Georgia Voice 09/08/23, Vol. 14 Issue 12

IMPORTANT FACTS FOR BIKTARVY®

This is only a brief summary of important information about BIKTARVY® and does not replace talking to your healthcare provider about your condition and your treatment.

MOST IMPORTANT INFORMATION ABOUT BIKTARVY

BIKTARVY may cause serious side e ects, including:

 Worsening of hepatitis B (HBV) infection. Your healthcare provider will test you for HBV. If you have both HIV-1 and HBV, your HBV may suddenly get worse if you stop taking BIKTARVY. Do not stop taking BIKTARVY without first talking to your healthcare provider, as they will need to check your health regularly for several months, and may give you HBV medicine.

ABOUT BIKTARVY

BIKTARVY is a complete, 1-pill, once-a-day prescription medicine used to treat HIV-1 in adults and children who weigh at least 55 pounds. It can either be used in people who have never taken HIV-1 medicines before, or people who are replacing their current HIV-1 medicines and whose healthcare provider determines they meet certain requirements.

BIKTARVY does not cure HIV-1 or AIDS. HIV-1 is the virus that causes AIDS.

Do NOT take BIKTARVY if you also take a medicine that contains:

 dofetilide

 rifampin

 any other medicines to treat HIV-1

BEFORE TAKING BIKTARVY

Tell your healthcare provider if you:

 Have or have had any kidney or liver problems, including hepatitis infection.

 Have any other health problems.

 Are pregnant or plan to become pregnant. It is not known if BIKTARVY can harm your unborn baby. Tell your healthcare provider if you become pregnant while taking BIKTARVY.

 Are breastfeeding (nursing) or plan to breastfeed. Do not breastfeed. HIV-1 can be passed to the baby in breast milk.

Tell your healthcare provider about all the medicines you take:

 Keep a list that includes all prescription and over-the-counter medicines, antacids, laxatives, vitamins, and herbal supplements, and show it to your healthcare provider and pharmacist.

 BIKTARVY and other medicines may a ect each other. Ask your healthcare provider and pharmacist about medicines that interact with BIKTARVY, and ask if it is safe to take BIKTARVY with all your other medicines.

POSSIBLE SIDE EFFECTS OF BIKTARVY

BIKTARVY may cause serious side e ects, including:

 Those in the “Most Important Information About BIKTARVY” section.

 Changes in your immune system. Your immune system may get stronger and begin to fi ght infections that may have been hidden in your body. Tell your healthcare provider if you have any new symptoms after you start taking BIKTARVY.

 Kidney problems, including kidney failure. Your healthcare provider should do blood and urine tests to check your kidneys. If you develop new or worse kidney problems, they may tell you to stop taking BIKTARVY.

 Too much lactic acid in your blood (lactic acidosis), which is a serious but rare medical emergency that can lead to death. Tell your healthcare provider right away if you get these symptoms: weakness or being more tired than usual, unusual muscle pain, being short of breath or fast breathing, stomach pain with nausea and vomiting, cold or blue hands and feet, feel dizzy or lightheaded, or a fast or abnormal heartbeat.

 Severe liver problems, which in rare cases can lead to death. Tell your healthcare provider right away if you get these symptoms: skin or the white part of your eyes turns yellow, dark “tea-colored” urine, light-colored stools, loss of appetite for several days or longer, nausea, or stomach-area pain.

 The most common side e ects of BIKTARVY in clinical studies were diarrhea (6%), nausea (6%), and headache (5%). These are not all the possible side e ects of BIKTARVY. Tell your healthcare provider right away if you have any new symptoms while taking BIKTARVY.

You are encouraged to report negative side e ects of prescription drugs to the FDA. Visit www.FDA.gov/medwatch or call 1-800-FDA-1088.

Your healthcare provider will need to do tests to monitor your health before and during treatment with BIKTARVY.

HOW TO TAKE BIKTARVY

Take BIKTARVY 1 time each day with or without food.

GET MORE INFORMATION

 This is only a brief summary of important information about BIKTARVY. Talk to your healthcare provider or pharmacist to learn more.

 Go to BIKTARVY.com or call 1-800-GILEAD-5.

 If you need help paying for your medicine, visit BIKTARVY.com for program information.

(bik-TAR-vee)

BIKTARVY, the BIKTARVY Logo, GILEAD, the GILEAD Logo, and KEEP BEING YOU are trademarks of Gilead Sciences, Inc., or its related companies. © 2023 Gilead Sciences, Inc. All rights reserved. US-BVYC-0292 04/23

No matter where life takes you,

Because HIV doesn’t change who you are.

BIKTARVY® is a complete, 1-pill, once-a-day prescription medicine used to treat HIV-1 in certain adults. BIKTARVY does not cure HIV-1 or AIDS.

Ask your healthcare provider if BIKTARVY is right for you.

Person featured takes BIKTARVY and is compensated by Gilead.

Please see Important Facts about BIKTARVY, including important warnings, on the previous page and at BIKTARVY.com.

About the cover:

Cover photo: Shuuterstock.com/Vibe Images

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Principal/Publisher: Tim Boyd tboyd@thegavoice.com

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All material in Georgia Voice is protected by federal copyright law and may not be reproduced without the written consent of Georgia Voice. The sexual orientation of advertisers, photographers, writers and cartoonists published herein is neither inferred nor implied. The appearance of names or pictorial representation does not necessarily indicate the sexual orientation of that person or persons. We also do not accept responsibility for claims made by advertisers.

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LIVING INSIDE History

Katie Burkholder

I love going on a relaxing beach vacay as much as the next person, but there really is nothing quite like a trip where you opt for activity over relaxation. Those trips where you absorb the culture and history of a place unlike where you live your day-to-day life.

There is a clear connection between travel and history, and some of my favorite trips I've been on I loved because it felt like I had the chance to live inside history. Roaming the streets of Paris and London, despite both being bustling metropolises, made me feel like I had been dropped into the early 20th century. The infrastructure of both cities, and of most major European cities in general, valued the maintenance of history in a way that most major American city infrastructure fails to. You instantly get a sense for how old both the cities are. With that long historical lineage readily apparent at every corner — from cathedrals and palaces to storefronts and alleys — you cannot ignore how small and insignificant each of us are as individuals; time stretches back far beyond what we have experienced in our small lifetimes and it will continue to extend far beyond us.

While feeling insignificant may sound daunting and distressing, I actually think it's a positive reminder of our position in both space and time. For example, I live in an apartment, and I very rarely feel the history of the place where I live. But that doesn't mean it's not there. Before I lived here, someone else did. Before that, someone built the room I'm writing this editorial in. Before there was an apartment complex, there was something else. Maybe there was another building, a shuttered business that was demolished. There was definitely a forest, filled with trees and weeds and mushrooms and bugs and birds. If I really wanted to,

there is a record somewhere where I could access the past of the place where my feet are currently planted. I will never do that, because I have a job and relationships and responsibilities that are more worth my time than that endeavor. But just because I will never know the history of my space doesn't mean that history isn't real. Whether I acknowledge it or not, everything in my life has roots in the past, even if that past is less romantic than that of the palaces of London or the cafes of Paris.

The truth is, you don't have to travel to live inside history. We do, every single day. Acknowledging our history, however, will often be more uncomfortable than exploring beautiful architecture or discovering interesting facts. If I were to scour those records, for instance, I might find that there was once a home here in which a family was forced out of the area by a hedge fund that acquired land nearby, increasing the property value and therefore property taxes. Maybe

I will find that the company that owns my complex has donated to the campaign of the Republican candidate running on anti-LGBTQ promises. Maybe the forest that was once here was home to an endemic species that is now endangered. When you think of these possibilities that may be hiding around every corner — from the strip malls and parking lots to luxury high rises and Instagrammable coffee shops — it makes sense that the reminder of our place in history can feel more devastating than enlightening.

Travel can make history feel exciting, romantic, and adventurous, but history can also be gruesome and dismal. History is a story that was lived by real people, and it's our duty to honor and protect the real people impacted by looking directly at our mistakes and preventing them from happening again. We should not stray from recognizing the truth of our history, no matter how disheartening it may be, or else we may be doomed to continue to repeat it.

PHOTO BY SHUTTERSTOCK.COM/ CANADASTOCK

A Long Arc

Atlanta Pride Committee Announces 2023 Grand Marshals - Including Georgia Voice!

The Atlanta Pride Committee has announced this year’s Grand Marshals for the Atlanta Pride Festival and Parade on October 14 to 15, 2023, in Piedmont Park. A beloved part of every Atlanta Pride, the Grand Marshals were selected from more than 50 nominations submitted by the community. With the theme of this year’s Atlanta Pride Festival, Show Up & Show Out, APC invites the entire community to show up for each other and to show out with acts of joy and justice for LGBTQ people in Atlanta and across the South.

“This year’s Grand Marshals are a diverse and powerful representation of metro Atlanta’s LGBTQ+ community,” said APC Executive Director Chris McCain. “From politics to media, community services and entertainment, our Grand Marshals are welldeserving, and we can’t wait to watch them Show Out in this year’s parade.”

The 2023 Atlanta Pride Grand Marshals are as follows:

All-1-FAMily

All-1- FAMily, Inc. provides mental and/or behavioral health services to lesbian, gay, bisexual, gender non-conforming and queer individuals.

Danielle Bonanno

Danielle Bonanno is the Executive Director of Inclusive Recovery Athens, a recovery community organization based in Athens, Georgia.

Aubri Escalera

Aubri Escalera is a Mexican Trans Latina raised in the Southeast of the United States of America. Aubri is a Legislative Aide and LGBTQIA+ Liaison for the office of State Rep. Park Cannon.

Jim Farmer

Jim Farmer has served as the festival director of Out On Film, Atlanta’s LGBTQIA+ film festival, for the last 15 years.

Georgia Voice

We are overjoyed and honroed to be named one of this year’s Grand Marshals! Georgia Voice was founded by Chris Cash, Laura Douglas-Brown, and Tim Boyd and currently consists of publisher and managing partner Tim Boyd, editor Katie Burkholder, art director Rob Boeger, and sales team Dixon Taylor, Jim Brams, and Russ Bowen-Youngblood.

Sergio Mendez

Sergio Mendez is the community investment manager and member of the advocacy team for the Latino Community Fund Georgia.

Jon Santos

Jon Santos is Part-Native Hawaiian, born and raised on O’ahu, Hawai’i, and has been in HIV/AIDS fundraising and events in Atlanta for 26-years.

Jennifer Slipakoff

Jen is a member of the Human Rights Campaign National Board of Governors, recently served as co-chair for HRC’s Atlanta Steering committee and currently leads HRC’s volunteers in political action work in Georgia.

Voices of Note Inc.

Voices of Note, Inc. (The Atlanta Gay Men’s Chorus and Atlanta Women’s Chorus) passionately advocate for diversity, acceptance, and positive change through its organization.

Toni-Michelle Williams

Toni-Michelle Williams is an auto-theorist, performance artist, embodied leadership/ somatics coach and executive director of Solutions Not Punishment Collaborative (SNAPCO).

You can read the full bios of this year’s Grand Marshals at atlantapride.org.

Atlanta Magazine Staff Quits Amidst Crackdown on “Progressive” Coverage

Half the staff at Atlanta Magazine have resigned after publisher Sean McGinnis complained about using correct pronouns in coverage, according to the Washington Post

“Are we, as a matter of fact, now writing stories based upon preferred pronouns?” McGinnis asked during a recorded June meeting, referring to a profile recently published about a labor organizer whose pronouns are they/them.

When an editor responded saying that using the pronouns corresponding with a subject’s gender identity is standard journalistic practice, McGinnis disagreed, saying, “People will think that that is taking a stance.” He subsequently requested to approve editorial content ahead of publication.

According to the Washington Post, this interaction represented a tipping point in a “small-scale culture war” happening within the magazine for the past several years, a “crackdown” on coverage that management deemed too progressive. Thus, three of six full-time editorial staffers have resigned, and the editor-in-chief announced plans to retire at the end of the year.

“Any journalist … would feel challenged to work in a place where the line between the edit side and the business side is as eroded as it’s become this year,” deputy editor Sam Worley wrote in his resignation letter. “That editorial independence is the bedrock of what we do, and it’s why our readers trust us.”

McGinnis has reportedly not commented on the situation.

Atlanta Pride Committee announces 2023 Grand Marshals - including Georgia Voice! FILE PHOTO

Allie Teixeira Riggs Is Pinning Down Queer History Through Tangible Narratives

Hunter Buchheit

Read the full article online at thegavoice.com.

When most people think of storytelling, they think of words on a page. Words into paragraphs into pages that spell out characters, action, and a plot linearly — scientifically.

Allie Teixeira Riggs, a Ph.D. student in Digital Media at Georgia Tech, is urging audiences to expand their definition of what storytelling can be through the power of embodied interactive experiences that involve archival materials.

Throughout their career, Riggs has centered their focus on how to craft engaging, artistic experiences using physical and digital technologies as media for storytelling. After graduating from Cornell with a Bachelor of Fine Arts and a minor in Information Science, Riggs moved to California to pursue a Master of Fine Arts in Digital Art and New Media, focusing on how we can use technology in an artistic form to engender explorations of personal, cultural, and queer identity.

In their works of interactive fiction — like the 2014 poem, “It Had to Be With You,” and their 2015 multilingual story “We arrived / Chegamos” — Riggs has used text-based interactions to convey stories of shifting personal and cultural identity, using sound and visuals that play with notions of time, memory, and language.

Years of experimenting with storytelling and design have culminated in Riggs’s latest project, “Button Portraits.” The project — which Riggs has developed alongside Georgia Tech professors Dr. Noura Howell and Dr. Anne Sullivan and archivist Morna Gerrard of the Georgia State University Gender and Sexuality Collections — tells

the stories of two of the foremost Southern lesbian activists of the 1970s, Maria Helena Dolan and Lorraine Fontana, using their buttons and oral histories from the archive. The “Button Portraits” experience uses embodied technology to allow individuals to wear a button from the collection and listen to a corresponding fragment of either Fontana’s or Dolan’s oral histories.

When Dolan and Fontana donated the buttons collected over the years, Riggs, as they said, was one of the first people to see them.

“We sat down and took a look at these buttons, which had actually just been added to the collection — they weren’t even catalogued yet,” Riggs said.

Because the archival buttons are historical artifacts and cannot be modified or used in interactive displays, Riggs’s first task was making replicas, realistic down to the scratches and nicks they’d accumulated over years of use. Next, they tagged the buttons with NFCs — two-way communication devices that allow for the exchange of data over short distances

(think: tap to pay using a credit card).

Audiences interacting with “Button Portraits,” Riggs said, are equipped with audio players worn around the neck at chest level.

“The audio player actually has a little computer — a Raspberry Pi — inside of it with the NFC reader, so when you bring a button up to the white circle on the player, it magnetizes,” Riggs said. “It allows you to mimic the gesture of pinning a button onto yourself, like pinning a button as you would to an article of clothing.”

What’s special about this “pinning” process is the story that’s told once the data is transmitted between the button and the audio player.

“When you ‘read’ the tag of the button, it’ll play a fragment of oral history,” Riggs explained. “I was able to go through the oral histories given and associate different anecdotes with certain buttons.”

So why buttons? For Riggs and many queer people, buttons are far more than an accessory.

“They’re significant for our protests, our social causes — even our identifications,” Riggs said. “I’m sure you’ve seen pronoun pins, like they/them or she/her. Queerness and buttons are very closely linked. And so, by using buttons, you’re not only holding a queer symbol, but you’re wearing something that is replicated from a part of history.”

With this nuance — along with the wearer’s sensory interactions with the button, the player, and the oral histories — Riggs aims at establishing reflection and personal connection. As people move through the display — each button home to a slice of Dolan and Fontana’s stories — a broader tapestry of the women’s lives and their impact begins to weave together.

Everything in “Button Portraits” is intentional, even down to the fragmentary, nonlinear nature of the oral histories, which serves to represent the intrinsic fluidity of the queer experience and the discovery of the disjointed, often incomplete nature of queer history, especially queer history in the South.

By having participants record their own stories, Riggs hopes that audiences can form an even deeper connection to the histories that the “Button Portraits” reflect.

Though we live in a more accepting time than the decades Dolan and Fontana lived through, being out and being proud — exactly what the buttons represent — amid anti-LGBTQ legislation and sentiment across the South can be scary and dangerous.

“Button Portraits,” then, can be seen as a bridge that audiences can use to identify their place in the timeline of queer history, allowing them to add to that history using something as simple as a button on their chest.

Allie Teixeira Riggs is a Ph.D. student in Digital Media at Georgia Tech

PHOTO BY JOSHUA SMITH, GEORGIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY AND THE GEORGIA STATE GENDER AND SEXUALITY COLLECTIONS

Remembering Atlanta’s Stonewall, 54 Years Later

alternative films, according to an article from Smithsonian Magazine

population,” Drue told Smithsonian Magazine

Perhaps the most well-recognized event in LGBTQ history is the Stonewall Riots of June 29, 1969. The riots took place in the streets of New York City after a popular LGBTQfriendly bar, the Stonewall Inn, was raided by police and queer patrons fought back. While these riots galvanized queer people and signified a shift toward more radical queer politics, Stonewall is far from the only police raid that pushed queer people to fight back.

A month after the Stonewall Riots, Atlanta’s queer community experienced a similar police raid dubbed “Atlanta’s Stonewall,” which history has largely forgotten.

It occurred on August 5 during a movie screening at the Ansley Mall Mini-Cinema near Midtown. The movie was Andy Warhol’s “Lonesome Cowboys,” a satire of classic Hollywood westerns featuring gay cowboys and homoerotic themes. The film’s production was monitored by the FBI, which conducted an in-depth investigation by interviewing several actors and people in the filming area, according to the Pittsburgh City Paper

The cinema was known by Atlanta locals as a queer-friendly space to view edgy and

In an interview with Smithsonian Magazine, Atlanta local Abby Drue recalled her experience that night. According to Drue, it was only about 15 minutes into the film when the police barged in and started blowing whistles, shining flashlights in peoples’ faces, and questioning and photographing them. About 70 people were in attendance and police ended up arresting some of them and charging them with public indecency and illegal drug possession. The manager of the theater was also arrested and officers told the AJC they were attempting to weed out “known homosexuals.”

Six days later, several dozen people protested outside the offices of the Great Speckled Bird, a local counterculture newspaper of the time. Officers responded by pepper spraying the protestors, again according to Smithsonian Magazine

Similar to the Stonewall riots, the political energy that erupted in the queer community after the police raid at Ansley Mall was more ferocious than ever before.

“I truly believe the Lonesome Cowboys raid was the spark that ignited the Atlanta homosexual

In the months following the raid, Atlanta’s queer community held a large public meeting where the Georgia chapter of the Gay Liberation Front (GLF) was organized by activists Bill Smith and Berl Boykin. The Gay Liberation Front itself was formed following the Stonewall Riots, meaning both of these events directly led to an increased presence of LGBTQ activism.

In 1971, a year after the Georgia GLF was founded, members organized Atlanta’s first march in Piedmont Park, with about 125 people in attendance, many covering their faces with paper bags, according to the Atlanta History Center. The following year, the Atlanta Lesbian Feminist Alliance was formed.

Atlanta’s growing queer visibility wasn’t just political. In the years to come, various queer nightlife spaces opened, including the popular club Backstreet, which opened in 1975.

While it was common for police across the country to raid queer spaces in the ’60s, this hasn’t been the case for quite some time. Shockingly, however, another police raid happened to Atlanta’s queer community, this one as recently as 2009. Over 20

officers stormed the Atlanta Eagle, shouting homophobic slurs and ordering patrons to the ground, eventually arresting eight people, according to the Atlanta JournalConstitution. These charges were dropped and six officers were fired, with nine others being disciplined for lying, violating civilians’ constitutional rights, and attempting to cover up and destroy evidence.

In 2010, artist collective John Q held a series of events commemorating Atlanta’s LGBTQ history. The event series ended with a screening of “Lonesome Cowboys” at Ansley Square, close to the location of the Ansley Mall MiniCinema where the raid occurred decades prior.

While the Ansley Cinema raid and resulting riots go largely unmentioned, their impact on LGBTQ activism and queer life in Atlanta is undeniable.

To see archived materials about the Ansley Cinema raid, visit exhibits.library.gsu.edu/ out-in-the-archives/stonewall-lonesomecowboys-and-the-georgia-gay-liberationfront. To view a timeline of Atlanta’s LGBTQ History, visit ajc.com/news/georgia-news/ timeline-major-moments-in-atlanta-lgbtqhistory/3FYYFAPOMRBPZEJHAPC4 ILAT24.

Luke Gardner

Poster of the movie that was playing during the raid, Andy Warhol’s “Lonesome Cowboys.” HISTORICAL IMAGE

FIVE PLACES TO VISIT IN Germany (THAT AREN’T BERLIN)

Sukainah Abid-Kons

Read the full article online at thegavoice.com. When you think of visiting Germany, there’s a decent chance that your first inclination is to visit Berlin, and who could blame you? The city offers endless activities related to history, art, culture, and fun. However, if you’ve already visited the amazing city in the past and are looking for an updated itinerary for your next Tour-de-Deutschland, look no further. Below are five German cities with cultural and historical significance, all of which can help create or add to your next vacation itinerary.

Potsdam

Just 40 kilometers (about 25 miles) from Berlin, Potsdam is a picturesque and charming city with a rich history. Capital of the State of Brandenburg, Potsdam is smaller than Berlin, with a population of around 185,000, and the city can be a great day trip stop. The 1,000-year-old city boasts a lot of activities: historical sites like churches and palaces, lakes and parks for outdoorsy explorers, and cafes and boutiques for shopping and a snack.

One of the more popular attractions is the Sans-Souci Palace. Don’t let the French name fool you; this feat of architecture was built by the Prussian King Fredrick the Great as a summer residence. Its beauty is considered by some to rival even the Palace of Versailles. The palace still has much original artwork and furniture, and a guided audio tour allows you to become immersed in 19thcentury Prussian luxury and history.

Trier

Germany is a perfect vacation spot for history buffs of every era, and Trier is waiting for them. If you ever took Latin in school or had a Roman Empire phase, this city has to be on your itinerary.

Founded by the Celts around the year 16 B.C., Trier is considered Germany’s oldest city and is filled with ruins from the Roman Empire (and actually served as one of its four capitals). During your visit, you can see the ruins of Porta Nigra or Kaiserthermen, admire the beautiful interior of Saint Peter’s Cathedral, or even Karl Marx’s house, which has been turned into a museum about the philosopher’s life and work.

Dresden

Dresden is a unique stop on your trip, because you can see hundreds of years of German history through a comparative lens. Much of the city was destroyed during World War II and the rebuilding that took place afterward in the East German city meant that much of the architecture is still in the

Cold War-era Soviet style. The downtown area, however, has been rebuilt to replicate what it looked like before the war, meaning that in a short walk or bus ride, it can feel as if you’re traveling from the late 20th century Soviet Union to the Middle Ages. There, you can visit the Frauenkirche, the Hygiene Museum, and the Dresden Castle.

Mainz

Bookworms, this one’s for you! Mainz is most famous for two things: its history of hosting one of the most extravagant Carnival celebrations in Germany and the fact that it was home to Johannes Gutenberg, father of the modern printing press. The Museum of Printing is now located where Gutenberg used to work and is a stop that could easily take up half a day. You’ll have the opportunity to see a live demonstration of an original printing press model, learn about how it changed the Western world, see the feats of printing (including rare early editions of famous books), and even see a Gutenberg Bible, of which there are fewer

than 50 left in the world.

After you’ve visited the museum, you’ll have the opportunity to see Roman ruins, walk through the picturesque town center, stop at one of the many cafes, or even get some shopping done.

Weimar

Weimar is famous because it’s the namesake of, you guessed it, the Weimar Republic. Known as the birthplace of Weimar Classicism (a cultural movement that had impacts on music and literature), the city has hosted some of the cultural icons of Germany, including musician Franz Liszt and writers Friedrich Schiller and Johann Wolfgang Goethe. In the town center is a monument to the writers and visitors can even visit Goethe’s house, which has been turned into a museum that focuses on his life, work, and the massive impact his writings had. If writing isn’t your thing, you can also visit the Bauhaus Museum, where the art school was originally founded.

Sans-Souci Palace PHOTO BY SHUTTERSTOCK.COM/ STAVRIDA

Downtown Weimar.

PHOTO BY SUKAINAH ABID-KONS

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LOVING THE LAND Down Under

Read the full article online at thegavoice.com.

Australia is one of the most LGBTQ-friendly countries in the world, with a progressive culture that embraces diversity and inclusivity. Australia decriminalized homosexuality in the 1970s and legally recognized same-sex marriage in 2017. The country has a very vibrant and dynamic LGBTQ community, and it is a popular destination for LGBTQ travelers.

Sydney, the largest city in Australia, is often considered the LGBTQ capital of the country. The city hosts the famous Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras, an annual festival and parade that attracts more than 300,000 visitors from around the world. The festival, with colorful floats, music, and performances, has become a symbol of Australia’s commitment to LGBTQ rights and is a must-visit for anyone traveling to Australia.

The parade, beginning with the roar of hundreds of “dykes on bikes,” is truly a sight to behold. The whole country comes to SLAY at this parade! Everyone puts on their brightest colors and outfits for this over-thetop event. It was one of the best (and longest) Pride parades I’ve ever been to in my life.

Sydney was home to the 2023 WorldPride festival, and the city rolled out the rainbow carpet for the estimated 1 million+ people,

staging more than 400 events. And when I tell you that this city went over the top — well, that’s a complete understatement. EVERYWHERE I went, EVERYTHING was covered in rainbows — from the city sidewalks to the lighting on buildings to every employee I saw in every shop with their rainbow pins and buttons. It was like gay was the norm and straight was the minority; it was fabulous!

Melbourne

Melbourne is another great city for LGBTQ travelers to visit. Aside from being the current home to my favorite pop star, Troye Sivan, the city is known for its vibrant arts and culture scene and is home to a thriving LGBTQ community. The annual Midsumma Festival, a three-week celebration of queer arts and culture, is held in Melbourne and features a range of exhibitions, performances, parties, and other events.

If shopping is your thing, check out the 145-year-old Queen Victoria Market. This open-air market is home to more than 600 small businesses where you can buy everything from Australian fruits and veggies to gourmet food, clothing, and souvenirs.

Wild Australia

What initially drew me Down Under were the lush landscapes and wild animals I saw on TV growing up. The country is home to some of the world’s most stunning natural

wonders, including the Great Barrier Reef, the Outback, and the Blue Mountains.

One stop for me was the breathtaking Heron Island, a stunning coral cay located on the southern Great Barrier Reef off the coast of Queensland. It is accessible only by catamaran or helicopter and offers a secluded and pristine escape for travelers looking for a uniquely tranquil experience.

The island boasts world-class snorkeling and scuba diving opportunities, giving visitors the chance to swim among vibrant coral reefs and an abundance of marine life including sea turtles, manta rays and reef sharks, while its sandy beaches provide a picturesque setting for sunbathing and leisurely walks. The island is an also breeding ground for several species of seabirds, including the endangered black noddy tern and the wedge-tailed shearwater, making it perfect for birding enthusiasts.

Accommodation options on Heron Island range from eco-friendly tents to luxurious suites, with all rooms offering stunning views of the reef and the island’s lush vegetation. Facilities include a restaurant and bar and well as guided nature walks and reef talks.

If you need a chance for some peaceful rest and rejuvenation, especially after all the excitement of Sydney and Melbourne, Heron Island is the perfect destination. Its remote location and unparalleled natural beauty make it a must-visit destination.

Bondi Beach

Australia has several LGBTQ-friendly beaches, including the popular Bondi Beach in Sydney. The beach is home to the Bondi Gay and Lesbian Beach Picnic, which is held on the first Sunday of every month and is a great way to meet other LGBTQ travelers.

Overall, I spent a little more than two weeks in The Land Down Under. I loved it so much that I’ve decided I will definitely be going back to vacation there again, and I might even move there some day to live! The welcome I felt from the people there is something I will never forget.

Aussies care about their country and the people in it. From the moment I touched down until the minute that I left, I never felt unwelcomed anywhere I went.

The country’s progressive culture, natural beauty, and diverse cities make it an ideal vacation spot for LGBTQ individuals and couples. Whether you’re looking to attend a Pride parade, explore the great outdoors or simply relax on a beautiful beach, Australia has something to offer everyone.

So, pack your bags and come and say G’day; you won’t regret it!

For more info on traveling to Australia, visit australia.com.

Chad Mantooth | Dallas Voice, courtesy of the National LGBT Media Association

Sydney Opera House PHOTO VIA PEXELS

A VOYAGE AROUND THE ARCTIC

Mark Segal | Philadelphia Gay News, courtesy of the National LGBTQ Media Association

Read the full article online at thegavoice.com.

Our July Oceania cruise started in Reykjavik, Iceland and then proceeded to Greenland, the Shetland Islands, Denmark, and Sweden before ending in Oslo, Norway after a whopping 15 days.

Reykjavik, Iceland

The departing port of the cruise, Reykjavik, deserves a few days to tour since it has some of the greatest landscapes and wonders on earth, and if you’re lucky as we were, you will be met by an active volcano. We had arranged three days of touring with an LGBTQ tour company called Pink Iceland. There not only is a sizable LGBTQ population in Iceland, but it seems everywhere you go there are rainbows. The country even has had a lesbian Prime minister. It’s one of the most LGBTQfriendly places on earth.

Our first day we traveled to the south shore and marveled at the raw natural landscape, which looks like something from the moon but is actually dried lava with moss growing atop. Later that day we went to the black beach at Reynisfjara with its basalt rock formation from volcano eruptions thousands of years ago. We also visited and walked behind several waterfalls, and the sunshine meant that rainbows were aplenty.

Our second day began with an adventurous ATV ride on that moonscape with a stop at a dormant volcano’s top ridge. Afterwards, we spent the afternoon in the world-famous Blue Lagoon spa, where there are pools of

volcanic minerals and silica that are a color of blue you’ll see no other place on earth.

Our third day we toured the capital city, which is easily walkable and features a giant rainbow street, and then attended a get-together organized by Eva and Birna, the owners of Pink Iceland, with some local LGBTQ community members, including a member of parliament and a playwright who was the first to come out in his village in western Iceland.

Isafjordur, Iceland

In this small fishing village, left to our own devices, we discovered one of the treasures of Iceland, The Tjoruhusid Restaurant. Known to be the most traditional Icelandic food in the country, the buffet meal included a fish soup, five types of fish entrees (including fish throat, which I didn’t know existed), various vegetable combinations, and coffee, biscuits, and chocolate.

Nuuk, Greenland

For our excursion for the day, we chose the Fjord Boat Tour, which was majestic. Our boat driver dodged icebergs like a taxi weaving in and out of traffic. When we stopped for a few minutes, the calmness and solitude, being surrounded by ice and mountains, was otherworldly.

Qaqortoq, Greenland

In Qaqortoq, a 1,500-person city south of Nuuk, the excursion we chose was the “Kaffemik,” basically enjoying coffee and traditional Greenland cakes in a private house. We walked up the hills and passed by colorful homes to get to the residence of our host, an 80-year-old widow with Swedish ancestry

who was charming and explained Greenlandic culture. One of her children was there to help translate, while her other children live in Denmark, which Greenland is a territory of. During the pandemic, Greenland received ample funds from Denmark to make up for the loss of income in industry.

Torshavn (Faroe Islands), Denmark

This charming capital of the Faroe Islands is a wonder of old architecture and homes with grass roofs. The town’s Library had several LGBTQ books on display in the window due to the previous week’s Pride celebration.

Lerwick (Shetlands Islands), Scotland

The tour we were on in Lerwick included going to the town’s museum to learn about the Shetland Bus, where people ferried people and supplies back and forth between Norway during WWII, as well as, thankfully, a stop at a Shetland Pony farm. Seeing the ponies and the beautiful green hills full of sheep was the highlight of this stop. One surprise was that while the Shetlands are part of Scotland, the citizens feel culturally closer to Norway, and there are lots of Viking motifs.

Haugesund, Norway

While there were excursions available to see

the Norwegian fjords, by this point in the trip we needed a little bit of a break, so we simply walked around the town’s main square, bought a magnet as a souvenir, and enjoyed the warm sunshine, the first day above 50 degrees we’d had in two weeks. One of the LGBTQ couples did go on a fjord tour, and they said it was beautiful despite spending three hours in a bus to get to them.

Skagen, Denmark

Skagen is the picture-perfect Danish seaside town. I’d recommend not doing any guided tours and just walking around the city’s downtown area on your own. There are museums, art galleries, shopping, and plenty of outdoor cafes and bistros. There are also top-notch garden shops and plenty of greenery for those who have a green thumb.

Gothenburg, Sweden

Sweden’s second largest city has a population of 579,000 and is a model of a beautiful European city with second empire buildings and a very large central shopping area. We stumbled upon some fun shops, including one dedicated to Pippi Longstocking, as well as the largest cinnamon rolls and cookies we’ve ever seen. We took some time to sit in a city park and enjoy the surroundings.

The Northern Lights PHOTO BY SHUTTERSTOCK.COM/ JAMEN PERCY

“

—Dance Informa

September

A

Airi Igarashi. Photo by Charlie McCullers.

Out On Film Opening Weekend Preview

Katie Burkholder

Quotes have been edited for clarity.

The 36th annual Out On Film festival, Atlanta’s LGBTQ film festival and the number one film festival in the country as voted by readers of USA Today and 10Best, kicks off its diverse lineup of local and international films on Thursday, September 21.

Opening weekend starts at Landmark Midtown Art Cinema with the Southeastern premiere of “Our Son ” In sort of a gay “Kramer vs. Kramer,” a divorcing gay couple played by Emmy winner Billy Porter and Luke Evans fight over the custody of their eight-year-old son.

“We wanted to make a movie that depicted something we hadn’t seen before in a drama, which is two men raising a child going through a divorce and figuring out their relationship for the sake of the child,” director and co-writer Bill Oliver told Georgia Voice. “With the right to marry comes the right to divorce, and we were curious what that would mean for a gay couple. We wanted to evolve the depiction of gay relationships in mainstream movies beyond coming out stories and falling in love stories and tragic stories. [We wanted t]o show that the end of a love story is just as important and beautiful as the beginning of a love story.”

The movie is a beautiful and intimate portrait of fatherhood, loss, and change — and the intimacy of the film extended beyond the screen.

“I wanted [the film] to feel very real, very lived in,” Oliver said. “It’s a movie about a family, and I wanted the crew and the whole feeling of the shoot to feel that way too.”

The film is emotionally difficult to watch at times, with moments of conflict and grief searingly played by both Evans and Porter. In order to allow the space for this kind of vulnerability, emotional scenes were filmed handheld with minimal crew in the room. “There were definitely tears after certain

scenes and group hugs,” Oliver said. “All of the emotional scenes were hard on all of us emotionally watching it and for [the actors] experiencing it.”

While “Our Son” is sure to bring tears to your eyes, the emotional weight of the film culminates in a heartwarming message of love.

“We wanted to make sure that it wasn’t about suffering, that it was about hope and optimism,” Oliver said. “It’s a tearjerker, it’s sad, but it ends on a note of hope. It’s a celebration of the power of friendship and community and reconciliation.”

Opening night of the festival closes out at 9:30pm with Elephant, a Polish rendition of Brokeback Mountain. Bartek runs a small

horse farm in the mountains in Poland after becoming head of the family when his father left and his mother fell apart. One day their neighbor dies, and his son Dawid comes back to the village for a funeral. Bartek becomes fascinated by Dawid and his carefree attitude. First love will force him to decide if he’s ready to choose his freedom over his family.

Other feature-length highlights of opening weekend include “Cora Bora,” about a failed musician who returns to her hometown to win back her ex-girlfriend; “F.L.Y.,” a comedy about two exes who get stuck in quarantine together; “All the Colours of the World are Between Black and White,” a Nigerian drama about navigating sexuality; “Silver Haze,” a gritty drama about seeking revenge; “Big Boys,” a coming-of-age film about developing

a crush on your sister’s boyfriend; the world premiere of “A Big Gay Hairy Hit! Where the Bears Are,” a documentary about how three older gay bears working in Hollywood began to self-produce their own web series; “Chasing Chasing Amy,” a documentary exploring the unexamined legacy of the cult classic Chasing Amy; “Studio One Forever,” a documentary covering the iconic titular disco; and “The Mattachine Family,” which follows a couple as they navigate the fallout of losing their foster son.

For fans of short films, you can also expect a set of international films, comedy shorts, and trans and female-centered films opening weekend.

For the full schedule and to buy tickets, visit outonfilm.org.

“Our Son” PUBLICITY PHOTO

Trans Actress Pooya Mohseni

Headlines ‘English,’

Mark Campbell’s ‘The Shining’ Gets Atlanta Staging

Jim Farmer

When performer Pooya Mohseni first got involved in a reading of Sanaz Toossi’s play, “English” five years ago, she played the role of grandmother Roya. Five years later, she’s still in the cast, albeit with a different character. In the current Alliance Theatre production, she’s the pivotal character of Marjan, the teacher.

“English” is the winner of the 2023 Pulitzer Prize for Drama. In it, four adults are learning English in preparation for the TOEFL — the Test of English as a Foreign Language, which would grant them better opportunities, such as a medical school admission, a green card, or reunion with their family.

Mohseni’s mother was an English teacher and a lot of the character resonated with her.

“It’s a monster of a role because there is so much of an emotional journey that this character has to go through,” she said.

Before the play opened at the Atlantic Theater Company off-Broadway last year, there were concerns from the creative team about who

exactly the audience was. But then it opened and took off, becoming the New York Times critics’ pick and winning several awards, including an Obie for Mohseni.

“It resonated so deeply with immigrants and teachers and even many members of the queer community,” Mohseni said. “Someone can see this play and think it’s about language, about authenticity, and about code switching. As queer people we know what that is, what it feels like to be ‘othered,’ to be told that you are not good enough as you are.”

Mohseni shudders at today’s society, where people’s rights are being taken away. According to the actress, an uprising started last year with the Woman Life Freedom movement.

“Women are treated as second class citizens, being forced to dress a certain way with no autonomy over their body,” she said. “If a man sees their hair or ankle or [another] body part, whatever it prompts in a man’s head or desire, they are responsible for it. That is the essence of victim shaming. That is one of the reasons I wanted to do the show with Shadi Ghaheri as a director; I knew that it would be the point of view.”

For Mohseni, coming out as transgender was a huge turning point. She was born and raised in a Muslim country in the ’90s and never met another person who identified as trans. Arrested many times for wearing short sleeves and having hair that was too long, she tried to commit suicide several times around 1994. Eventually Mohseni’s mother let her come to the United States and begin her transition.

“I came to New York in 1997 and at the time the city wasn’t a particularly safe place,” she said. “I was outed while doing background work on ‘Sex and the City’ in 2000 and left the business. There was no place for a young trans person of color. When I found my way back in, I didn’t want people to know what happened. I wanted to make myself as invisible as I could. But by the time I got to 2015 and marriage equality passed, I wondered what I had done all this for?”

She came out that year and has found success in theater and film, including a lauded performance in the independent project, “See You Then.”

Pulitzer Prize winner Mark Campbell is one of the librettists of the new version of “The Shining,” presented by Atlanta Opera and Alliance Theatre. The out Campbell has worked with Atlanta Opera several times on productions such as “Silent Night” and last year’s “As One.”

Stephen King’s 1977 novel about a family who comes to an isolated hotel, the Overlook, and its many secrets and ghosts was made into a 1980 Stanley Kubrick film. It’s not obvious source material to become an opera, but Campbell feels the novel translates really well.

“An opera for me — you have to care for someone,” Campbell said. “I don’t think we really care about [the characters] in the film, but you do in the novel. This is a family that is just trying to survive against the worst possible odds.”

“The Shining” premiered in 2016 at the Ordway Music Theater in Saint Paul, Minnesota, presented by Minnesota Opera.

Campbell says some small changes are part of the new Atlanta version, including an aria for the lead character of Jack Torrance in the first act.

“He didn’t have a full moment to himself,” he said. “It turns out to be a pinnacle; the demons are beginning to take over.”

Campbell likes working with the Atlanta Opera and admires its knack for presenting new work. This is the East coast premiere of the show, directed by Brian Staufenbiel. He thinks that to be gay in today’s society, one has to be open to many different kinds of experiences.

“There are very few working librettists in the world doing it for a living,” he said. “I have written LGBTQ themed, including ‘As One’ and ‘Stonewall.’ As a gay man of a certain age, I have written a lot about AIDS — and will continue to do so.”

MORE INFO

“English” runs through Sept. 17 at the Alliance Theatre’s Hertz Stage

“The Shining” runs Sept. 15 – Oct. 1 at the Alliance Theatre

“English” PUBLICITY PHOTO

Pulitzer Prize winner Mark Campbell PUBLICITY PHOTO

Jim Farmer

2023 Community Honors Celebration

September 8, 6pm

The Stave Room

OUT Georgia will use the 2023 Community Honors Celebration to recognize finalists and announce the winners in the categories of Business Leader, Community Leader, Employee Group, Next Gen Leader, Nonprofit, Corporate Ally, Small Business, New Business, and Member of the Year.

English

September 9, 7:30pm through September 17

Alliance Theatre

Playing out in awkward lessons of word games and mistranslations, The Alliance Theatre’s “English” is both a comedy of miscommunication and a look at the ways speaking a new language can expand your world and limit your identity. A hit in its 2021 New York premiere, the show was described as “a rich new play, both contemplative and comic” by The New York Times and was awarded the 2023 Pulitzer Prize for Drama.

A Very Spice Girls Drag Brunch

September 10, 2pm

ATL Comedy Theater Underground

If you wanna be my lover, you gotta come to A Very Spice Girls Drag Brunch. Hear the best hits from the fabulous five pop divas who brought fashion, fun and girl power to the ‘90s.

PALS Bingo

September 12, 7:30pm

Lips Atlanta

Hostesses Bubba D. Licious and Erica Lee and special guest performers will delight, amaze, and shock you as they call bingo, put on a show, and help raise money for Pets Are Loving Support (PALS). Tonight’s theme is “Lights Out Bingo.”

The Wiz

September 14, sunset

10th and Peachtree

Midtown Atlanta Alliance and Out On Film present a free screening of the classic musical “The Wiz.”

The Lost Art of Dreaming

September 15 and 16, 8pm; September 17, 4pm

7 Stages

Trailblazing transgender choreographer Sean Dorsey (San Francisco) comes to 7 Stages with the Atlanta premiere of Sean Dorsey Dance’s new work.  “The Lost Art Of Dreaming” invites us

to reconnect with longing, embrace expansive imagination, connect with joy and pleasure, and propel ourselves toward loving Futures. This powerful new work features full-throttle dance, intimate storytelling, intricate costuming, and exquisite queer partnering… all performed with Sean Dorsey Dance’s signature technical precision, guts and deep humanity.

Music Midtown

September 15 through 17

Piedmont Park

Music Midtown is back, with a great line-up!

The Other Show

September 15, 9pm

Out Front Theatre Company

They’re baaaaaaack! Edie Cheezburger and her cast of the popular drag series The Other Show moves to their new home at Out Front Theatre Company. Edie Cheezburger, Edna Allan Hoe, Dotte Comm, Miss He and Orchid are the performers.

The Mousetrap

September 16, 8pm, through October 8

Onstage Atlanta

Onstage Atlanta presents Agatha Christie’s “The Mousetrap.”

LETS EAT Community Potluck Dinner

September 17, 2pm

Neighborhood Church

The next LET’S EAT Community Potluck Dinner is today. Come enjoy food, community and socializing.

PFLAG Support Group

September 17, 2:30pm

The PFLAG support group for parents and families of LGBTQ children meets in person.

Trans and Friends

September 18, 7pm for youth, 8pm for adults

Charis Books and More

Trans and Friends is a youth-focused group for trans people, people questioning their own gender and aspiring allies, providing a facilitated space to discuss gender, relevant resources and activism around social issues, 7 – 8pm for youth and 8 – 9pm for adults, Charis Books and More

Out On Film Opening Night

September 21, 7pm, through October 1

Landmark Midtown Art Cinema

Out On Film, Atlanta’s LGBTQIA film festival, kicks off its 36th anniversary festival with the

EVENT SPOTLIGHT

Eddie Izzard

September 8, 8pm

Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre

Brilliant, hilarious and often bizarre, the one and only Eddie Izzard is back in North America for the first time in four years with a brand-new comedy tour. The Remix Tour Live promises to be an unforgettable night of thought provoking, intelligent and surreal stand-up comedy. As always with Eddie, expect the unexpected. Actor, comedian, multi-marathon runner and political activist Eddie Izzard’s boundary-pushing career spans 35 years of record-breaking comedy tours and critically acclaimed film, TV, and theatre performances. Photo via Facebook

Southeastern premiere of Bill Oliver’s “Our Son,” starring Billy Porter and Luke Evans as a couple going through a divorce and fighting for custody of their eight-year-old son.

Femme Fridays

September 22, 8pm

My Sister’s Room

Don’t miss Femme Fridays hosted by Kia Comedy!

LGBTQ Book Club

September 23, 10am

Virtual

The LGBTQ Book Club, sponsored by Charis Books and More, is a group for LGBTQ folks and allies to read queer-themed books and books by queer authors. The goal is to have diverse thought-provoking discussions about queer identity, history and topical issues. All are welcome to join. This month’s book is High Risk Homosexual: A Memoir by Edgar Gomez. RSVP at the following link - https:// us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/ tZAqdOqurDgrH9JhqS8AQ7l9sjKDfhFu9HPv.

Passing Strange

September 23, 7:30pm, through October 22

Theatrical Outfit

A soulful and electrifying Broadway musical, “Passing Strange” takes us on an odyssey in search of identity, acceptance, and the “Real.” A young man discovers his musical calling and sets off for Europe, leaving behind his mother and comfortable suburban life. In his rebellion filled with sex, drugs, and rock ‘n’ roll, he yearns for something in life that he thinks can only be found in art. Bursting with energizing punk, blues, gospel, and jazz music, this Tony Award-winning musical radiates with humor and heart.

Together We Rise

September 28, TBD

Nelson Mullins Rooftop Patio

The Georgia Coalition Against Domestic Violence hosts its annual Fall Event – Together We Rise - in person for members, partners, allies, and community members to celebrate advocates who have made a tremendous impact in the movement to end domestic violence in Georgia.

A Dollar Will Make Them Holler

I don’t know where it started. Was it my grandmother? Her mother? A paternal influence of some kind? Regardless, my family has continued the tradition of stuffing birthday cards with dollar bills that equate to the recipient’s age. It’s one tradition that gets better as you grow older, yet it recently put me in an awkward position with a cashier.

Although my parents are no longer here, my sister and brother can be counted on to send my son cash in his birthday cards. Sometimes they can also be seen in Christmas cards, Easter cards, end-of-school care packages, and random letters. My son has a piggy bank, so this money gets stuffed in there until he finds something he wants to spend the money on.

Mr. Carter loves gaming, so usually he wants to spend his stash on new skins or mods for video games. These online purchases are made on my credit card. To show him that it was he who spent the money, I will physically take the dollars out of his piggy bank and place them in my wallet. That way he can see the money in his personal ceramic storage bin has decreased. It’s been a good system, yet over time the amount of dollars transferred into my wallet has grown to the point that I need to do something with it.

I grabbed a wad to place in a secret spot in the car; that way, if I valeted or ate out, I would

have the money and spare my card from its constant usage. One busy day, I drove into a shopping center on the way home to grab my dinner and stuffed my pocket with the booty before heading into the sandwich shop. I waited in line with everyone else, building my sandwich along the way and conversing with the sandwich maker as usual, until it was time to check out. When she announced the total, I grabbed my money as I counted out the necessary payment.

That’s when I realized the bulk was all $1 bills. The staff behind the counter looked at it, then up at me suspiciously. I caught their eye and realized what they thought.

“It’s not what it looks like,” I started awkwardly, “I don’t dance for a living.”

I laughed at my funny comment, but both people behind the counter waved me off as if to say no judgment here. I expected them to at least halfway laugh with me at the ridiculous notion, and began to joke how flattered I am they even thought this middle-aged customer could be a dancer, but dropped the subject and quickly left with my food.

In this modern age of direct deposits and digital transfers, I can’t tell you the last time I physically walked into a bank to make any transaction. However, I realize that as these small-billed monetary gifts shower my young son throughout his remaining elementary years, it’s worth the effort to physically deposit them into my account and hide my employment behind a piece of plastic.

PHOTO BY SHUTTERSTOCK.COM / FABRIKASIMF

Melissa Carter