July 1, 2021
Feel Free
LGBTQ Atlanta Lets Freedom Ring
Guac y Margys Takes Over Former Amsterdam Space How Doctors & Providers Can Fix Queer Healthcare When Telling the Truth Is Your Hardest Option
With a BANG
JUST AS YOU CATCH YOUR BREATH for June, Fourth of July Weekend and another issue of Q ATLus go off in LGBTQ Atlanta like Fireworks. Bang, boom pow, y’all. This edition of the magazine starts with queer healthcare and where the industry can do better for its LGBTQ patients — and what you can look for in potential providers. In other serious news, there is a whole bigoted mess in Dekalb, and his name is Paul Maner. You’ll see in Q News. The weekly calendar lights up the night with holiday weekend events, and Q Community brightens summer with a familiar name in an unfamiliar spot. Guac y Margys takes over the old Amsterdam gay bar location. What else is popping? Glad you asked. Three blasts of Q Shots photos, the Q Map, a party planner and Q Advice. This week, the latter is about saying the hardest thing — the truth. Read every word because there’s a quiz, and you’re expected to know your stuff. Not really, but until our next issue, there is even more content to enjoy every day on Project Q Atlanta at theQatl.com.
RICHARD CHERSKOV PUBLISHER & SALES RICHARD@THEQATL.COM 404-917-9678 JOHN NAIL ART DIRECTOR JOHN@THEQATL.COM
MIKE FLEMING EDITOR MIKE@THEQATL.COM RIVENDELL MEDIA NATIONAL ADVERTISING SALES@RIVENDELLMEDIA.COM 212-242-6863 theQatl.com 5
INSIDE THIS ISSUE VOLUME 4 ISSUE 32
J U LY 1 , 2 0 2 1
GyM GUYS
Restaurant Takes Over Amsterdam Spot
COVER
19
14
Ka-Boom
LGBTQ Fourth of July Weekend
11
21
NEWS
Q SHOTS
Dekalb GOP’s Extreme Hater
Our Best LGBTQ Event Photos
Burg Bigot
10 Q Things................. 8 Q News...................... 11 Q Community............ 14 Q Events.................... 19 Q Shots...................... 21 Q Map........................ 26 Q Advice.................... 29 6 theQatl.com
Run, Dance, Drink
Q ADVICE
Hard Truth
Letting Facts Fall Where They May
29
LET’S STOP HIV TOGETHER
HIV prevention our way. HIV doesn’t have to stand in the way of a healthy sexual relationship. PrEP is a daily pill that can help prevent HIV.
FIND A PrEP PROVIDER NEAR YOU
Q
10 THINGS
8 theQatl.com
Healthy
ALTERNATIVES
10 ways doctor and other providers should measure up on LGBTQ healthcare Board, Management & Senior Staff Engaged
Proactive efforts to build an LGBT-inclusive environment in provider offices start at the top. Regularly engage and survey, casually and formally, queer staff and clients.
Practices & Policies Reflect LGBTQ Needs
Families are inclusively defined in official language. Non-discrimination policies spell out support and consequences for infractions. Support services and visitation should be inclusive of LGBTQ family members.
Outreach & Engagement
This can include co- sponsoring or hosting community events, recognizing LGBTQ awareness “holidays” such as LGBT Health Week, National Coming out Day or Transgender Day of Remembrance, organizing a Pride parade contingency, soliciting LGBTQ board members and advisors, and advocating when appropriate on local issues of importance to LGBTQ patience.
Cultural-Affirming Training
For all staff and clinicians, whether or not their official capacity is to interact with clients and patients.
Welcoming Environment
Do depictions include LGBTQ people and families? Are there non-traditional representations of gender? Are waiting area reading materials queer inclusive? Are restrooms all-gender or single-user?
Processes & Forms
Registration forms ask patients about sexual orientation and gender identity to ensure closeted patients feel recognized and affirmed. Asks preferred as well as “official” names and identifications. Asks gender neutral relationship questions, and identity- inclusive family planning and gynecology questions.
Opt-in Data Collection
Because LGBT people face health disparities, the collection of sexual orientation and gender identity information can help provide screening and preventive care that can address those disparities. Anonymous reporting to national commissions can help nationally if patient consents.
Routine Sexual Histories
Collects updates for all adult and adolescent patients, and solicits discussions broader than just behavior and associated risks for HIV and STDs. Should include sexual function, satisfaction, desires, trauma or abuse, and LGBTQ family planning.
LGBTQ-specific Clinical Services
This includes hormone therapy for transgender patients, family planning for same-sex couples, PrEP availability for gay and bisexual men, cervical and cancer screenings for lesbians, trans men and bisexual women. Can also include things like smoking cessation assistance for all of the above due to probability statistics.
LGBTQ Staff
Can ask if they recruit and retain queer members on staff, as well as offer employee benefits packages inclusive of same-sex partners and transition related expenses. Source: lgbthealtheducation.org
theQatl.com 9
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NEWS
Oh Yes, HE DeKalb elections board nominee attacks trans official, LGBTQ people
Q
DID
By Patrick Saunders A REPUBLICAN NOMINEE TO THE DEKALB County Elections Board said LGBTQ people live a “vile” and “pathetic lifestyle” and told an elected official she would spend an “eternity in hell” for being transgender. Paul Maner made the comments in Facebook posts unearthed and provided to Project Q Atlanta. He was nominated by the DeKalb County Republican Party to fill a seat on the county elections board. His anti-LGBTQ views, among other controversial statements, sparked outrage and ultimately tanked his nomination. “He has a history of xenophobic, racist and anti-LGBTQ behavior,” said John Jackson, chair of the DeKalb County Democratic Party. “He believes in the big lie President Trump stated that the election was stolen. He is not worthy of any position that requires governing.” Maner turned his ire on Doraville City Councilmember Stephe Koontz in an undated Facebook comment. Koontz became the state’s only openly transgender elected official in 2018. “I have religious reasons to reject your chosen demented lifestyle, and I won’t cross that line,” Maner wrote to Koontz. “God comes first in my life, and I pray you repent before it’s to [sic] late. An eternity in hell won’t be worth the lifestyle you choose.” Koontz told Project Q that she “can’t think of a worse person” to appoint to the DeKalb elections board.
Paul Maner
“I think his own words and past actions speak better than anything I could say as to why,” she said.
TRIGGER WARNING
In another undated Facebook post, Maner called LGBTQ people “vile.” “Let me be clear, and specific,” he wrote. “You’re violating my religious freedoms when you use, or threaten to use force to make me accept, condone or endorse your pathetic lifestyle.” “Here’s how it works: you’re born a male, you’ll die a male. You’re born and female, you’ll die a female. There is absolutely NOTHING you or anyone else can do to change that fact,” he added. The election of Doraville’s second LGBTQ council member and first openly LGBTQ mayor appeared to trigger Maner in 2019. He posted pictures of police officers in pink uniforms and a police car with rainbows painted on it and mocked the images as “the new Doraville police cruiser and uniforms” that December. theQatl.com 11
MANER continued “The city cares more about having more of the alphabet (LGBTQ) community
move in, than focusing on providing it’s [sic] citizens ‘A good place to live,’” he
wrote. “It wouldn’t be out of the realm
of possibility to have the LGBTQ flag flown from city hall. Good luck. The
decent people left in the city need it.” Maner then tagged Koontz, Mayor
Joseph Geierman and the rest of the
city council. Gay IT professional Andy Yeoman won a spot on the council one month before Maner’s Facebook post.
Geierman became the city’s first openly LGBTQ mayor in a landslide win just two days before Maner’s post.
Maner and the DeKalb GOP chair did not respond to Project Q’s questions about his Facebook comments.
‘More suitable’ board candidate needed The DeKalb GOP nominated Maner to the county’s five-member elections
board to replace longtime member Baoky Vu. DeKalb Chief Superior Court Judge Asha Jackson
rejected the nomination
on June 16. Community outrage about Maner’s
behavior fueled the deci-
sion, according to DeKalb Clerk of Superior Court Debra DeBerry.
“The decision to reject his name as a nominee was based on an extraordinary number of phone calls and emails to Judge Jackson about Mr. Maner ‘s
candidacy as a nominee and a determination after review of the same, that another more suitable
candidate would need to be considered for the
Maner unsuccessfully challenged then-state Sen. Fran Millar in a 2016 GOP primary. In 2020 he falsely claimed that the son of U.S. House Rep. Lucy McBath was killed in a “drug deal gone bad.” McBath’s teenage son was murdered outside a Florida gas station in 2012 after a dispute over the
Board of Elections,” she told the AJC.
volume of his music.
Jackson asked the DeKalb GOP to submit anoth-
Read more local LGBTQ news daily on Project Q
er name for consideration. 12 theQatl.com
Atlanta at theQatl.com.
Q
COMMUNITY
Guac y Margys owners Troy Meyers, Sebastian Romano and David Barton.
PHOTO BY RUSS BOWEN-YOUNGBLOOD
Then
AGAIN
Guac y Margys to open second location in former Amsterdam spot 14 theQatl.com
GUAC Y MARGYS, ATLANTA’S MARGARITA bar on the Beltline, plans a second location in the spot that gay bar Amsterdam Atlanta called home for more than a decade. Since opening doors on the Eastside trail three years ago, Guac y Margys made a reputation for LGBTQ events, fresh margaritas, homemade guacamole and a variety of tacos. “We couldn’t be more excited to open our second location,” said co-owner David Barton. “We feel so at home on the Beltline, so it just seems right to open our second location on the Beltline and right off Piedmont Park.”
“When the space became available, it felt like an opportunity we couldn’t pass up. We look forward to opening another gayowned bar and restaurant there.”
— David Barton, Guac y Margys co-owner
While the original location is recognizable for its cozy confines, the new location offers more than 6,700 square feet that define a new era for the gay-owned restaurant. “The larger space gives us so many options, especially with the covered patio,” co-owner Troy Meyers added. “We’re known for our fresh margaritas — no mix! — but we’ll also be able to offer draft beer at this location. The patio is the perfect place for a quick bite, after work drinks, brunch, a long dinner or somewhere to celebrate something special.” With some gay establishments closing because of the pandemic or to make way for high-rises, the Guac y Margys guys say they are bucking that trend. “Two of our three co-owners are gay men and long-term residents of Atlanta,” Barton said. “When the space became available, it felt like an opportunity we couldn’t pass up. “We look forward to opening another gay-owned bar and restaurant there,” he added.
people in our new location.” With some payroll assistance from Congress and a lot of planning, the three owners — Meyers, Sebastian Romano and Barton — and the staff of their “lively, spirited fun” eatery got through a total shutdown for a time last year. They are used to making things work since their 2018 opening, so they weren’t down for long. Online ordering with delivery and curbside pickup came just before the official easing of state restrictions in May. Distanced seating on the patio came later, but summer hub of gay leisure time stayed ready the whole pandemic. “We missed our events — we hosted 172 events in 2019 — and giving our regulars a big ol’ hug,” Barton continued. “But we are making the best of the current situation and remain optimistic about the future.” With vaccines rolling out, the owners think the timing of the second location – July for the patio, and later for the back rooms – couldn’t be better. “This announcement feels like we’re over the hump after a tough year for the restaurant industry, Barton added. “The new location is really a thank you to our loyal customers who kept us going over the last three years and an exciting opportunity for all of the GyM FaM.” “We can’t wait to welcome people to our new location at Amsterdam Walk,” he said. Visit guacymargys.com.
GyM’s popular events are back at the original location in the post-pandemic era. You can already find themed Wednesday Trivia Nights and Give Back Brunches raising funds for local non-profits. “Events have become a GyM staple,” Barton said. “And we can accommodate so many more
PHOTO BY MATT HENNIE
Amsterdam Walk location in 2017.
theQatl.com 15
18 theQatl.com
Q Events The Best LGBTQ Things to Do in Atlanta This Week
SATURDAY, JULY 3
THURSDAY, JULY 1
their last devastation with DJ Deezy @ Heretic,
Amen!
House of Alxndr
curates the queens at the Edgewood spot called Church that
is a bar but also a reli-
gious experience @ Sister
Louisa’s Church, 9 p.m. sisterlouisaschurch.com Damaged Like Me
Essays on ove, harm and transformation with
author Kimberly Dark. Charis hosts @ Crowdcast,
Deviant
The black gay party crew returns to the scene of 10 p.m. hereticatlanta.com
SUNDAY, JULY 4 DILF Day Party
Open on a holiday
always means more to love for this
place. The Damn
Daddy Tea Dance
celebrates with the Perry
Twins on the turntables outside @ Heretic, 3 p.m. – 8 p.m. hereticatlanta.com
7:30 p.m. charisbooksandmore.com
Freedom
DJ Alex Lo takes the reigns
FRIDAY, JULY 2
and rides the Fourth of
July dance party. Fuego
Productions drives
@ Heretic, 10 p.m. hereticat-
lanta.com
TUESDAY, JULY 6 Trivia Tuesday
Drop in on a full afternoon and evening of spe-
cials, and don’t forget Trivia Tuesdays with a $50 bar tab prize @ Hideaway, 9 p.m. Happy Hour
specials every weekday, 2 p.m. – 6 p.m. facebook. com/atlantahideaway
WEDNESDAY, JULY 7 Switch!
A queer dance party goes down each Future
Wednesday night with
dance club. Two seatings of Fantasy Girls dinner
@ My Sister’s Room,
Sunday, usually with primetime DJs in between
Find even more LGBTQ things to do over Stonewall
Go all night at Underground Atlanta’s new gay
host Taylor Alxndr
theater and an afterhours party Friday through
10 p.m. mysistersroom.com
@ Future, sundown to sunup. future-atlanta.com
weekend at theQatl.com.
theQatl.com 19
20 theQatl.com
ATLANTA PRIDE RUN
Full gallery on Project Q at theQatl.com
Q SHOTS
PHOTOS BY RUSS BOWEN-YOUNGBLOOD
theQatl.com 21
GDM AT DISTRICT
Full gallery on Project Q at theQatl.com
Q SHOTS
PHOTOS BY RUSS BOWEN-YOUNGBLOOD
theQatl.com 23
Q SHOTS
PHOTOS BY RUSS BOWEN-YOUNGBLOOD
24 theQatl.com
MARGARITA BUST AT X MIDTOWN
Full gallery on Project Q at theQatl.com
on tA ve .N E dm Pi e
4
9
11th St. NE
8
10th St. NE
Amsterdam Ave.
Dr. N E
Piedmont Park
14th St. NE
12th St. NE
12
Mon roe
West Peachtree St. NE
E
75
t. N eS tre
85
ach Pe
Spring St. NW
Q Atlus Map
10 5
Virginia Ave. NE
1 9th St. NE
227 10th St. NE 2. Bulldogs Bar 893 Peachtree St NE 3. Friends on Ponce 736 Ponce De Leon Ave NE 4. My Sister’s Room 84 12th St 5. X Midtown 990 Piedmont Ave. NE 6. Atlanta Eagle 306 Ponce De Leon Ave NE
26 theQatl.com
Bars
Restaurants North Ave. NW
North Ave. NW
Clubs Retail/Services
Not Shown
Future 50 Lower Alabama St SW, Suite 180
8. Henry’s Midtown Tavern 132 10th St NE
Mary’s 1287 Glenwood Ave SE
9. Joe’s onRalph Juniper McGill Blvd. NE 1049 Juniper St NE
Sister Louisa’s 466 Edgewood Ave SE
10. Zocalo Mexican Kitchen & Cantina 187 10th St NE Highland Ave. NE 11. Barking Leather After Dark 306 Ponce De Leon Ave NE (inside Eagle) 12. Urban Body Fitness 500 Amsterdam Ave NE
The T 465 Boulevard SE Swinging Richards 1400 Northside Dr NW Lips Drag Show Palace 3011 Buford Highway NE Lost ’n Found Youth Thift Store 2585 Chantilly Dr NE
Ponce De Leon Pl. NE
3
Key
Ponce De Leon Ave. NE
7. Flex 76 4th St NW
Ponce De Leon Pl. NE
r. NE roe D Mon
Charles Allen Dr. NE
11 6
St. Charles Ave.
Glen Iris Dr. NE
1. Blakes on the Park
NE
NE
Piedmont Park
Piedmont Ave.
Spring St. NW
7
2 Juniper St. NE
85
Peachtree St.
75
West Peachtree St. NE
8th St. NE
Lin
dbe
rgh
Dr.
1
E
be
Lidde ll D
Ch
6
7 re
i esh
11
ne
rR d.
E r. N
2
ulk
9 NE
5 4
Leno x Rd .
Lam
Manchester Rd. NE
Dr.
Fa
ircle NE nt C mo d e Pi
P
Rd. N
10
NE
las
ista
85
rt
ve. sA ter
Lav
Alco S t. NE
Piedmont Ave. NE
3
NE
8 E
d. N eR
dg
Bri
Key
Bars Restaurants Clubs Retail/Services
Cheshire Bridge Road 5. The Heretic 2069 Cheshire Bridge Road NE
9. Gravity Fitness 2201 Faulkner Rd NE
2. Tripp’s Bar 1931 Piedmont Circle NE
6. Las Margaritas 1842 Cheshire Bridge Road NE
10. Southern Nights 2205 Cheshire Bridge Road NE
3. Woof’s Sports Bar 494 Plasters Ave NE
7. Roxx Tavern 1824 Cheshire Bridge Road NE
11. Tokyo Valentino (Cheshire Bridge) 1739 Cheshire Bridge Road NE
4. BJ Rooster’s 2043 Cheshire Bridge Road NE
8. 2Qute Hair Salon 1927 Cheshire Bridge Road NE
nr Mo
3
5
Pied
4. Oscar’s 1510 Piedmont Ave NE
tA ve .N E on ed m
r. NE
Pi
5. Barking Leather 1510 Piedmont Ave NE 6. Boy Next Door 1447 Piedmont Ave NE
D Monroe
Piedmont Park
1. Felix’s on the Square 1510 Piedmont Ave NE
3. Midtown Moon 1510 Piedmont Ave NE
8
6
Ansley Park 2. The Hideaway 1544 Piedmont Ave NE
E
4
r. N
7
D oe
2 1
Morningside Dr. NE
mon t
Ave. NE
1. Sequel Bar 1086 Alco St. NE
Key
Bars Restaurants Clubs Retail/Services
7. Brushstrokes 1510 Piedmont Ave NE 8. Equilibrium Fitness 1529 Piedmont Ave NE
theQatl.com 27
Q Atlus Map Directory The businesses on the preceding pages are integral parts of Atlanta’s LGBTQ landscape. Those listed in boxes are consistent Q partners and community allies. BARS, CLUBS & RESTAURANTS Atlanta Eagle 306 Ponce De Leon Ave NE BJ Roosters 2043 Cheshire Bridge Road NE Blakes on the Park 227 10th St. NE Bulldogs Bar 893 Peachtree St NE Felix’s on the Square 1510 Piedmont Ave NE Friends on Ponce 736 Ponce De Leon Ave NE Future 50 Lower Alabama St SW, Suite 180 Henry’s Midtown Tavern 132 10th St NE The Heretic 2069 Cheshire Bridge Road NE The Hideaway 1544 Piedmont Ave NE Joe’s on Juniper 1049 Juniper St NE Las Margaritas 1842 Cheshire Bridge Road NE Lips Drag Show Palace 3011 Buford Highway NE Mama’s Cocina 1958 Piedmont Road NE Mary’s 1287 Glenwood Ave SE Midtown Moon 1510 Piedmont Ave NE My Sister’s Room 84 12th St Oscar’s 1510 Piedmont Ave NE Roxx Tavern 1824 Cheshire Bridge Road NE
28 theQatl.com
Sequel Bar 1086 Alco St. NE
Sister Louisa’s 466 Edgewood Ave SE Swinging Richards 1400 Northside Dr NW The T 465 Boulevard SE Tripp’s Bar 1931 Piedmont Circle NE Woof’s Sports Bar 494 Plasters Ave NE X Midtown 990 Piedmont Ave. NE Zocalo Mexican Kitchen & Cantina 187 10th St NE
RETAIL & SERVICES 2Qute Hair Salon 1927 Cheshire Bridge Road NE Barking Leather 1510 Piedmont Ave NE Barking Leather After Dark 306 Ponce De Leon Ave NE (inside Atlanta Eagle) Boy Next Door 1447 Piedmont Ave NE Brushstrokes 1510 Piedmont Ave NE Equilibrium Fitness 1529 Piedmont Ave NE Lost ’n Found Youth Thrift Store 2585 Chantilly Dr NE Urban Body Fitness 500 Amsterdam Ave NE
ADULT Flex 76 4th St NW Southern Nights 2205 Cheshire Bridge Road NE Starship Galaxy/Starship Novelties 2273 Cheshire Bridge Road NE Tokyo Valentino 1739 Cheshire Bridge Road NE
Q Advice
Tell It
nered so much at a crowded party that you can’t make excuses, push past him, and walk away.
When telling the truth is the hardest possible option
Say definitively “Stop this,” and if need be, have someone else step in, including an authority.
LIKE IT IS
Q
There I am, minding my own business at a work party, when the sketchiest of sketchy queens at our office heads toward me. He starts as his usual annoying self, but out of nowhere pivots to hitting on me. The details of the commentary are gross and over the top, but bottom line is that I was cornered, and social signals weren’t working to make him stop. I didn’t want to make a scene, and I didn’t want to embarrass him since I have to see him on a regular basis, but what should I have done? Dear Coworker: Sometimes it feels like it’s never the ones who we want hitting on us who do it, right? That said, coworkers or not, there’s never a reason to make a scene, shame or embarrass somebody. Be kind, not as a reflection on what you think of him, but as a reflection on yourself. Consider it karma for the next time you swing and miss. In the future, try interjecting shutdown statements like “Let me stop you right there.” Start the moment you sense unwanted advances, and assert strongly and specifically that you’re uninterested and/or unavailable. Avoid hints. Be clear without being rude. If he doesn’t stop, move. You’re never cor-
This wasn’t your case, but while we’re on the subject, if anyone, anywhere, any time becomes overbearing, intimidating or forceful, don’t tolerate it.
Q
I’ve always been a cheater. I met my boyfriend cheating on the ex. I thought I had grown out of it, but I recently began an affair. Why does it feel so good to keep secrets and sneak around? Also, I have no remorse. Am I a sociopath? Dear Selfish: You may not be a sociopath, but your narcissism is showing. Adding excitement to your life at the risk of someone else’s feelings is mean. If the thrill of getting caught excites you, you’re in luck: You will.
Q
How do you politely tell your one-night stand that they’re not clean “down there”? My spouse and I were entertaining a “friend,” and a frothy mixture dropped on the carpet. The person didn’t see because they were face down in a pillow, but we both did. Awkward. Dear Santorum: You know the saying: Shit happens. No matter how “prepared” we think we are, most people have experienced unexpected malfunctions. Don’t make a big deal out of it, and just explain what’s up if it’s too much to continue. Maybe invest in some spot remover. The Q is for entertainment, not counseling. Send burning Qs to mike@theQatl.com. ILLUSTRATION BY BRAD GIBSON
theQatl.com 29
