Peach Magazine V5-i26 | Let's Get Outside in Atlanta

Let’s get

Outside in Atlanta Cute Summer Dates For Even Cuter Couples (That’s You Two!) in Post-Quarantine Atlanta How ‘Fear Street’ Became Queer Street The director, openly gay writer, and non-binary star on the popular book series’ queer evolution

The Queer Library Is Open: 17 LGBTQ+ Must-Reads to Get You in the Pride Spirit

Positive Thoughts: The Activist Doctor Demetre Daskalakis, MD, MPH, is tackling HIV prevention nationally

By Alicia Green Demetre Daskalakis, MD, MPH, remembers the day he felt called to become an HIV doctor: April 23, 1995. He was a college student working on a display for the AIDS Memorial Quilt when he witnessed people paying homage to their lost loved ones.

learned in New York City to the epidemic across the country.

Health equity is top of mind for Daskalakis. He plans to identify ways to improve HIV outcomes for all by interrupting racism, sexism and other isms. Additionally, as the senior COVID-19 data “I remember saying, ‘My job is to not let any- and engagement equity lead at the CDC, he has body get sick or die from HIV/AIDS,’” says been tasked with ensuring a fair and equal distriDaskalakis, the director of the Division of HIV/ bution of COVID-19 vaccines.

AIDS Prevention at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

“We also want to really identify ways that we can cross-link HIV with STDs [sexually transBut Daskalakis, 47, is mitted diseases] and vinot your average docral hepatitis as well as tor — he’s also a gay mental health and drug activist with strong ties user health to be able to to the LGBTQ+ comachieve a more global apmunity. proach to addressing syndemics,” he explains.

“When I realized that the single largest Daskalakis also hopes to health threat to my eliminate the divide becommunity was HIV, tween people living with the intersection beHIV and those who could came really clear for benefit from prevention me,” Daskalakis exstrategies through what plains. “It’s important he calls “status-neutral and possible to be both care” — giving patients a physician and an acthe same initial treatment tivist and to work in and care regardless of government and have HIV status. an activist heart.”

“The status-neutral For eight years, he was framework is addressan attending physician ing stigma at its root,” at the New York Unihe says. “Let’s not worry versity School of Medabout building a service icine before serving based on a test result. as the medical director of three HIV clinics at Let’s worry about who the people are and what Mount Sinai hospital. we can do to make them comfortable getting services and care.”

In 2014, Daskalakis joined the New York City health department as assistant commissioner of Despite being called a “radical doctor” (for doing HIV/AIDS prevention and control, his first job outreach at sex clubs, for example), Daskalakis in public health. insists that what makes him stand out in the fight against HIV is his love for the communities afDaskalakis was promoted to deputy commis- fected by the virus. sioner of disease control in 2017. During his three years in that role, he led NYC’s “Ending the “All I’ve ever done is listen and learn,” Daskalakis Epidemic” initiative and helped reduce HIV di- says. “When you listen to the community and agnoses to a historic low. the science and figure out how to marry them, really good things happen.”

Having effectively reduced HIV transmissions and deaths in America’s largest city, Daskalakis Alicia Green is an assistant editor for POZ. This column a project of TheBody, Plus, Positively Aware, POZ is now tackling HIV at the national level. Since is and Q Syndicate, the LGBTQ+ wire service. Visit their December 2020, Daskalakis has led HIV preven- websites – http://thebody.com, http://hivplusmag.com, tion efforts at the CDC. He aims to apply what he http://positivelyaware.com and http://poz.com – for the latest updates on HIV/AIDS.

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Cute Summer Dates For Even Cuter Couples (That’s You Two!) in Post-Quarantine Atlanta Queer locals and tourists alike will delight at these inspired date ideas featuring the best ATL has to offer

by Mikey Rox

It’s been a minute since we’ve been allowed to roam the streets freely sans masks, but it’s time to return to some sense of normalcy. (Whatever that means nowadays.) If you’re chomping at the bit to get out and about with bae, consider these date ideas – from the cute and cuddly to the absurdly weird and wacky – that take advantage of Atlanta’s countryin-the-city exploratory highlights.

Stars Under the Stars

In 2018, 455 movies and TV shows were filmed in Georgia (helping solidify the state’s newest nickname, “Hollywood of the South”), and in post-quarantine 2021 shooting schedules are back on track for productions that include “A Madea Homecoming,” “Black Panther 2: Wakanda Forever,” and “Spi-

der-Man: No Way Home,” among a multitude of others slated for release this year and next. Perhaps the most famous property shot in and around the Peach State, “The Walking Dead,” returns to AMC for its 11th and final season on Aug. 22.

This is all to say, of course, that TV and film buffs can make a date of it by visiting memorable filming locations, many of which you’ll recognize in the Castleberry Hill neighborhood of Atlanta, including the Georgia World Congress Center (“Baby Driver,” “The Hunger Games: Catching Fire”), the Gulch (“The Walking Dead”), and Elliot Street Deli & Pub (“Ride Along,” “Triple 9”).

After you’ve spent the afternoon walking in the shadows of your favorite thespians (or perhaps even spotting some on the job), zip over to the 60-plus-year-old Starlight Drive-In Theatre, which plays firstrun releases on massive screens outdoors and under the stars. Pull in, tune your car radio to the showings’ audio, and get cozy. Hungry?

There’s an on-premises snack bar – drive-ins rely on your purchases here to stay in business, so don’t sneak in your own candy and soda, please – full of fresh junk food to

satisfy you through the weekend’s double features, the always-revolv- Few cities (if any) in the United ing schedule of which you can find States offer the sheer quantity of at StarlightDriveIn.com. high-quality modern marketplaces as Atlanta, each one within a few Burgers, Beers & Baseball minutes’ drive of one another and providing their own unique reasons There’s no shortage of dining op- to visit. tions at the Battery Atlanta, home to several popular bars, entertainment Start your date with a shake-offvenues and the Braves’ Truist Park, the-sleep cuppa joe at Ponce City but keep it simple by ordering burg- Market’s Dancing Goats Coffee ers and beers to go from H&F Burg- Bar, paired with a “hundred-layer er, a local fave, and plop down pic- doughnut” from Five Daughters nic-style on the turf of the Georgia Bakery, available in staple flavors like chocolate sea salt and vanilla cream or one its limited-time offerings that have recently included summer berry crisp, pink lemonade, and cherry pie. Add a few pieces to your wardrobe from a selection of local and national retailers within the sprawling 2.1-millionsquare-foot building before headPower Pavilion, a centerpiece of the ing up to The Roof (with a $7 daily mixed-use complex. Enjoy people ticket), which grants access to Skywatching (there’s a whole bunch of line Park, a vintage-style carnival hotties hangin’ out there, y’all) be- midway, plus other bars and eaterfore heading into the park to catch a ies. game and, if you’re lucky, a fly ball.

If you didn’t bring a glove, rent one Krog Street Market, a food hall just for free at the Mizuno Glove Expe- down the road from Ponce, has you rience located inside the Left Field covered for a light lunch, where and Chop House gates. the shrimp cocktail and oysters at Watchman’s come highly recomMarket-Hopping Mania mend. Satisfy your sweet tooth with a scoop or three from Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams then pop across the street to the Lingering Shade Social Club for an afternoon spritz or cocktail. (Mondays and Tuesdays are half-off bottles of wine for all

which houses President Carter’s papers and other material relating to Finally, pay a visit to ATL’s latest his administration and hosts special all-in-one retail, service and dining exhibits, such as the longest-living destination, The Beacon, where you president’s Nobel Peace Prize and a can play Pinfall, a football-bowling full-scale replica of the Oval Office hybrid game at Pin & Proper, en- as it was during his term. gage in self-care at several salons and spas, and visit the Artist Cove Hiking medallions are available at each of these locations’ gift shops for a dash of culture. that you can cop as souvenirs to decorate walking sticks for future Hiking Among History excursions. Start a collection, even. you frugal fun-seekers.)

Urban Art Fantasy

Hit the trails for a brisk hike at Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield Park, where you’ll learn some of the area’s Civil War history and pay homage to the soldiers who fought for America’s right to live as one nation.

Dial up the creep factor on a walk along Doll’s Head Trail in Constitution Lake Park, an urban nature preserve excellent for birding and other wildlife watching. The trail, Next stop, the Martin Luther King created by local carpenter Joel SlaJr. National Historic Site, a top tour- ton, consists of discarded doll parts ist destination in Atlanta, which in- and scattered trash, and visitors are cludes the birth home of the cele- encouraged to contribute their own brated civil-rights leader; Ebenezer found art to the ongoing project.

Baptist Church, where King was once a pastor, and the tombs of Bring a few spray cans on your visit MLK and his wife Coretta Scott to Krog Street Tunnel, a short underpass that connects the Atlanta King. neighborhoods of Cabbagetown End your history-buff tour at the and Inman Park, where artists – Jimmy Carter Library & Museum, like you – have been covering the 10 | follow us @ peachatlmag

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concrete to the hilts since the 1960s.

Browse the murals, snap some shots for the ‘Gram, and leave a lovey-dovey tag of your own on one of the pillars.

If your stomach isn’t completely turned, make a pit stop for snacks at the “Murder Kroger,” which has a seedy history of dark deeds on its property (the original building was demolished and rebuilt in 2019 Folk Art Park, perhaps the strangest in hopes of shedding the morbid stop on your weird-art date itiner- moniker, but no such luck), includary, is the brainchild of Eddie Ow- ing several fatal shootings in the ens Martin, known as St. EOM, af- parking lot and the discovery of a ter he was “visited” by three beings corpse, from 1991 to 2015. from the future. Today, this psychedelic totem-pole sanctuary exists With popcorn and a pint of Ben as a place for understanding and & Jerry’s Chocolate Therapy in the togetherness for folx on this planet car (because you’ll probably need and beyond. it at this point), race over to Videodrome Atlanta, one of the last reMurder Kroger & Movie Night maining video-rental stores in the area, to rent a few frightful flicks from the expertly curated collection that includes hard-to-find films and director’s cuts that are guaranteed to please even the most cynical cinephiles.

Mikey Rox is an award-winning journalist and LGBT lifestyle expert whose work has been published in more than 100 outlets across the Stanger things may happen on this world. He’s currently nomading date of mystery and macabre that across the country in his van, seekbegins with a stroll through West- ing queer excitement everywhere he view Cemetery, the largest in the roams. Connect with Mikey on InsSoutheast United States and a hid- tagram @mikeyroxtravels den gem in Atlanta. Founded in 1884, this 600-acre memorial park contains more than 108,000 bodies, the most famous among them Coca-Cola founder Asa Candler, silent-film actress Marion Fairbanks, and rapper Dolla.

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| 13

How ‘Fear Street’ Became Queer Street

The director, openly gay writer, and non-binary star on the popular book series’ queer evolution

By Chris Azzopardi

Phil Graziadei, the openly gay screenwriter behind Netflix’s new queer-inclusive film trilogy based on spook master R.L. Stine’s classic “Fear Street” series, remembers those teen horror-fiction books well. And he definitely remembers them not being very gay.

lacked any kind of blatantly queer representation.

That hasn’t stopped fans, as Graziadei notes, from cataloging “all the homoerotic undertones of each book” for years. In the ’90s, when Stine published bestselling “Fear Street” titles like “Truth or Dare” Published first in 1989 with “The and “The Boy Next Door,” the New Girl,” the “Fear Street” series LGBTQ+ community was more willfocused on whodunit and paranor- ing to accept queer crumbs. mal events in the town of Shadyside, Ohio. The books weren’t short on But now it’s 2021. On “Fear Street,” sinister camp, but they definitely bodies might be buried, but queer-

ness shouldn’t be.

“One of the first conversations that I had with the producers about it was, ‘Why do we do this now?’” director Leigh Janiak says.

Welch) as they’re experiencing a rift in their relationship. Sam is closeted and just moved to Sunnyvale with her mom — the town adjacent to Shadyside, where Deena lives, but nothing at all like the infamous setting for “Fear Street.” Sunnyvale is rich and white. No one gets murdered there. When pure evil is unleashed in Shadyside in the form of a witch who’s haunted the town for eons, Deena, Sam and their cadre of friends go on a deathly voyage through time to solve a nightmare that has haunted the town for 300 years.

The answer came to them quickly: Shadyside, they decided, would be a town of outsiders, with a queer love story at the center. That queer couple would not only be the stars of the show — they’d be the heroes.

They’d even have a better shot at surviving the terrifying events that unfold throughout each of the trilogy’s parts, which take place in 1994, 1978 and 1666.

Welch says the queer love story is “very indicative of modern-day “It was very clear to us very ear- cinema and how it’s evolving, and ly on that we wanted to write this how art is reflecting the elements about queer leads,” says Graziadei. of society that are becoming very “Obviously, queer representation inclusive and encouraging people in horror movies has a long and to be themselves.” It was the “not complicated history, for the most so boxed in” quality of her and Mapart. We’re only seeing ourselves deira’s romantically involved charon screen as monsters or as victims. acters that particularly appealed to You know, maybe I don’t always her about “Fear Street,” because, want to be the monster. I don’t as she and Janiak note, the horror think that there’s a reason why the genre still has work to do when it queer people always have to see comes to queer representation. themselves that way.”

“I hope this is just the beginning The anthology kicks off with “Fear of a brand new era in terms of seeStreet Part 1: 1994,” where we ing minorities represented in these meet Deena Johnson (Kiana Ma- kinds of roles,” Madeira says. deira) and Sam Fraser (Olivia Scott | 15

Janiak and Graziadei, the director-writer team behind 2014’s indie creeper “Honeymoon,” were intentional about having “Fear Street” move the needle forward for LGBTQ+ representation in horror films. Within the heteronormative confines of the horror genre, seeing actual queer people who aren’t victims or villains has been a slow go, and Janiak says that even some of the most enduring horror films haven’t always best represented the LGBTQ+ community.

Janiak, who has directed two episodes of the “Scream” TV series, points to Wes Craven’s iconic “Scream” film, noting that, while an “amazing” horror movie, only white cisgender straight people led the cast. While Graziadei acknowledges some queer coding in “Scream,” Janiak said she thinks that queerness in contemporary horror should go beyond subtext. “Coding is different than being (fully) recognized,” she says.

shooting, they did ask them how Alice identifies and whether Alice did indeed have a thing for Cindy. They were not wrong: “(Leigh and Emily) were like, ‘One-hundred percent, Alice and Cindy are gay.’”

Alice’s queerness aside, Simpkins says of Deena and Sam’s enduring queer love, “It’s so exciting to see a love story between two teenage girls being the main force behind a trilogy of studio movies. Like, that’s crazy, and it isn’t subtle. It’s very explicit. There’s an almost-sex scene!”

“It’s so rare to get these characters whose sexuality is not demonized and isn’t why they’re being punished,” Simpkins adds. “It’s their love for each other that makes them succeed.”

A love that even R.L. Stine was seemingly rooting for. Throughout the trilogy’s development, Janiak had conversations with the author, who she said was “very supportive.” Graziadei also felt that support: “He’s That “Fear Street” goes beyond just very clearly been like, ‘“Fear Street” gay vibes was one of the most ex- is for everybody.’” citing parts of starring in the summer camp-set “Part Two: 1978” for non-binary actor Ryan Simpkins, who uses they/them pronouns.

Even though the script didn’t identify Simpkins’ Alice character as gay, they believed from the onset that she was. “She’s so heavily queer coded,” Simpkins says, “and work- Chris Azzopardi is the Editorial Director of ing through this character, I just kept Pride Source Media Group and Q Syndicoming back to that. And honestly cate, the national LGBTQ+ wire service. He interviewed a multitude of superstars, trying to fight that impulse to be has including Cher, Meryl Streep, Mariah Carey like, ‘I think Alice has maybe been and Beyoncé. His work has also appeared in love with her best friend Cindy.’ I in The New York Times, Vanity Fair, GQ and kept trying to push that feeling away Billboard. Reach him via Twitter @chrisazzopardi. until I finally embraced it.”

While playing the role, the actor said they didn’t want Janiak or Emily Rudd, who plays Cindy, to invalidate her queer read on Alice. But after

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Dining

BARS 2 Blake's 3 Bulldogs 4 Friends

227 10th St NE 893 Peachtree St NE 736 Ponce De Leon Ave NE

6 My Sister’s Room 7 Ten Atlanta

66 12th St NE 990 Piedmont Ave NE

9 10 th & Piedmont 10 Campagnolo 11 Einstein's

fitness 14 Urban Body Fitness 500 Amsterdam Ave NE

spa/bath 15 Flex Spa

30 | follow us @ peachatlmag

991 Piedmont Ave NE 980 Piedmont Ave NE 1077 Juniper St NE

76 4th St. NW

16 17 18 19

G’s Midtown Henry’s Joe's on Juniper La Hacienda

219 10th St NE 132 10th St NE 1049 Juniper St NE 900 Monroe Dr NE

billards/Darts drag dancers leather non-smoking area Patio

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When the world throws you Let be your savedandgay.com

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1931 Piedmont Cir NE

Dining 1842 Cheshire Bridge Rd 1824 Cheshire Bridge Rd

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Midtown Moon Felix's The Hideaway Mixx Oscar's

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clubs 28 Heretic 29 Tokyo Valentino

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Fitness 30 Gravitee Fitness

2201 Faulkner Rd NE

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A snapshot of Gay Atlanta’s favorite destinations. View their ads in Peach ATL & visit their websites for weekly event listings.

SNAPS BARS & CLUBS

ANSLEY

MIDTOWN ATLANTA EAGLE CLOSED atlantaeagle.com 306 Ponce De Leon Ave NE

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BLAKE’S ON THE PARK blakesontheparkatlanta.com 227 10th St NE

THE HIDEAWAY 1544 Piedmont Ave NE

BULLDOGS 893 Peachtree St NE FRIENDS NEIGHBORHOOD BAR friendsonponce-atl. com 736 Ponce De Leon Ave NE MY SISTER’S ROOM mysistersroom.com 66 12th St NE TEN ATLANTA tenatlanta.com 990 Piedmont Ave NE THE T modeltatlanta.com 465 Boulevard SE CHESHIRE HERETIC hereticatlanta.com 2069 Cheshire Bridge Road BJ ROOSTERS bjroosters.com 2043 Cheshire Bridge Road NE

FELIX’S 1510 Piedmont Ave NE

MIXX mixxatlanta.com 1492 Piedmont Ave NE OSCAR’S oscarsatlanta.com 1510 Piedmont Ave NE WOOFS woofsatlanta.com 494 Plasters Ave NE EAST ATLANTA, GRANT PARK & EDGEWOOD MARY’S marysatlanta.com 1287 Glenwood Ave SE SISTER LOUISA’S CHURCH sisterlouisaschurch. com 466 Edgewood Ave SE

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BULLDOGS Hookah Night @ 8 PM

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S 80s/90 Videos @ 12:30 PM, Honey Pot @ 7 PM M Nick at Night (Industry) @ 8 PM T Trivia w/ DeWayne Morgan @ 8:30 PM W Sex & The ATL Martini Night @ 8 PM TR Game Night w/ DJ Darlene @ 9 PM F Fuck It Fridays w/ DJ Mister Richard @ 10 PM

**CALL FOR NIGHTLY SHOW RESERVATIONS** Twisted Broadway

Hump Day @ Mary's | $5 Thicker, Longer, Fuller Thursdays | $5 Queer Bait | $5 Cover

S Love Saturdays w/ Tristan Hartman @ 10 PM

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drinking schedule THE PEACH TEA

MIXX

MOON

S

Heifer Review @ 1:30 PM Other Side of the Moon @ 9 PM

MSR

2-4-1 @ 7 PM (No Cover)

M Flavors of The Moon @ 9 PM T

$3 Tacos (ALL DAY) Latina Divas @ 10:30 PM

Sessions ATL @ 8:30 PM, $5

W Ruby Redd's Birdcage Bingo @ 9 PM

Switch - A Queer Dance Party @ 10 PM

TR Kit Katt Karaoke @ 9 PM F

R&B Night @ 10 PM

Mama Mya's Talent Show @ 9 PM Madams of the Moonlight @ 11:30 PM

Fem Fridays @ 8 PM

S Divas & The Divo @ 11:30 PM

Secret Saturday @ 11 PM

OSCAR'S

TRIPPS

THE T

S

Live Music @ 5 PM

Free Lunch @ 3 PM

M Messy Monday Karaoke @ 10 PM T W Fireball, Trivia and Drag w/ Misti Shores @ 9 PM Karaoke @ 9:30 TR

DJ Lowe Ki @ 8 PM

F

"Friday Night Skin"

S

DJ Lowe Ki @ 10 PM

WOOFS

X ATLANTA

10TH & PIEDMONT/G'S

S M Poker Night @ 7:30, 1/2 Price Wine

Funk & Soul Martini Mondays @ 7 PM

T CLOSED WRetro Video Night w/Mister Richard & Wing Wed. TR$5 Burger Day (ALL DAY)

X After Dark| Show at 12 Midnight

F Sangria Fridays S

Party on the Patio @ 4 PM

Karaoke @ 10 PM

July 21st - 27th Bob's Burgers Trivia @ Guac Y Margys Beltline | July 21st (7 PM) It's been a couple years since we've done a Bob Burger's Trivia Night so it's time!A ticket reserves your seat and gets you 2 tacos and 1 Casamigos Margarita. You must have a ticket to attend and we have a feeling tickets are going to go fast for this one so get yours soon! We are selling a limited number of early bird tix so grab one (or 6) while they're still available.

Teams of 1-6 welcome, 21+ only. Signups begin at 6:30 and trivia starts right at 7:00.

Pride Sports Atlanta Olympic Dessert Wars | July 21st (7 PM) (Fundraiser for Atlanta Trans Housing Coalition) Come buy some tasty treats from around the globe while supporting the Atlanta Trans Housing Coalition. There will be games and raffle prizes while cheering on your country of choice during the volleyball matches.

Calories don’t count when they’re for a good cause!

When: Wednesday July 21st from 7-9 Where: Piedmont Park Sand Volleyball Courts at the Active Oval 1320 Monroe Dr NE Atlanta , GA 30306 Brew @ The Zoo | July 23rd (5:30 PM) We went a little thirsty in 2020 -- but Brew at the Zoo is back, and we're pretty hoppy to be here! Were back on draft with the Brew Atlanta has come to love for more than 12 years -with a few changes on tap for 2021 only. Member $60 | Non-Member $65 Capacity is limited for both Member and non-Member reservations. Get your reservations now before they're gone! Tickets and info at zooatlanta.org. This event is for ages 21 and up only; guests under 21 will not be admitted.

Olympic Opening Ceremony @ Woofs ATL | July 23rd (7:30 PM) Come catch the Olympic Opening Ceremony with us!

Full bar and full food menu, now including dessert! Come see why Woofs is one of the top Sports Bars in the nation!

The G8YTIES 80's Dance Party @ Heretic | July 24th (10 PM) Come out and dance to all your favorite 80's dance songs including Girls just want to have fun, Like a prayer, We got the beat, Hungry like the wolf, Wake me up before you go go, Karma Chameleon, You spin me right round, I wanna dance with somebody, Let the music play, Tell it to my heart, and more. $15 Cover all night long.

Odd Ball w/ Crystal Methyd @ MSR | July 24th (10 PM) Crystal Methyd from RuPaul's Drag Race season 12 hosts the 2nd annual 'Odd Ball'! **PRESALE TICKETS are very limited and will sell out!** A celebration of all the odd balls, outcasts, and freaky fresh club kids that continue to push the proverbial envelope. Don't miss this one-of-a-kind carnival of cooky, weird drag!

Dress up for the LQQK contest and dance with us upstairs and in the backyard all night!

Choose between the 10:15pm and 11:30pm times for the downstairs show. Meet & Greet is at 9pm and only available for the 10pm show!

The Gaga Ball: A Dance Party @ Basement | July 24th (10 PM) Calling all Little Monsters! Let’s have some fun, this beat is sick.

It’s a whole night of music and fashion inspired by Mother Monster herself. Kimber will be playing all of your favorite Gaga songs so you can Just Dance and freak out, freak out, freak out (look at me). This is our dancefloor, we fought for.

Dear Peach,

and I cannot help ite some time now qu for ta an Atl in here. I don't feel I have lived out on things to do ing ss mi am I on t tha but think missing the mark on, or maybe I am ing go lot a is re like the ts to go to? where to find even d new t or resources to fin places to check ou Any advice on some things to do?

Well, I definitely feel like if you think there aren’t things to do in Atlanta, you might be looking in the wrong places. But, you might also just be seeing the effects of Covid and how it has drastically changed the premise of going out in the city.

The city is bustling with tons of things to do but you have to look for them. There are apps and websites like Meetup (Online) and Fever (AppStore) that you can find things going on around town, but you have to look.

I would also suggest maybe joining one of your local sports groups if you consider yourself sporty at all. Having a group of friends who can attend events together also provides more people that you can connect with! All in all, expand your social circle first and I am sure the events will come quickly.

The Queer Library Is Open: 17 LGBTQ+ MustReads to Get You in the Pride Spirit

By D’Anne Witkowski

Finding LGBTQ+ books used to be a challenge. You couldn’t just Google “lesbian romance novels” or “books with trans characters.” But now, luckily, that’s no longer the case. Especially with Pride season in full swing.

Whether a breezy-beach read is your thing, or you’re more of a heartfelt memoir kind of queer, or you’re looking for books that tackle social justice, there’s something for everyone.

Black Boy Out of Time, Hari Ziyad (Memoir) The struggle to reconcile faith and queerness is at the heart of this intimate and sharply observed memoir of growing up queer and Black in Cleveland, Ohio. As Ziyad, who identifies as nonbinary, grapples with the pain they’ve experienced and the pain they’ve caused others, they search for their identity amidst a backdrop of racism, family rejection, heteronormativity, faith and the deeply rooted need to be understood.

Broken Horses, Brandi Carlile (Memoir) When Grammy winner Brandi Carlile opens her memoir, she’s a 4-year-old with meningitis living in a trailer and things don’t look good. But she survives, and if you’ve ever wondered where she gets her emotional material from, her vulnerability in “Broken Horses” will have you wondering no more.

there has been, well, mostly meh. That is until she sees the Girl on the Train. No, not the book or the movie.

A real person. Or is she? August is determined to find out who this hottie in the leather jacket is, and maybe even find love. If you read McQuiston’s “Red, White & Royal Blue,” then you know exactly what you’re getting: a sweet, charming queer love story.

The Chosen and the Beautiful, Nghi Vo (Fiction) I had to read “The Great Gatsby” in high school and I… did not love it. OK, yes, the writing was beautiful, but I just didn’t care what happened to the characters. If only I’d have been given “The Chosen and the Beautiful,” a retelling of “Gatsby,” to read instead: gorgeous prose that is faithful to the original, but with a queer Asian as the central character, thereby complicating the themes of wealth, excess, class and human connections that are at the heart of this story. The result? Magical.

The Kingdom’s Sandcastle, Luai Qubain (Fiction) “The Kingdom had me in her steely clutches in that closeted purgatory,” thinks Louie, the narrator of this first novel in a series based on true events. That Kingdom is Jordan, a country where homosexuality can be a death sentence. But trying to stay hidden can also be a death sentence, and Louie grapples with this paradox as he faces blackmail and abuse, not to mention a deep well of How Y’all Doing? Misadventures and Mischief from a grief after his mother’s death. Who can you trust when Life Well Lived, Leslie Jordan (Memoir) revealing your identity is a terrifying gamble? And yet You may remember him from “Will & Grace,” but to- finding someone to trust is his only way out of a crumday’s Instagays know Emmy winner Leslie Jordan from bling castle. social media, where he laughs about his failed diets and shares his thoughts on Kim and Kanye. During the pan- The Legend of Auntie Po, Shing Yin Khor (Fiction, demic, his nearly 6 million IG followers have given his Graphic Novel) career new life. There are a lot of dumpster fires in the Imagine Paul Bunyan as a Chinese woman and you’ve world today, but Leslie Jordan is a goddamn delight. So, got Auntie Po who, along with her trusty ox, guides as an act of self-care, “hunker down” with this one.

13-year-old Mei through life in the lumber camp where Mei and her father work feeding the lumberjacks. Mei Leaving Isn’t the Hardest Thing, Lauren Hough (Mem- is trying to navigate her relationship with Bee, the foreoir) man’s daughter, who may be more than just a friend.

Lauren Hough grew up in a cult, but for years she didn’t She’s also dealing with racial tensions in 1885, just three want anyone to know. For her, coming out as a lesbi- years after the passage of the Chinese Exclusion Act, an was easier to do, even though she was forced out of which banned Chinese people from immigrating to the the military when she did. But now she’s bursting that U.S. When a logging accident shakes the camp to its closet wide open. Whether she’s recounting her time as core, Mei needs Auntie Po more than ever. But will she a bouncer at a gay bar, meeting Dick Cheney and lonely come to the rescue? (Out June 15) housewives while working as a cable guy, or dealing with sexist assholes in the military, Hough is honest, funny, Can’t Take That Away, Steven Salvatore (YA Fiction) self-effacing and unafraid to be vulnerable.

Carey Parker worships divas like Mariah Carey and Freddie Mercury and dreams of strutting across a stage Black Girl, Call Home, Jasmine Mans (Poetry) with the lights turned on them, belting out songs that Behind every woman is the girl they used to be. And make the audience roar. But Carey is a high school poet Jasmine Mans wants to make sure those girls are student, not Mariah herself. Still, music is a current heard. Especially the Black girls who love girls and get running through their veins, and they use it as armor their hearts broken by girls. Mans’s book explores grow- against homophobic bullying and as a way to commuing up in an America that is racist, that is deadly, that nicate with and connect to the grandmother they are is dangerous. And how love can be the way out of pain, losing to dementia. Then they meet Cris. Buoyed by this while also being the way in. These poems pulse with new spark, Carey braves tryouts for the school’s producheart, shimmer in beauty. tion of “The Wizard of Oz.” But there’s a real-life wicked witch aiming to snuff out Carey’s newfound light.

It Had to Be You, Georgia Clark (Fiction) “She used to enjoy herself at weddings. She used to enjoy Fifteen Hundred Miles from the Sun, Jonny Garza Villa herself.” But that was before Liv’s husband and business (YA Fiction) partner died suddenly and willed their wedding-plan- Julián Luna spends a good deal of time and energy ning operation to the girlfriend she didn’t even know he “keeping himself in check,” which entails making sure had. And then said girlfriend shows up on Liv’s porch, that he’s being super masc at all times so that he’s not expecting to run the business together. Something Liv called a “joto” at school. (He gets enough grief for bewould never do, if she wasn’t desperate and hard up for ing a vegetarian.) But one night he drinks way too much cash. Reading Clark’s celebration of all kinds of love, and reveals even more on Twitter. Thankfully he’s got you’ll feel like you crashed a wedding reception and a a support system of loving friends, but not everybody hot member of the wedding party just handed you a is so accepting of the news. As he navigates life outside glass of champagne and a slice of cake. of the closet, he gets closer and closer to Mat, a guy he meets online. But no matter how close they get, they’re One Last Stop, Casey McQuiston (Fiction) still separated by 1,500 miles too many.

After August moves to New York City, her experience

Gay Camping with Southern Charm!

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August 6 - 7, 2021 706-213-8081 www.camptheriversedge.com

The Rivers Edge Campground, 2311 Pulliam Mill Road, Dewy Rose, GA 30634

How to Become a Planet, Nicole Melleby (YA Fiction) Lambda Literary Award-nominated author Nicole Melleby says her goal for this book was to “write a story that normalizes childhood depression and makes those readers feel less alone.” It’s the story of Pluto. Not the planet, but the person. And Pluto has just been diagnosed with anxiety and depression and is trying to figure out how to get her “old” self back. Her support system grows from just the person on the other end of the Hayden Planetarium Astronomy Question and Answer Hotline to include a therapist, and a new non-binary friend with a strong gravitational pull. This one’s an astute and much-needed portrayal of mental illness in young people.

Last Night at the Telegraph Club, Malinda Lo (YA Fiction) Lily Hu lives in San Francisco’s Chinatown. It’s 1954 and she’s falling in love. With another girl. A white girl. Such a revelation would shatter her respectable reputation in her community and her family. Meanwhile, McCarthyism is raging and Chinese people are living with the looming threat of being called a Communist sympathizer, which results in very real punishments including deportation. It’s an unlikely place for romance to bloom, so can it thrive? A satisfying coming-of-age story with a well-researched historical backdrop.

The Witch King, H.E. Edgmon (YA Fiction) Setting: Asalin, which is ruled by the fae. Witches like Wyatt, who is trans, are oppressed in Asalin. “Wyatt’s struggles as a witch mirror many of the struggles queer people, especially trans people, face in the real world,” the author writes in the book’s forward. Wyatt’s ex-fiancé, a fae prince, is basically the definition of a boyfriend from hell. Only this one has magical powers and is determined to get him back. The throne is at stake, after all. “The Witch King” is dark-fantasy fiction infused with humor and heart that touches on issues of systemic racism and oppression that are all too familiar here on earth.

Both Sides Now, Peyton Thomas (YA Fiction) High school debate champ Finch Kelly is on his way to Nationals. A win here would be a big help when it comes to getting into college in D.C. But he’s ready. Until he learns that the topic of debate will be transgender rights.

See, in debate, winning isn’t dependent on arguing your truth with moral conviction. It’s more technical, meaning that sometimes you have to argue something you don’t actually believe. And Kelly is trans. This is an excellent, engaging read. And I just can’t help but feel a particular affection for a kid who dreams of egging Mitch McConnell’s house. (Out Aug. 24) Last Call, Elon Green (Nonfiction) Most true-crime tales focus on the criminals more than the victims. Not this time. “Last Call” is a harrowing picture of the danger of being closeted in the 1990s. When you can’t be honest about who you are, who you are spending time with, and what you’ve been doing, you’re relegated to the margins of society. Which makes you an attractive target for criminals — in this case a serial killer who targeted gay men. Homophobia and fears of AIDS colored the investigation, if you’re wondering why this story isn’t more widely known.

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You have a loved one that you are missing, but you want it that way. You have this feeling in you that absence makes the heart grow fonder…

However, with you not reaching out to said loved one they think you don’t care at all. Reach out but still establish boundaries. Call to make sure that someone is okay.

You’re moving a bit too fast there, Leo. You have great ambition and you think you are ready to continue down the line… but you need to take a break every once in a while. You have the ability to think rationally and ease up, but you are deciding to forego that this week for whatever reason.

You need to be grateful this week, Virgo. A lot of things are going to happen that make you truly feel grateful for your life… but why stop there? Can you be grateful for your life without something happening to make you that way? Can you stay ever grateful even in your lowest moments?

You’re in an emotional place this week, Libra. You are not going to be productive this week by nature, but you need to put the pedal to the metal and go for it. Remember that you have goals that need to be accomplished… if you sit and mope, you won’t be able to get there at all.

You are going to be hitting a roadblock this week, Scorpio. You need to breathe through this hurdle, and move forward because it is going to be a creative block… and you express yourself through your creativity and imagination (however kinky at times). You’re going to move past this and everything will be okay if you breathe.

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You are important tot the future of your family, Sag. You have the bridges to each member that others dont and it might be time to help mend those two that have been fighting. Be the mediator and help them resolve their issues. No one is perfect though; remember that when you think about picking sides… DONT.

Communication is key this week Capricorn, even though you have trouble doing so. Your week is going to be met with retaliation from those who do not want to see your point of view. You need to find a way with coping with this stressor however, because if you do not the individual who disagrees next will get your full wrath.

Balance that checkbook, Aquarius. May sure that you don’t misuse your money, because you will regret it. You don’t need to get Uber Eats again this week. You need to save that amount for groceries coming up. You need to be in control and not let the money control you.

It’s time to have some fun, Pisces! Your week is full of positive vibes and great energy that will help you to creatively express yourself. If you have a friend who is a Scorpio, reach out to them and invite them to an art show or museum. They are struggling with creative block, and you have inspiration in abundance!

It’s time to confront your skeletons in your closet Aries, It is the perfect time for you to try and make amends or forgive people from your past.

Take this week to really focus in on healing and making sure that you are being the best version of YOU that YOU can be. Don’t worry about anyone else… the energy and time is right!

You are worrying too much about others, Taurus. You are focusing on the things that others have that you do not. Thats not what life is about. Life is about embracing the positivity in life, and recognizing your worth, value, and being grateful for what you have. Do not allow other’s abundance to depreciate your self worth.

You made a fool of yourself last week, Gemini. However, this is your week for redemption. Try and allow yourself to experiment, make mistakes but own them! Do not worry if others judge you… that’s where you feel you made a fool of yourself… but you were being you… screw the others!