Q Magazine Atlanta | October 24, 2019

Q

October 24, 2019

10 Great Ideas for Queer Costuming

inform | inspire

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THIS

Supersized Special Section of Q Shots from Atlanta Pride 2019

Queer Atlanta Parties Start Halloween Early LGBTQ History Project Makes Memories Last

Queer Agenda Q News The Q Q Shots The Weekly Print Publication of Project Q Atlanta

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EDITOR’S NOTE Q Q MAGAZINE THE WEEKLY PUBLICATION OF PROJECT Q ATLANTA PUBLISHERS INITIAL MEDIA, LLC MIKE FLEMING PUBLISHER & EDITOR MIKE@THEQATL.COM MATT HENNIE PUBLISHER & BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT MATT@THEQATL.COM RICHARD CHERSKOV PUBLISHER & GENERAL MANAGER RICHARD@THEQATL.COM ART DIRECTOR JOHN NAIL JOHN@THEQATL.COM

Windows

& MIRRORS

WHEN DONE RIGHT, queer media can serve as a reflection of, and a peek inside, LGBTQ culture that’s unlike even the most inclusive

mainstream outlet. That’s why Q takes its role by, for and about queer Atlanta so seriously.

This week’s issue serves its role as multiple mirrors on local LGBTQ life. In the rear-

view variety, the Q cover package offers 10

PROJECT Q ATLANTA PATRICK SAUNDERS EDITOR PSAUNDERS@THEQATL.COM CONTRIBUTORS IAN ABER LAURA BACCUS GABRIELLE CLAIBORNE BUCK COOKE CHARLES E. DAVIS JON DEAN BILL DICKINSON JIM FARMER BRAD GIBSON JAMES L. HICKS BENTLEY HUDGINS TAMEEKA L. HUNTER HEATHER MALONEY ERIC PAULK KYLE ROSE JAMES PARKER SHEFFIELD VINCE SHIFFLETT ALEXANDRA TYLER VAVA VROOM RUSS BOWEN-YOUNGBLOOD NATIONAL ADVERTISING RIVENDELL MEDIA SALES@RIVENDELLMEDIA.COM 212-242-6863 LOCAL ADVERTISING SALES@THEQATL.COM 404-949-7071

pages of Atlanta Pride photos by our pho-

tographers. They’re a great appetizer for the 500+ photos from the big weekend in our MIKE FLEMING EDITOR & PUBLISHER

Q Shots galleries at theQatl.com.

Special shout out to our co-publisher Matt

Hennie for this week’s stunner of a cover image of rain-soaked and joyful parade grand marshal Royce Mann.

We also look at ourselves via the past this week as 10 Queer Things peers into the Q Shots archives for Halloween costume ideas.

Next, we look at ourselves through the eyes of Charlie Paine. As the

LGBTQ committee chair for Historic Atlanta, he has an eye on queer history and an insightful viewpoint on why it’s so difficult to preserve.

Q&A picks his brain.

As a window into what’s happening right now, Q News looks into a

newly out school board member, two metro counties bubbling over with queer issues, and our own city thumbing its nose at the Trump administration for its groundless claims about rainbow crosswalks.

Elsewhere in your queer week, the Queer Agenda reflects your busy

social calendar, while The Q advice column shows you can’t get so busy that you lose sight of higher priorities.

As always, we’re here for your ideas as well, so shoot me a note at mike@theQatl.com.

theQatl.com

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INSIDE THIS ISSUE VOLUME 2 ISSUE 48 OCTOBER 24, 2019

ALL DRESSED UP

Queer costume ideas for the week ahead

COVER

23 8

Photo Opps Atlanta Pride in Pictures

Q NEWS

13 14

Rainbow Road

23 Block Party

Crosswalk stats debunk Trump administration Q&A

16 FEATURES

10 Queer Things

6

8

The Queer Agenda

19

Q Shots

23

The Q

38

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History, Channeled

25 Circus Act

Charlie Paine digs into your past

38 29 Park Pics

LOCATIONS IN

BUCKHEAD • VIRGINIA HIGHLANDS • SANDY SPRINGS theQatl.com

7

Q

o C r e e Qu

10 QUEER THINGS

Evil Intent

Death Masks

Hero Worship

Period Piece

Comics Cosplay

Seasons Greetings

8

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s e m u t os help o t s e iv h c r a o t o Raid the Q ph drum n u n o c e m u t s o c solve your

Less is More

Girl Gang Movies

Don’t’ Bother.

They’re Here.

All photos by Russ Bowen-Youngblood for Q magazine and Project Q Atlanta. Visit more Halloweens past at theQatl.com. theQatl.com

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NEWS Q match their gender identity.

‘Torn

APART’

Restrooms for trans students divides North Georgia county

By Patrick Saunders

THE SUPERINTENDENT OF PICKENS COUNTY SCHOOLS has suspended his decision to allow transgender students to use the bathrooms that match their gender identity.

Superintendent Carlton Wilson announced the decision during a contentious three-hour public meeting that drew 700 people to the Pickens County High auditorium on Oct. 14. The school is about an hour north of Atlanta.

“I don’t believe that it should be just Pickens County that has to pay for litigation issues for something that affects the entire state of Georgia,” he said.

‘GOD MADE THEM MALE AND FEMALE’ A number of parents of Pickens County students expressed outrage about the issue at Monday’s meeting.

“This is nothing more than a political stunt to gain attention,” said Nathan Barfield, who said he has two children in Pickens County schools. “If I have to use a bathroom, I will use whichever one is closest, I don’t go trying to find one that will make people let me use. I don’t care about what some court in some distant far off place says about our school.”

The policy goes beyond bathrooms, according to speaker Tony Davis.

“It’s the showers, the locker rooms, the football fields,” he said.

“Every child in this district, when they walk into one of these areas, they have an expectation of privacy from the opposite sex. You took that away from them.”

Speakers often cited religion when criticizing the policy.

“Bottom line is it’s God’s word,” said Pickens County parent Sandy Bartlett.

“God made them male and female. And I think as people, as humans, as adults we have to be careful about our words, even around our own children.”

Wilson said that the uproar has “torn our county apart.”

The controversy began when Wilson announced on Oct. 11 that the school system would allow an unidentified trans student to use the bathroom with which they identify.

But some speakers were in favor of the policy, including Jordan Stewart, a 2017 Pickens High School graduate who came out as gay during his junior year.

Pickens County Schools Superintendent Carlton Wilson

“We’ve had several transgender students in our school system for the past several years,” he said. “Until now, we’ve been able to work out plans where the students were permitted to use staff restrooms.”

The trans student’s request in Pickens County led officials to consult attorneys, Wilson said at the meeting.

“The legal advice that I was given is that I need to follow the federal court cases across the country, especially the one in Florida,” he said. “This type of case could cost our county hundreds of thousands of dollars, if not millions.”

“A trans woman is a woman. A trans man is a man,” he said.

“So when you say that you think there’s going to be a man walking into the bathroom with a woman, that’s not the case.”

“They’re just trying to go to the bathroom and do their business and get in and get out — nothing more, nothing less,” he added.

Wilson said he is putting the decision on hold until he can discuss it further with the county school board. He’s also consulting with architects and contractors about converting all county schools’ bathrooms to single-use bathrooms.

EMERGENCY MEETING Due to death threats, harassment and vandalism after the meeting, the school board called an emergency session. They decided to return the policy to its former state — trans students must use a single-occupancy staff restroom and not the student ones that match their gender identity — until the county can work out safety concerns.

He also asked Attorney General Chris Carr to make a deciPhotos by Laura Baccus sion on the issue of trans students’ access to bathrooms that

For more details on this story and other news of local LGBTQ interest, visit theQatl.com. theQatl.com

11

Q

IN BRIEF

Gwinnett school board member makes history by coming out

By Patrick Saunders EVERTON BLAIR CELEBRATED NATIONAL COMING Out Day by announcing that he is gay, making him the first-ever openly LGBTQ member of the Gwinnett County Board of Education.

Blair made the announcement on social media on Oct. 11, putting him in select company with Atlanta City Councilmember Antonio Brown as the only two black LGBTQ elected officials in Georgia.

The announcement was more for his students than anything, Blair told Project Q Atlanta.

“I think for me it was really just understanding the opportunity to increase visibility for the students in my district who may or may not be in a space of continuous affirmation,” he said.

Everton Blair

and that he was focused on education issues.

Blair won the District 4 seat on the Gwinnett School board in 2018, becoming both the youngest member and first-ever black member of the board.

“On the other side, once I was elected, it was not a secret to anyone, but not something that I had publicly stepped forward and announced,” he said. “Today felt like the right opportunity because it’s not singularly about me, but it’s a reflective moment where we’re thinking about where we are as a community.”

He said he didn’t bring up his sexual orientation during the campaign because it “wasn’t something that naturally came up”

Blair worked with the Victory Institute’s Coming Out Project in the weeks leading up to the announcement.

Clayton County spent $210,000 to fight LGBTQ rights case

By Patrick Saunders

Act of 1964 extends workplace protections to LGBTQ people.

CLAYTON COUNTY TAXPAYERS FOOTED THE NEARLY $210,000 bill to pay an outside law firm to argue against LGBTQ workers in a case that reached the U.S. Supreme Court.

Greg Nevins, senior counsel at Lambda Legal’s Southern Regional Office in Atlanta, sat in court during Tuesday’s hearing. He said that Clayton County went “beyond the pale” in its actions in the Bostock case.

Atlanta-based firm Freeman Mathis & Gary has put in over 1,000 hours on the case of Atlanta gay man Gerald Bostock since being fired by the county in 2013, according to a review of invoices by Project Q Atlanta. The county provided nearly 150 pages of redacted invoices from Freeman Mathis & Gary through an Open Records Act request. The firm bills the county $195 per hour for its work.

Freeman Mathis & Gary then hired another law firm with close ties to President Donald Trump to argue against Bostock in the Supreme Court.

Bostock claims that Clayton County fired him from his job as a child welfare services coordinator in 2013 after finding out he joined a team in the LGBTQ Hotlanta Softball League. His case was one of three that the U.S. Supreme Court considered at a hearing Oct. 8 to decide whether Title VII of the Civil Rights 12

theQatl.com

“It’s the Clayton County taxpayers’ money,” he told Project Q Atlanta. “It’s one thing if you defend against lawsuits — that’s something the residents of the county would expect you to do. But they wouldn’t expect you to necessarily pull out all the stops to make sure that sexual orientation would not be covered by Title VII.” A Clayton County spokesperson did not respond to Project Q’s questions about the case and the law firm’s charges.

Freeman Mathis & Gary hired the law firm of Consovoy McCarthy to argue against Bostock in the Supreme Court.

The 12-lawyer boutique firm with offices in Boston and Washington, D.C., represented Trump in appellate cases challenging the U.S. House of Representatives’ subpoenas of the president’s financial records. The firm also filed an amicus brief in support of Trump’s Muslim travel ban in 2018.

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Q

COMMUNITY

Rainbow

ROAD

Trump administration warns against queer crosswalks, Atlanta says no way, no how

By Patrick Saunders

ment, potentially decreasing the effectiveness of the crosswalk markings and the safety of the pedestrian traffic,” according to the New York Times.

Urban planning practitioners and advocates told the New York Times that the FHA has no evidence to prove its claims. And the agency was unable to provide the publication with research specifically studying the effect of rainbow markings.

The City of Atlanta spent $196,000 to install the permanent rainbow crosswalks at the intersection of 10th and Piedmont.

Road crews damaged the crosswalks in February 2018, but they were restored at no cost to the city.

THE FEDERAL HIGHWAY ADMINISTRATION IS REPORTedly warning cities about the safety of rainbow crosswalks, but the City of Atlanta is claiming jurisdiction over its LGBTQ landmark.

The FHA, a division of the U.S. Department of Transportation, sent a letter to Ames City, Iowa, officials in early September saying its recently-installed rainbow crosswalks are a safety concern and a liability, according to the New York Times.

Ames City officials decided to ignore the letter. The City of Atlanta appears ready to do the same should it receive a letter, according to a spokesperson for Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms. The rainbow crosswalks were installed at the intersection of 10th Street and Piedmont Avenue in Midtown in July 2017.

“While we have received no such request, Atlanta’s rainbow crosswalk is located on city-owned streets,” Press Secretary Michael Smith told Project Q Atlanta in a statement. “Much like glitter, the crosswalk is here to stay indefinitely.”

The Seattle Department of Transportation also received a similar letter about its 40 artistic crosswalks, including rainbow ones. The city’s traffic engineer told the New York Times that

14

Project Q asked the Atlanta Police Department for statistics on accidents at the intersection before and since the rainbow crosswalks have been installed, and APD statistics showed that the paint poses no increased safety risk. The number of accidents each year at the popular Midtown intersection has stayed roughly the same since the rainbow crosswalks were installed.

Before the rainbow paint, there were 26 accidents at the intersection in 2015, with 24 of those being car accidents and two being pedestrian accidents.

The number dropped to 20 in 2016 (all car accidents) and stayed at 20 in 2017 (18 car accidents, two pedestrian accidents), 2018 (19 car accidents, one pedestrian accident) and

there are fewer “collisions and conflicts” at the artistic cross-

2019 year-to-date (18 car accidents, two pedestrian accidents).

walks than at the non-artistic ones, and they remain in place.

The crosswalks were installed in July 2017.

In its letter to Ames City, the FHA said that crosswalk art

For details on this story and other daily news of local LGBTQ

“diminishes the contrast between the white lines and the pave-

interest, visit theQatl.com.

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Q&A

Photo by Patrick Saunders 16

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History KEEPER Atlanta preservationist Charlie Paine on saving queer Atlanta’s memories

Student Movement, the Gay Liberation Front and the Save

the Fox Campaign, we take those memories and realize that anything is possible when we work together. Atlanta has a unique story to tell, and it’s time we fully embrace it.

What worries you about the legacy of Atlanta’s LGBTQ spaces?

By Patrick Saunders

The lack of LGBTQ ownership of the land those spaces sit on

CHARLIE PAINE WAS A REALLY YOUNG GUY TO GET SO

home where Michael Hardwick was illegally arrested in his

involved in saving old spaces. He made headlines as a

16-year-old Woodward Academy student when he helped lead the effort to save Briarcliff Mansion, the century-old

building on Emory University’s campus that gave Briarcliff Road its name.

Paine kept at it, majoring in architectural history and his-

toric preservation at the College of Charleston. While there, he commuted back to Atlanta weekly to volunteer for Cathy

Woolard’s 2017 Atlanta mayoral campaign and to organize an LGBTQ youth mayoral forum.

Paine, now 23 and an interior designer, is the LGBTQ History Committee chair for Historic Atlanta, a volunteer-run group dedicated to preserving landmarks.

He chatted with Q about coming into his own as a gay man and the future of Atlanta’s LGBTQ spaces.

Why are you passionate about historic preservation?

My original interest in preservation began with the Briarcliff

and the rising value of property regardless of ownership. The

own room is now a private residence. Ansley Mall, owned by Siegel development, was the site of a police raid of an Andy

Warhol film where several members of the LGBTQ community were arrested in the ‘60s.

Other locations such as Bulldogs, Blake’s, the Atlanta Eagle

and others are in areas where investment is pouring in without regard to these places’ value to the LGBTQ community. This is dangerous to our community, especially when these places live off of each other. It’s a domino effect. When one falls, it

changes the everyday movements of our community and can adversely affect other LGBTQ spaces.

What’s the latest on Historic Atlanta?

We are currently suing the City of Atlanta over actions that could permit the demolition of the South’s first recording

studio, while also working with the city and various other

organizations to preserve the legacy of the civil rights movement though grant writing and other activities.

Mansion, a Coca-Cola family home. It was a marvel of archi-

Historic Atlanta recently launched its Special Committee on

Atlanta airport and set the stage for Atlanta’s modern promi-

the AIDS crisis and preserving the LGBTQ spaces that make

tecture that also was a monument to a man that created the nence as a transportation hub.

That was part of an early understanding that the preservation

LGBTQ History aimed at remembering the Fight for Equality, Atlanta the “Gay Capital of the South.” One of the first actions the committee will likely push for is working with the city

of spaces is the preservation of memory. When we move to

and fundraising to commission an LGBTQ Historic Resource

us, we remember them. That remembrance ensures we do not

efforts to best preserve LGBTQ Atlanta.

preserve the tangible histories of the people who came before

Survey & Context Statement to guide the City of Atlanta in its

forget our place in the world and history.

For more about Historic Atlanta, visit historicatlanta.org and

When we remember the accomplishments of the Atlanta

f ind them on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter @historicatlanta theQatl.com

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Coming This Fall...

Q

November 7, 2019

Anti-LGBTQ Lawmaker Comes Out as Trans

inform | inspire

GOP Renews Attack on LGBTQ Rights Eye of Beholder: Kink vs. Ewww!

Suzanne Westenhoefer: ‘I’m Still Here, Bitches!’

Butch Queer Snubs Hubby’s Drag Debut

Q Shots Queer Agenda The Q The Weekly Print Publication of Project Q Atlanta

• Halloween (Oct. 31) • Best of Queer Atlanta (Nov. 7) • Holiday Gift Guide (Nov. 28)

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Q

THE QUEER AGENDA The Best Queer Things To Do in Atlanta This Week

October 24 – October 31

Heretic Halloween DJ Mike Pope pumps beats, and Bubba D hosts a $1500 costume contest @ Heretic, 10 p.m. hereticatlanta.com Hocus Pocus Party Calico Deville’s costume costume with prizes and DJ Hellboy @ Hideaway, 9 p.m. facebook.com/atlantahideaway

SUNDAY, OCT. 27 Armorettes Halloween The 40+-year-old Sunday show of camp-drag fundraising gets even weirder than usual @ Midtown Moon, 8 p.m. thearmorettes.com Hey Zombae Come in costume and get in free @ Bulldogs, all day every day through

THURSDAY, OCT. 24

Thursday Oct. 31. facebook.com/bulldogsbaratlanta

La Cage aux Folles The original gay musical that led to massive mainstream movies and remakes gets the local queer troupe treatment @ Out Front Theatre, 8 p.m.

Runs through Nov. 9. outfronttheatre.com

FRIDAY, OCT. 25 Shalloween The annual Wussy party gets Dragula’s Boulet Brothers as hosts this year @ Heretic, 9 p.m. hereticatlanta.com Hallo-weenie The annual dance party and costume contest, this year with Chelsea Daggers @ Mary’s, 10 p.m. marysatlanta.com

Fireball Costume Contest Everyone who dresses up gets a prize and someone will win $100 @ Hideaway, 6 p.m. facebook.com/atlantahideaway

WEDNESDAY, OCT. 30 Feminenergy It’s the X anniversary of the OE85 fabulosity including performances by Taylor Alxndr (photo) @ The Foundry, 6 p.m. facebook.com/oe85ent Hocus Pocus 100% that witch x 3 when this cult classic hits the big screen with Wussy queens as hosts @ Plaza Theatre, 7 p.m. and 10 p.m. wussymag.com, plazaatlanta.com Tegan and Sara The lesbian super twins activate their powers @ Variety Playhouse, 8 p.m. varietyplayhouse.com

Wrong Turn Halloween DJ Kerry Hall and Twee helm this costume dance party @ BJ Roosters, 9 p.m. facebook.com/bjroostersatlanta

SATURDAY, OCT. 26 Party Like A Rock Star Hotlanta Squares hosts its LGBTQ square dance with a rock-star costume theme @ Lutheran Church of the Messiah, 7 p.m. hotlantasquares.org Halloqueer Southern Fried Queer Pride puts its spin on the holiday @ The Pinhook, 10 p.m. southernfriedqueerpride.com

THURSDAY, OCT. 31 Haunted Hoedown Country dancing, no cover and cash prizes for best costumes @ Heretic, 8 p.m. hereticatlanta.com Horrorshow It’s spooky video night with DJ Mister Richard and discounts for costumes @ Woofs, all night. woofsatlanta.com Deadly Divas The drag dinner cabaret queens serve a Halloween theme @ Lips, 6 p.m. lipsusa.com Find more queer things to do in the expanded edition of the Queer

Agenda at theQatl.com.

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PRIDE BLOCK PARTY AT TEN

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MSR’S ELECTRIC CIRCUS AT DISTRICT

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PRIDE KICKOFF AT GEORGIA AQUARIUM

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PRIDE IN THE PARK

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ATLANTA PRIDE PARADE

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Fresh content served daily

Q

THEQ?!

Busy,

BUSY

Constant hurry reads as overextended and self-important

Q

I am a Type A queer. My fingers are always in multiple pies, from LGBTQ non-profits to my own work and social calendars. I enjoy applying myself to everything, and organizing other people is kind of my superpower, even if they don’t always appreciate it.

I’m proud of what I’m able to accomplish, even though with such a tight schedule, some things fall through the cracks. Dating is one of them, and even friendships seem to get caught in the wind and fly away before I have a chance to nail them down.

I figure it’s the cost of having so many fingers in so many pies, but someone recently told me that people actually hold it against me. Until recently, I thought that others were jealous of my ability to multi-task when they rolled their eyes behind my back. Now I find out they think I’m obnoxious.

When it comes to queer causes, I know I can’t handle it all sometimes, but there’s a lot to be done. No one else seems to be as busy as me or care as much, yet here I am trying. Someone has to do it.

Dear Control Freak: Take a deep breath. Now take another. And another. It’s going to be OK. This column has run into the glorification of being busy before, but never with quite so much sanctimony and contradiction as yours. Ease the burden you’ve taken on yourself by realizing that even if you got hit by the proverbial bus tomorrow, the world would keep spin-

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ning and worthy causes would progress without you.

For starters, no one is busier than anyone else. We all have the same 24 hours and pack them with our priorities. The things that get done are the most important to you. Maybe a person you think is ignoring your pet issues is caring for a terminally ill loved one. Perhaps someone you deem lazy faces trouble at home, work, school, or even within themselves, that you know nothing about. Bragging about a long to-do list minimizes their priorities, and that’s annoying in addition to being incorrect.

Secondly, busy isn’t the same as productive. Busy is just the amount of time doing something; productive means there are results. You are placing too much of your personal value on being busy instead of the work you purport to get done. People who glorify busyness find their self-worth through tasks and performance, but those things aren’t fulfilling, even when you are successful at finishing them.

Speaking of important things falling through the cracks, other people is a big one. You ostracize them by your standards, your agenda and your priorities, then you treat lost relationships as simple collateral damage. That’s worth some serious self-examination.

When we overextend ourselves, it’s bad for us and for the people around us. When our plate is full, we are anxious and overwhelmed. We don’t take time to think things through, and we feel both flustered over the harried schedule and guilty for the way we pushed through it without regard to more important matters.

Humans need to value ourselves in the wide view of life as a whole — not in tasks, calendars or even our accomplishments. Those things will happen, or not, without us. What we can affect in a lasting way is our friendships and our great loves.

That’s done by taking time in our schedules to hear the music, dance with our moms, ask what is going on with someone else, enjoy leisure time and learn new things.

The hardest part may be owning the reasons why you are scheduled to the teeth.

Are you trying to block out shortcomings in other areas? To avoid hard questions?

Avert being alone with your thoughts?

With some reflection, balance is better than busy.

When we find it, we sleep better, our health improves, and our relationships improve. That means life is better, deeper and more rewarding.

The Q is for entertainment purposes and not professional counseling. Send your burning Qs to mike@theqatl.com.

ILLUSTRATION BY BRAD GIBSON