be able to view your virtual results the Monday following the event.

Registration is now available for both the in-person and virtual races for $40 through April 30. Price will increase to $45 on May 1, $50 on May 31, and $55 the day of the race. To register, visit bit.ly/ATLPRIDE23-RACE.

For more information on the Atlanta Pride Run, visit atlantapriderun.org or contact the Pride Run committee at info@ atlantapriderun.org.

Participants run to raise money to help end HIV at the 2021 Atlanta Pride Run

PHOTO BY RUSS BOWEN YOUNGBLOOD

“We are thrilled to continue breaking down barriers with Lululemon. Our partnership with Lululemon has been a rewarding experience for not only us, but the entire Atlanta LGBTQ sports community.”

— Atlanta Pride Run President DJ Pulce

What’s Coming Up in LGBTQ Sports this Season

leagues/3640881/schedule.

The weather is getting warmer, flowers are blooming, and allergies are emerging. You know what that means: spring is underway, and with it comes its season of sports. Check out what’s going on in LGBTQ sports: from flag football and kickball to fundraisers and Pride nights, there’s so much to enjoy this spring!

At the time of writing, the National Flag Football League is halfway through its regular season with four more games until playoffs. Leading the United Division is the Lulunatics at 3-1 and leading the Falcons division is Felix’s Free Licks at 3-0. The season is set to end next month, so make sure to head to Silverbacks Park to catch a game every Saturday, starting at 9am. View the season schedule online at nffla.com/

At the time of writing (before the games begin on April 16), the Wet Demons are leading the B division of the Hotlanta Softball League, Play Makers Elite lead the C division, Reverse Twerks lead the D division, and Phoenix E and Atlanta Royals are tied leading the E division. The league will continue the season with 7 games on April 23, 8 games on April 30, 7 games on May 7, 8 games on May 21, 6 games on June 4, and 11 games on June 11, all at Johnson Park. Learn more at hotlantasoftball.org.

The Atlanta Bucks rugby league will be hosting its annual Purple Dress Run: Vive le Rugby! bar crawl on April 29. Grab your purple frock and join the Bucks on this drinking revolution. Festivities begin promptly at the Hideaway at 12:30pm and

the route will take you to all of Atlanta’s favorite LGBTQ establishments: Oscar’s, My Sister’s Room, Blake’s, and the Atlanta Eagle, where food will be provided. Tickets are $40 presale, $45 at the door. Purchase tickets at atlantabucksrugby.org.

The Frontrunners will take part in this year’s Atlanta Pride Run 5K on June 4, which you can read more about on page 12. Other special events coming up for the Frontrunners include the Pride Run Fundraiser Margarita Bust at Zocalo on April 29 from noon to 4 and Drag Queen Yoga at Dancing Dogs Yoga on May 6 at noon. Learn more at frontrunnersatlanta.org.

The Atlanta Braves will host their Pride night on Thursday, June 15. The Braves will take on the Colorado Rockies at 7:20, but make sure you don’t miss the pregame

party at 5:20 at the Coca-Cola Roxy! The ticket package includes the game and party as well as a Braves Pride cap and $4 donated to the OUT Georgia Impact Fund, powered by United Way of Greater Atlanta. Buy your tickets at mlb.com/braves/ tickets/specials/pride.

Registration is now open for PRIDE Atlanta Kickball League’s summer season. The season kicks off on Monday, June 19, with matches every Monday from 6 to 8 p.m. at Piedmont Park. PRIDE theme week will be held on July 24, and the season will go through mid-August. Registration will close on June 8; to register, visit gokickball.com/ markets/prideatlanta.

View all LGBTQ sports leagues in Atlanta at thegavoice.com/organizations/sportsorganizations.

The Atlanta Bucks rugby league

PHOTO VIA FACEBOOK

Katie Burkholder

ICYMI: Cyd Zeigler Offers ‘Regrets’ After Tweeting His Support for DeSantis

Dawn Ennis, Los Angeles Blade via the National LGBTQ Media Association

Read the full article online at thegavoice.com.

Let’s be clear: You cannot choose to be gay, trans, or any color of the rainbow, or even of race. But you can choose not to align with our enemies.

That is what has rocked the world of sports journalism like an 8.0 earthquake. A leading voice for out LGBTQ athletes, sports personnel and fans has chosen to side with the forces that have proposed, passed and enacted antiLGBTQ legislation, targeted children, their parents, teachers, healthcare providers and even drag performers; He’s “come out” on the side that financially supports extremist hate groups, domestic terrorists and transphobes here and abroad, via Twitter.

But Outsports editor Cyd Zeigler tweeted that he regrets not educating himself before sharing tweets that include the fact he registered as a Republican for the first time in decades, and seemed to endorse Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, the architect of the “Don’t Say Trans or Gay” Laws now spreading across the U.S.

This all started on the day the Manhattan District Attorney announced an indictment of former president Donald Trump. That was also the day, and apparently the reason, that Zeigler tweeted his party switch.

“This completely insane butchering of Democracy and our justice system cannot stand,” he wrote. “Progressives and Democrats seeking to use the government to attack political foes must be stopped. Period.”

Zeigler is an author and the out gay cofounder of  Outsports — a VoxMedia site dedicated to covering LGBTQ sports and

encouraging closeted folks in that field to come out — where the motto is, “Courage Is Contagious.” It certainly took courage for Zeigler to betray the vast majority of the  Outsports readership, and one has to wonder if he was really prepared for how contagious the backlash would be.

He did try to blunt that by first tweeting, “I don‘t like Donald Trump,” but then, less than an hour later, Zeigler publicly thanked Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, Trump’s likely rival for the 2024 GOP nomination, and shared the governor’s Twitter handle with his more than 10K followers. That move was widely seen as a tacit endorsement, despite declaring in another tweet that he doesn’t agree “with much of what the GOP and DeSantis have done in the last six months…”

As someone who was raised Republican and has relatives whom I love who vote Republican, I have at long last learned to abide, so long as they support me and other trans and nonbinary people, and our rights.

Ryan O’Callaghan, the out gay former pro football player who collaborated with Zeigler for his 2019 memoir, “My Life on the Line: How the NFL Damn Near Killed Me, And Ended Up Saving My Life,” expressed a similar sentiment in an email to the Blade:

“Outsports editor Cyd Zeigler tweeted that he regrets not educating himself before sharing tweets that include the fact he registered as a Republican for the first time in decades, and seemed to endorse Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, the architect of the ‘Don’t Say Trans or Gay’ Laws now spreading across the U.S.”

“I did not see that he announced he is registering as a Republican until someone sent me a screenshot, but I assumed he already was,” he said. “If I shut out every Republican in my life, I wouldn’t have a relationship with any of my family or most of my friends. I’ve learned that just because someone more closely identifies as a Republican, doesn’t mean they think any less of me. I would never hold someone’s political party against them.”

This is a strange crossroads at which I stand; for years, I have spent many a conversation defending Zeigler as the greatest ally trans people had. I stopped doing that when he started touting the campaign of lesbian tennis icon Martina Navratilova, trans trailblazer Dr. Rénee Richards and former Olympian, cisgender women’s rights activist and attorney Nancy Hogshead Makar.

They and their group are campaigning for “a path to inclusion” that would exclude any trans woman athlete who’s experienced male puberty. Trans women and girls would be banned from competing with cisgender

female athletes and restricted to competing in “trans only” events, meaning in many cases, the one and only trans athlete would have no one to race against but themselves.

This goes against the policies and laws where I live and work as well as a federal court’s conclusion — as well as my own personal belief — that it’s discriminatory to treat trans athletes the same way Major League Baseball once treated Black players.

Zeigler in a later tweet said he was “Listening, thinking, evaluating…” and added that he regretted that he “didn’t listen and educate myself more before I shared some of the tweets.”

The Advocate’s editor, John Casey, wrote an op-ed titled “The Editor of Outsports Turns On Our Community,” and acknowledged an important fact: “Zeigler is free to join any party he likes, and support any candidate he wants; however, when you have the power of the pen, and a voice in the fight for equality, you have an extra burden and responsibility to do what is right for those who you write about and cover. And especially to your readers, many of whom, as athletes, are afraid to come out because of DeSantis and bills like ‘don’t say gay.’”

Here’s the bottom line: Even after sharing his regrets, what Zeigler has done is far worse than just tarnishing the brand. He’s turned his back on trans kids in states like Alabama, Arkansas, Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Iowa, Kentucky, Mississippi, South Dakota, Tennessee and Utah, and 20 other states considering anti-trans legislation right now.

I am hoping you will consider that whatever your feelings about Zeigler, you will support the freelance writers at  Outsports, who are all wonderful people and so proudly represent our diverse community. They should not be punished for one man’s hubris and his politics.

Outsports editor Cyd Zeigler PHOTO VIA WIKICOMMONS

‘Anxious Nation’

Looks at Anxiety in Young People, Atlanta

Film Festival Returns with LGBTQ Fare

The numbers are staggering. The Trevor Project’s 2022 National Survey of almost 34,000 LGBTQ young people aged 13 to 24 in the U.S., with almost half being youth of color and nonbinary or transgender, has indicated that thoughts of suicide are on the rise the last three years. The new documentary “Anxious Nation” looks at the issues of anxiety and mental health and the effect it has on adolescents and those identifying as LGBTQ.

The film is directed by Academy Award winner Vanessa Roth and co-directed by New York Times bestselling author Laura Morton. It came about because Morton is the mother of an anxious teenager. One day back in 2018 she was feeling defeated as a parent and her daughter’s anxiety was getting worse. She put a post on Facebook: “Kids and anxiety — who is dealing with it?” She was surprised at the response she received.

“It was the private messages I received that really rocked my world,” Morton told Georgia Voice. “It was as if that one line on Facebook gave people permission for people to talk about something we were not talking about [then]. As a storyteller by trade, I thought there was something here. I was really curious about what was going on and why. I wanted to know if we were more anxious or just more aware of it?”

Roth, too, has experience with anxiety in her children and their friends and the subject hit home. The two began making the film the following year and the COVID-19 pandemic “poured gasoline on that burning inferno.”

During the pandemic, it seemed like everyone was dealing with increased anxiety. The two wanted diversity in their subjects as well as geographic diversity in looking at how anxiety had come up in them. They also wanted to explore the LGBTQ angle. In the film, one subject — Karl Palenkas, is not out to his father because his father had already rejected him.

Both Morton and Roth agree that there is a stigma against mental illness.

“There is a history of it policy-wise, in the way that we treat anyone with a mental health issue at all,” Roth said. “It’s been politically and policy-wise put into this category of ‘other.’ In families, there is a feeling of ‘just buck up and get over it.’ As humans, we don’t handle things we are afraid of well.”

She also added that resources have never really been available to handle mental health issues.

Morton noted the irony of how society criminalizes mental health in this country.

“If you are walking down the street and have a heart attack [people] will call an ambulance,” she said. “If you have a psychotic break, you are getting arrested and going to jail. That is happening in our country in 2023.”

The high level of anxiety in LGBTQ youth is very troubling to the filmmakers.

“In my opinion, I think there is still a stigma attached in this country to being openly gay, and I think we are moving in the wrong direction,” Morton said. “When you compound that with not being able to live authentically who you are, that absolutely plays a factor in how we feel about ourselves and that all circles back to anxiety.”

With so much growing anger and dissention against the LGBTQ community, , as well as increased bullying, many factors contribute to anxiety in LGBTQ youth.

“How can that not make you anxious?” Morton asked. “I think it’s true for other communities but especially the LGBTQ community That is why we are seeing these staggering numbers. Rates of suicide are exponentially higher.”

After a special world premiere livestream screening and conversation on May 3 hosted by Joan Lunden, the documentary debuts a few days later.

One of the largest film festivals in the city, the Atlanta Film Festival kicks off this week with some LGBTQ offerings. Alexandria Bombach’s “It’s Only Life After All” is a look at Amy Ray and Emily Saliers, also known as the Indigo Girls. It’s a comprehensive, easy-towatch documentary examining the local duo’s professional and personal lives as out musicians. Ira Sachs’ “Passages” is a look at Tomas, a German filmmaker played by Franz Rogowski, married to husband Martin (Ben Whishaw). Their lives get complicated when Tomas begins an affair with Agathe (Adèle Exarchopoulos of “Blue is the Warmest Color”). It’s well-acted, even if the characters are distant and a little unpleasant. “Gabi: Between Ages 8 and 13” is a Swedish documentary about the titular character over five years, battling stereotypes about what it means to be a boy or girl. The festival also features an encore Atlanta screening of the stirring “Kokomo City,” about Black trans sex workers in New York and Atlanta.

Also in the mix are several LGBTQ short films.

MORE INFO

“Anxious Nation” has a world premiere online screening and conversation May 3 and is available in theaters and on VOD May 5

The Atlanta Film Festival runs April 20–30 at various Atlanta venues

Jim Farmer

“Anxious Nation” PUBLICITY PHOTOS

Karl Palenkas

Out Actor Sharrod Williams

Headlines ‘Moulin Rouge! The Musical,’ Matt Terrell Hosts Live Cooking Demo

Many people don’t remember this, but when Baz Luhrmann’s “Moulin Rouge!” was released in movie theaters in 2001, it won two Oscars and was nominated for a slew more, but it wasn’t a major commercial success. Over time, it’s become almost iconic. Now it’s a stage musical whose national tour hits the ATL this week with performer Sharrod Williams in the cast. He plays the role of Pierre.

“Moulin Rouge! The Musical!” hit Broadway in the summer of 2019. The show won 10 Tony Awards, including Best Musical and Best Actor for Aaron Tveit. It tells the story of a young composer who arrives in Paris and eventually falls in love with Satine, the star performer at the titular Moulin Rouge club.

Pierre is the person who tells the Duke of Monroth that Satine is sneaking around with another man behind his back.

“That is the beginning of the end for the journey of Satine,” Williams said. The actor doesn’t have any lines — it’s a nonspeaking role.

“It has been a test of my acting ability to do this without saying anything,” he said. “It’s fun and difficult. My trajectory in theater has been more of a dance journey, and it’s been fun to be featured in another way.”

That character was written for the musical and isn’t in the movie. Pierre is a queer character, the lover of Nathan Fielder, who runs the club. It’s exciting for Williams to jump into that lane and play an unapologetically gay character — and find the nuance of not making it too camp.

“Showing that queer love on stage is so exciting,” he said. “That exposure, that storyline, is so important for me to share. It’s been fun building him and finding Pierre and finding myself doing this. I think there is never enough space held for queerness in the land of living at the moment and having a queer character is so important. We need to hold space and have more queerness on stage every day. This musical is a great platform for that.”

The androgyny of the ensemble is also supported and encouraged by the producers. Goldberg loves being in such a progressive show that travels across the nation and inspires queer people and tells them it’s okay to be themselves.

It’s a production that Williams didn’t necessarily ever see himself in. He was certainly aware of the material, but when

the workshop of the stage version began, he didn’t continue far in the audition process, because he booked another project.

“Fast forward a while and they are having auditions for the tour,” Williams said. “To be completely honest, I was dodging the audition a bit. I imagined they wanted tall buff guys and didn’t want tiny little me. My agent kept telling me they were switching dates for me to make it.”

He eventually reached out, danced for the producers, and was asked to be part of the tour.

Williams has been performing most of his life. Music was a first love, because it seemed to be inherited from generation to generation. He was first in a choir and discovered dance late in college. By the time of his graduation, he realized could do both.

He’s never seen the film version of “Moulin Rouge” from start to finish, but certainly understands its appeal.

“I think we all love love,” he said. “As human beings we are hard-wired to seek and desire love. That is one of the themes

of the show — truth, beauty, freedom and love . We also all love a love story. This is pure fantasy. In the musical, we are using pop music songs we all know and love that amplifies and elevates the attractiveness of the show. Those are the things that make the movie and musical so iconic.”

Out artist, chef and Kennesaw State University professor Matthew Terrell will be hosting a free live cooking demo and screening of his series, “Living the Dream” on April 23. As part of the event, Terrell will unveil “Ten Magic Tricks” with patrons that promise to make their lives in the kitchen easier, such as “One Simple Trick to Make Any Seafood Taste Freshly Caught.”

The series, says Terrell, is a celebration of Southern food and the unique stories and traditions that accompany it.

MORE INFO

“Moulin Rouge” runs through April 30 at the Fox Theatre

Jim Farmer

“Moulin Rouge! The Musical!”

PUBLICITY PHOTOS

Artist, chef and Kennesaw State University professor Matthew Terrell

Matt Terrell’s live cooking demo and screening of “Living the Dream,” April 23 at Dad’s Garage

Katie Burkholder

QUEER BAIT

April 21

Mary’s Gay pop videos every Friday with DJ Headmaster. $5 after 9pm.

ATLANTA BEAR PRIDE WARM UP PARTY

April 21, 7pm

Woof’s No cover. Learn more at atlantabearpride.com.

DISCO DOLLZ

April 21, 8pm

Future Atlanta

Starring Raja, the season three winner of RuPaul’s Drag Race! Tickets via universe.com.

ATLANTA BEAR PRIDE KICK OFF PARTY

April 21, 9pm

Heretic

Learn more at atlantaearpride.com.

HOT MESS DANCE PARTY

April 21, 10pm

The Basement

For pop lovers, this is the only night out in Atlanta where you’ll heat an expertly curated mix of pop and dance music, from Lady Gaga to Charli XCX, with DJ Kimber. Buy tickets at basementatl.com.

JOCKS AND SOCKS

April 21, 11pm

Atlanta Eagle

With DJ Moose.

ATLANTA BEAR PRIDE RANDY T-DANCE

April 22, 3pm

Heretic

With DJ Arjun Reddy from Miami. Learn more at atlantabearpride.com.

ATLANTA TITANS BEER BUST

April 22, 4pm

Atlanta Eagle

Hotlanta Softball League’s legendary Atlanta Titans invite you to join them for what you do best: DRINK! $10 beer bust, Jello shots, 50/50 Raffle, and more!

BEARRACUDA ATLANTA

April 22, 9pm

Heretic

With DJ Manny Lehman. Learn more at atlantabearpride.com.

LEATHER MONARCHY

April 22, 11pm

Atlanta Eagle

With DJ Brady Prince. $5 cover.

ATLANTA BEAR PRIDE XION

April 23, 3am

Future Atlanta

With DJ Nina Flowers. Tickets at futureatlanta.com.

‘80S DAY PARTY

April 23, 3pm

The Hideaway

With DJ Devon Rex.

ATLANTA BEAR PRIDE

SUNDAY FUNDAY

April 23, 4pm

Woof’s No cover.

ATLANTA BEAR PRIDE

SUNDAY TEA DANCE

April 23, 7pm

Atlanta Eagle

With DJ Neon. Tickets available at the door, $5 cover.

SUPER SMASH BROS

ULTIMATE TOURNAMENT

April 23, 7pm

Joystick

Every Sunday, Joystick hosts a knockout Smash tournament. Sign up starts at 6:30pm.

FELIX’S TURNABOUT SHOW 2023

April 23, 9pm

Felix’s

Come watch your favorite bartenders go from slinging drinks to serving fish to benefit Positive Impact Health Centers. Hosted by Nicole Paige Brooks with music by DJ AF.

ATLANTA BEAR PRIDE CLOSING PARTY

April 24, midnight

Future Atlanta

With DJ Karlitos.

CARTRIDGE ATL

April 26, 8pm

Joystick

Every Wednesday, Black-owned gamer lounge Cartridge ATL takes over Joystick with live DJs, food, gaming tournaments, and karaoke.

EVENT SPOTLIGHT

ATLANTA BEAR PRIDE XION

Future Atlanta

April 22, 3am

MARYOKE

April 26, 9pm

Mary’s

OPEN MIC COMEDY

April 27, 8pm

Joystick

Spend Thursday nights laughing at the best local comedians in town.

COUNTRY NIGHT

April 27, 9pm

Heretic

Every Thursday night, enjoy country twostep, line dancing, and more at the Heretic with DanceOut Atl. Don’t know how? Show up at 8pm for a free lesson!

QUEER BAIT

April 28

Mary’s

Gay pop videos every Friday with DJ Headmaster. $5 after 9pm.

TAYLOR SWIFT AFTERPARTY

April 28, 10pm

Future Atlanta

With DJ Joe Gauthreaux. No cover.

HANNES BIEGER LIVE

April 28, 11pm

District Atlanta

Tickets at bit.ly/HANNESATL2023.

END OVERDOSE ATLANTA

April 29, 4pm

District Atlanta

District is hosting an amazing outdoor daytime event with music, food, raffle prizes, education, and free naloxone certifications in collaboration with End Overdose to raise awareness and funds for the prevention of opioid-related deaths. Tickets via Eventbrite.

LEATHER AND LACE

April 29, 4pm

Atlanta Eagle

Leathermen to restrain you, Drag delights to entertain you. $10 beer bust, $20 margarita bust. Drag show starts at 5pm, hosted by Sister Panti Heaux of New York and Sister Sissy Sweet Tea. All money raised will be donated to the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence.

CONTINUES ON PAGE 21

With DJ Rodolfo Bravat. Tickets at future-atlanta.com. (Photo via Facebook)

LGBTQ NIGHTLIFE FORECAST APRIL 21-MAY 5

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 20

ATLANTA DISCO SOCIETY XIII

April 29, 10pm

The Basement

Join the Atlanta Disco Society for a night of glamour, debauchery, and disco dancing! Anything goes on the light-up dance floor. Buy tickets at basementatl.com.

TAYLOR SWIFT AFTER PARTY

April 29, 10pm

Future Atlanta

With DJ Karlitos. No cover.

TINLICKER

April 29, 11pm

District Atlanta

Tickets at bit.ly/TINLICKERATL2023.

SUPER SMASH BROS

ULTIMATE TOURNAMENT

April 30, 7pm

Joystick

Every Sunday, Joystick hosts a knockout Smash tournament. Sign up starts at 6:30pm.

CARTRIDGE ATL

May 3, 8pm

Joystick

Every Wednesday, Black-owned gamer lounge Cartridge ATL takes over Joystick with live DJs, food, gaming tournaments, and karaoke.

BOUNTY HUNTER BASH: MAY THE FOURTH BE WITH YOU

May 4, 9pm

District Atlanta

Whether you’re a lover of the Mandalorian, cosplay, or just enjoy fun costume parties, you won’t want to miss out on this event. From 9 pm to 10 pm, they’ll be showcasing the films of Creative Force Films (tickets include screening and afterparty), and the party doesn’t stop there! They’ve got an afterparty from 10 pm to 2 am featuring three DJs, themed go-gos, and performers! Tickets via Eventbrite.

GORDO

May 5, 11pm

District Atlanta

Tickets at bit.ly/GORDOATL2023.

For the Love of (Actually) Reading

Cliff Bostock

Read the full column online at thegavoice.com.

I do Zoom calls with my neurologist — don’t ask — every six months. During our last session, I allowed myself to sit in front of the 25x10 ft. wall of books in my office. I usually avoid this backdrop because it makes me feel like I’m a remote guest on a TV show. Yes, I’m the person who obsessively stops the video and zooms in to look at the actual titles of the books on CNN experts’ shelves.

My doctor, who is also a professor, seemed literally joyful when he saw my books. “You read!” he said. “Nobody reads books anymore.”

He went on to explain that reading, as anyone who reads a lot knows, isn’t just about the input of information. It’s also about the development of critical thinking and the imagination’s ability to think and feel outside our immediate circumstances. Language structures our thinking and the less you challenge yourself, the more prosaic and selfish your thought is likely to become. Literalism, which reduces the world to individual personal desire, is the soul-crushing curse of our time. Literalism despises subtlety and loves to burn books — or snatch them out of the hands of drag queens and keep them off the library shelves. How dare we allow anyone to compare, with love, their suffering to our own!

This subject — let’s call it voluntary illiteracy — came to mind rather brutally last month after publication of my column about being overwhelmed by painful memory and the longing for some meaning in the face of it. People on the Voice’s Facebook page read the headline and saw the photo of the Colonnade, where my experience occurred,

and immediately concluded it was a negative restaurant review. I get how that could happen, but it simply does not make sense to me that without reading the column, you would write a review of a nonexistent review.

I was also moved to think about the decline in reading by the death of Michael Denneny, probably the most important editor of gay literature since the ’70s. Besides his work in bringing momentous books like Randy Shilts’ “And the Band Played On” to publication, he co-founded the gay literary magazine “Christopher Street” that published from 1976 through the ’90s. In an interview, Denneny says the world of his book and magazine — a world where social consciousness was our main concern — “no longer exists” and doubts that younger queer people, supposedly preoccupied with domestic concerns like childrearing, have any interest in that world. I think he was wrong about that, being somewhat more conservative than many of us in those early years but definitely seeing the world through the lens of great privilege by the time of his death at 80.

I routinely make the promise to myself to begin reading more fiction and poetry, but usually find my fingers itching for the keyboard to read, say, the New York Times, which now appends a “reading time” to each article. I mean, woo-hoo! Paul Krugman’s essay, “Plutocratic Power and Its Perils” is a “4 MIN READ.” Hey, who can’t give something four minutes of attention? A part of me is so disgusted by the headline and the silly reading time that I want to just dismiss it as bullshit in a comment – sort of like my boys did with my column last month. That would feel good. But I read it, and it wasn’t that bad. Which reminds me: thanks to the many readers who responded positively to my column via my own Facebook page!