METROPOLITAN ATLANTA HIV HEALTH SERVICES PLANNING COUNCIL
Assessment Committee Meeting Calendar 2025-2026
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Metropolitan Atlanta HIV Health Services Planning Council
Playful. Witty. Cunning.
Let your imagination run wild with this lighthearted love story, where fantasy comes to life and the path to happily ever after takes a few unexpected twists and turns! Featuring ballet’s favorite heroine determined to save the young man to whom she is betrothed, Coppélia will delight audiences of all ages with its foolish fantasy and cleverly crafted humor.
Atlanta Ballet dancer Madison Penney. Photo by Rachel Neville.
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EDITOR’S NOTE
Art is both an antidote and response to challenging times
COLLIN KELLEY
While we couldn’t fit all the news in this month’s print edition (be sure to visit TheGAVoice. com daily for updates and signup for the Crosswalk newsletter), the removal of the “T” and “Q” from LGBTQ+ on the National Parks Service website in relation to the Stonewall National Monument in New York and the takedown of a 2016 landmark report on the significance of LGBTQ+ historic sites and people were especially alarming to me. Less than a week after Robert F.
COMMUNITY
Kennedy Jr. was confirmed as secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the agency rolled out a webpage promoting the Trump administration’s anti-trans executive orders and issued public guidance asserting that a person’s sex is “unchangeable.”
Meanwhile, a Michigan lawmaker introduced a resolution asking the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn Obergefell v. Hodges, which established the right to same-sex marriage. Similar resolutions have been introduced in Idaho, Iowa, Montana, North Dakota, and South Dakota. I’ll say it again: The anti-trans legislation is merely a prelude to a much larger agenda by conservatives.
Staunch LGBTQ+ ally and former Atlanta resident Jane Fonda sounded the alarm during her acceptance of the
GA legislature debates measures affecting transgender people
By Ty Tagami | Capitol Beat
Transgender people, particularly youths, remain a subject of Republican-led policy in Georgia, as lawmakers consider several bills that would regulate their interactions with the medical industry and with female athletes.
Both the Georgia Senate and House of Representatives have measures that would ban transgender students born male from female teams in K-12 schools and in higher education.
The Senate has gone further, with legislation that would ban puberty blockers and the use of state resources — health insurance, hospital facilities and medical personnel — for genderrelated procedures.
The conflict has made for confusing hearings, where experts disagreed about core facts.
The sports measure may get the most traction in the House, which is moving its own legislation on transgender athletes.
House Bill 267 passed the House Education Committee on Feb. 21. Like SB 1, it seeks to ban transgender students born male from participation on female teams — and from using female locker rooms and other shared facilities where nudity occurs.
For instance, one doctor testified at a recent hearing on Senate Bill 30 that substances known as puberty blockers have long-term consequences, and that children should not be deciding whether to take them.
“They’re not capable of making lifealtering decisions,” she said. “We don’t leave them alone for the weekend.”
Another doctor contradicted her, saying puberty blockers are reversible. He described the legislation as government overreach. The committee passed SB 30 that evening.
Senate Bill 39, the bill that would ban the use of state resources for gender-change procedures, and Senate Bill 1, which seeks to ban transgender athletes from female athletics, have already passed the full Senate.
Lifetime Achievement Award at the Screen Actors Guild Awards on Feb. 23.
“Have any of you ever watched a documentary of one of the great social movements, like apartheid or our civil rights movement or Stonewall and asked yourself, would you have been brave enough to walk the bridge? Would you have been able to take the hoses and the batons and the dogs?” she asked. “We don’t have to wonder anymore because we are in our documentary moment. This is it. And it’s not a rehearsal. We mustn’t for a moment kid ourselves about what’s happening. This is big-time serious, folks. So let’s be brave.”
Fonda also urged viewers to not isolate themselves and to be part of the community.
Part of being brave and supporting the
community is to – as the Brits say – carry on. That’s why I’m glad this issue of the Voice is our Spring Arts Preview (starting on page 14). Art is always an antidote and response to politics and challenging times. We need it now more than ever. I encourage you to support all the organizations bringing you theatre, music, and visual arts because they – and the large number of LGBTQ+ artists involved in these endeavors – are vulnerable due to mercurial funding sources.
And to quote Fonda, who quoted Atlanta’s own Pearl Cleage: “On the other side of the conflagration, there will still be love. There will still be beauty. And there will be an ocean of truth for us to swim in.”
Let’s make it so.
HB 267 is named the “Riley Gaines Act.” Gaines is a collegiate swimmer whose encounter with a transgender athlete at a 2022 national championship meet at Georgia Tech has been widely reported.
Democrats have mostly opposed these measures, asserting that they are not grounded in fact or science.
They dismiss arguments that the sports legislation is intended to promote fairness for girls, countering with their own measures that demand equity in “funds, facilities access, equipment, supplies, and other resources.” Senate Bill 41 and House Bill 221 have yet to get a hearing.
Critics also say that the GOP initiatives against transgender people will expose an already marginalized group to more bullying, raising their risk of suicide, which is already relatively high.
Where the LGBTQ+ community comes together to experience symphony concerts.
BRING A FRIEND TO ENJOY:
MAR 27 | Thu: 8pm
$80 for concert + VIP reception.
JUN 7 |
8pm
Robert Spano Conducts Scheherazade
Thu:
Oundjian Conducts Mahler Symphony No. 7
“One
Protesters gather outside the Georgia Capitol. (Photo by Isadora Pennington)
Smyrna Pride to allow Log Cabin Republicans at festival
By Katie Burkholder
After backlash from the Georgia GOP, Smyrna Pride organizers have decided to admit the Log Cabin Republicans as a vendor to “de-escalate unnecessary division,” according to a statement.
The Smyrna is Fabulous, Inc. Board of Directors, which organizes the June festival, said in a Feb. 21 statement that it
had no legal obligation to admit the Log Cabin Republicans since it clearly stated it would not permit political organizations.
Smyrna Pride’s initial decision spurred Georgia GOP Chair Josh McKoon to release a letter arguing that the rejection violated the Log Cabin Republican’s First and Fourteenth Amendment rights.
Despite the Supreme Court precedent Hurley v. Irish-American Gay, Lesbian,
and Bisexual Group of Boston (1995) and Eleventh Circuit precedent Leake v. Drinkard (2021), which established the right of event organizers to curate participation as they see fit, Smyrna Pride said it would allow the Log Cabin Republicans to attend the festival under strict vendor terms. The festival organizers said they would also allow other political organizations to vend at Smyrna Pride.
“We will not allow political agendas to dictate the mission of Pride,” the Smyrna is Fabulous, Inc. Board of Directors said in the statement. “Smyrna Pride is about celebrating LGBTQ+ lives, not advancing divisive political agendas. We refuse to let misinformation derail the work we do for our community.”
The Log Cabin Republicans, as well as other politically affiliated vendors now allowed to participate in the festival, will be required to adhere to the following terms:
■ Any rhetoric, materials, or conduct that disrespects or invalidates LGBTQ+ identities, especially trans, non-binary, and gender-diverse people, will result in immediate expulsion.
■ Any attempts to spread hostility or disrupt the festival’s inclusive nature will result in permanent banning from all future Smyrna Pride events.
■ Any vendor who undermines any member of the LGBTQ+ community will not be welcome.
“We will not tolerate anyone using Smyrna Pride 2025 as a platform or publicity-stunt to degrade members of the LGBTQ+ community,” the Board of Directors said. “This is non-negotiable.”
Attached to their acceptance is also a cease and desist, requiring the Log Cabin Republicans to immediately stop disseminating false claims about vendor selection and inclusion; cease interfering with Smyrna Pride’s relationships with sponsors, vendors, and community members; and discontinue legal threats based on misinformation. If the Georgia Log Cabin Republicans don’t meet these terms, their vendor status will be immediately revoked.
At press time, the Georgia Log Cabin Republicans told Georgia Voice it is currently considering their options and will release a statement soon. Visit thegavoice. com for updates.
LGBTQ+ Latinx immigrants face threats to health, violence
By Katie Burkholder
LGBTQ+ Latinx immigrants are fearful for their futures under the new presidential administration – and advocacy organizations are struggling to keep up.
President Donald Trump is targeting undocumented and Latinx immigrants, declaring a national emergency on the Southern border, suspending the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program, and ending birthright citizenship under the 14th Amendment (a move that was temporarily blocked by U.S. District Judge John Coughenour for being “blatantly unconstitutional”).
On Jan. 26, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) made arrests in Chamblee, Brookhaven, Lilburn, and Doraville – where they raided a Hispanic church and arrested a parishioner.
Latinx advocacy organizations like Latino LinQ, which addresses health care needs for the LGBTQ+ Latinx community, have been overwhelmed with calls from immigrants who don’t know what to do.
“We’re quickly realizing that we’re going to have to expand beyond [health care] now, and we’re having to reach out to other nonprofits and get training,” Eric Rangel, the Executive Director of Latino LinQ, told Georgia Voice. “We’re being stretched a little thin here, you know?”
reinstatement of the Migrant Protection Protocols program, a policy forcing Mexican asylum seekers to pursue their cases in Mexico, and the shutdown of the U.S. Customs and Border Protection One app, which allowed undocumented immigrants to submit information and schedule appointments allowing them to enter the U.S.
Thirty countries in Central America, South America, and the Caribbean do not allow same-sex marriage, and in five, homosexuality is illegal.
Calls to Latino LinQ since Election Day have covered concerns from HIVpositive immigrants who are fearful about clinic raids and general concerns about getting access to necessary medications if detained.
“They’re very hesitant about wanting to go their clinic follow-ups for their HIV diagnoses,” Rangel said. “They’re afraid of being pulled over from going home to the clinic, they’re afraid that the clinic will get raided because this new administration has said they will raid churches, schools, clinics, any kind of health care facilities, anywhere that was previously considered a safe place.”
According to a 2024 report from Immigration Equality, the National Immigrant Justice Center, and Human Rights First, a majority of LGBTQ+ and HIV-positive individuals in ICE and U.S. Customs and Border Protection custody received inadequate medical care or were denied care altogether – the consequences of which Rangel says can be “very, very
detrimental.”
“The other thing is that if they get deported back to their home countries, how do they get access to these medications?” he said. “Especially if they’re coming from very rural areas or places where reaching out for this kind of treatment is heavily stigmatized, even by their own medical providers.”
The extent of anti-LGBTQ+ violence in ICE and CBP detention extends beyond health care. The same study found that one-third of participants reported sexual abuse, physical assault, or sexual harassment, and almost all faced verbal abuse or threats of violence and assault.
For LGBTQ+ asylum seekers, new blockades to legal immigration may force them to stay in potentially dangerous environments. Legal immigration has been made more difficult through the
For those who are undocumented, Rangel suggests making a plan: know who will care for your kids if you are detained, have your legal documents easily accessible, and know your rights:
■ You have the right to remain silent, and do not have to speak with immigration officers
■ ICE must show a court-ordered document to enter your home or search belongings
■ You have the right to an attorney
■ Speak with an attorney before signing anything
Rangel urges U.S. citizens to vote with immigrants in mind and in the meantime, ask your friends how you can help and get them access to know your rights cards, immigration attorneys, and other vital resources.
To learn more about Latino LinQ, visit latinolinq.org.
Courtesy Smyrna Pride
Latino LinQ is working to expand beyond health care amid an influx of need following the election. (Photo via Facebook)
Open Hand expands, provides more meals to sick Atlantans
By Katie Burkholder
When Michael Edwards-Pruitt founded Open Hand in 1988, he wanted to cook and deliver meals to his friends who were dying from AIDS and, thus, too sick to cook for themselves.
The project began in the kitchen of a church with 14 friends, and in the 37 years since, it has grown into a nonprofit organization sending 5,000 made-from-
scratch meals a day to people living with serious chronic health conditions.
“We’re all about healthy here,” Open Hand CEO Matthew Pieper told Rough Draft. “Everything we do is through the ‘food as medicine’ lens. The meals that we cook have very few preservatives, very few canned goods.”
Meals are made from scratch at Open Hand by a team of skilled staff and around 60 volunteers every day and
designed by registered dieticians to meet the specific nutritional targets that individuals need. Along with delivering frozen, heat-and-eat meals across Atlanta, the organization also provides nutrition counseling to its clients with HIV, heart disease, diabetes, kidney failure, cancer, and other conditions.
“We’re going to teach you the kind of meals you need to eat and why, we’ll help explain [what] is going to help you absorb your medications or tolerate chemo better or tolerate radiation [for example],” Pieper said.
In October 2024, Open Hand announced the relocation and expansion of its headquarters to West Midtown, near Westside Reservoir Park. The new 43,000-square-foot facility, equipped with a 75 percent increase in storage, 100 percent increase in warehouse space, and seven more loading docks, allows for more efficient and expansive service to the people relying on the organization’s work.
“We’ve built a lot of capacity here,” Pieper said. “We won’t have to move for another 75 years.”
Along with making their day-to-day operations easier and more cost-efficient, Open Hand’s expansion has extended to the services they offer the community. They have introduced the Stephen Woods Workforce Development Program, a project aimed at empowering unemployed and underemployed individuals with the skills and resources necessary to thrive in the food service industry. They have also kicked off a cooking course with clients of Covenant House, an organization supporting young people facing homelessness that’s located across the street from Open Hand, to teach them how to grocery shop and cook nutritious meals at home.
According to data from the USDA, 13.5 percent of households in the U.S. were food-insecure, meaning they did not have access at all times to enough food for an active, healthy life for all members of the household. From 2019-2021, Georgia had an average of 4.2 million households facing food insecurity, the ninth worst rate in the country, and even among those who are food secure, data show that most American adults are not meeting nutritional recommendations; according to findings from a 2022 CDC study, 12.3 percent and 10 percent of adults met fruit and vegetable recommendations, respectively.
For those facing chronic health conditions, the support of Open Hand’s nutritional education and meal delivery is crucial – not just to their physical health, but their mental health as well.
“Food is love, and that’s biblical. In biblical times, when someone’s ill, what’s one way to show them that they’re cared about? Bring them a meal, cook them a meal,” Pieper said. “…That’s why [Edwards-Pruitt] founded Project Open Hand. He was horrified that so many people dying of AIDS were being ostracized, marginalized, thrown out of their homes, fired from their jobs, abandoned by their friends… He thought if there are no treatments for people with HIV, at least we can cook them a meal. A lot of individuals who are dealing with serious illness are also battling depression, and it really makes a difference to have someone come deliver a meal.”
Those not facing serious health issues can still benefit from Open Hand’s “food as medicine” philosophy, as well as support their work, by purchasing meals from Good Measure. You can get delicious and nutritious meals like turkey tetrazzini, chicken and asparagus risotto, and beef stir fry delivered to your door, with 100 percent of profits benefiting Open Hand.
To learn more about Open Hand, visit openhandatlanta.org.
With their new 43,000-square-foot facility, Open Hand can deliver more healthy meals to Atlantans with chronic health conditions. (Photo by Addison Hill Photography)
Grant funding helps support local Pride organizations across Georgia
By Katie Burkholder
In 2024, Atlanta Pride launched its Pride Across the Peach State initiative, a grant program focused on uplifting, supporting, and amplifying the efforts of local Pride organizations across Georgia.
Thirteen organizations – Atlanta Black Pride, Carrollton Rainbow, Compassionate Atlanta, Cultivate Savannah, Debra Smith Wellness Center and Colgay Pride, Macon Pride, Out On Film, Rome Georgia Pride, Savannah Pride Center, Smyrna is Fabulous, South Georgia Pride, Southern Fried Queer Pride, and Statesboro Pride –received a total of $50,000 to support their Pride events. On Feb. 5 and 6, grantees convened with Atlanta Pride to build off this support through networking and community building.
The event brought Pride organizations from across Georgia together for updates on LGBTQ+ legislation from Bentley Hudgins, the Georgia State Director of the Human Rights Campaign; a discussion on supporting local LGBTQ+ businesses with Andi Monroe, the Executive Director of OUT Georgia Business Alliance; a panel covering how to engage the media with Atlanta News First; small group discussions and networking opportunities; and more.
“We’re really proud of being able to support these grassroots organizations that are really at the heart of what Atlanta
Pride does – and what Pride is in general,”
Steven Igarashi-Ball, the Director of Communications and Community Engagement at Atlanta Pride, told Georgia Voice. “This is a unique opportunity for us to get everyone together… It’s an awesome opportunity for networking, for knowledge sharing, and for community building. I think right now that community building is something that is desperately needed.”
For younger organizations like Rome Pride, the support from Atlanta Pride has been “life-changing,” the organization’s Vice President Hill Sawyer told Georgia Voice. The rural Pride organization is only
in its fourth year of hosting an official festival.
“The Pride Across the Peach State grant helped us be able to continue our work and actually expand our week to meet more of the community,” Hill said. “From our experience, rural Pride has been life-saving for us and for the community in general. Without smaller cities doing something to show inclusivity and create safe spaces and affirming bodies and people, you may never make it out of your small town – and you may not make it in your small town.”
Rome Pride used last year’s grant funds
The storied and ongoing journey of ZAMI-NOBLA
REELING IN THE YEARS
Say “Women’s History Month” in Atlanta and echoes reverberate far outward. Select only one jewel to examine? I choose ZAMI- NOBLA (National Organization of Black Lesbians on Aging), the nation’s only organization focused on Black lesbians over the age of 50.
I recently sat down with Mary Anne Adams – Atlanta’s indefatigable community activist, social worker, public health researcher, and self-proclaimed “Black Lesbian Feminist Elder Justice Warrior.”
The name ZAMI derives from Audre Lorde’s “Zami: A New Spelling of My Name,” which coined the term “biomythography.” Adams co-founded Atlanta’s ZAMI organization in 1988 to empower and affirm the lives of lesbians of color through advocacy, support groups, socializing, and scholarship. Eventually, ZAMI annually provided $22,000 in scholarship funds for researchers and poets.
“I looked around and noticed I was not seeing older lesbians. Where were they disappearing to?” Adams wondered. “Well, where they once frequented, they didn’t feel welcome. They’d go into clubs, and other entertainment spaces, and get the harshest ‘what are you doing here?’ treatment. Because Atlanta’s LGBTQ+ community is so youth-oriented.”
Adams was concerned about isolation, loneliness, and mental and physical health issues for older Black lesbians, so in 2011, she started ZAMI-NOBLA – with aging front and center. The organization eventually grew nationwide.
“We have state chapters in North Carolina and Georgia,” Adams said. “We’re a 501(c)3 and have a national board, plus members-at-large. Our youngest is 40, our oldest 90, with quite a few in their 80s.”
Adams said the organization’s mission remains to “demolish barriers to wellness and address health disparities by educating and informing our community and by training providers in elder- and transaffirming care.”
Adams said there is so much ageism, particularly in the LGBTQ+ community.
“That [aging] is not sexy! Because to talk about age means you’ll die the next day,”
she said. “From the time you’re born, you see those commercials, ‘I’ve fallen, I can’t get up.’ So, people internalize. You don’t want to be that.”
She said that older people who helped build the LGBTQ+ movement cannot afford to be “thrown away,” because they carry so much knowledge.
“Elders need our young generations. We’re interdependent as marginalized communities. People are trying to kill us, every day,” Adams said. “Ain’t nobody
to expand their festival and relocate to a bigger park, allowing them to attract more people and therefore more support –exhibiting how the Pride Across the Peach State grant creates the foundation for further growth.
“A lot of these smaller organizations don’t have the same resources and face a lot greater challenges in the areas that they are – many are in more conservative, more rural areas, and so their existence is an act of protest and resistance, and we want to support them in that,” Igarashi-Ball said. “‘We need to be able to get together and give each other support, because you can’t pour from an empty cup.”
For older organizations like Savannah Pride Center, which celebrated the 25th anniversary of its festival last October, the funding allows the organization to grow in their entertainment offerings and become “an even more inclusive festival,” Charlton Claxton told Georgia Voice.
“The love and support we get by growing our community, it makes us able to withstand storms,” Claxton, an organizer with Savannah Pride Center, said. “The deeper our roots, the bigger storms we can withstand.”
The funds supporting Atlanta Pride’s Pride Across the Peach State grant come from community support; to become a sustaining donor, visit atlantapride.org.
going to save us but us. And ‘us’ means LGBTQ+.”.
She said it’s up to each generation to pass their stories on, to create safe, nurturing spaces for everyone. “We can keep people in their homes longer, we can have collaborative community accommodation,” Adams said. “We can ensure access to medical care, with nonoppressive providers who don’t turn people away because they’re queer.”
Adams said being an activist means doing what you can, where you are. “Say, calling up elected officials, making them accountable. Or calling up someone who’s sick, just talking to them. People sometimes simply need to hear another voice. Write your memoirs, write that message, make and do policy,” Adams said. “We’re building a queer house, and everybody needs to bring their different skills. We have everything we need. We just have to share resources, utilize them, continue to develop them, do trainings and educate.” ‘Without community’, as Audre Lorde says, ‘there is no liberation.’. And Sylvia Rivera? ‘Liberation is a collective process.’ Yes. I absolutely believe them. We’ve just got to get more people to believe.”
Atlanta Pride’s Pride Across the Peach State grantees meet on Feb. 5. (Photo courtesy of Atlanta Pride)
Mary Anne Adams
A lesson from Aesop
Aesop wrote a fable, “The Wind and The Sun,” over 2,000 years ago. In the story, the Wind claimed it was stronger than the Sun, so they held a contest to make a traveler remove his coat and scarf.
The Wind blew fiercely, but the man held on tighter. The Sun shone warmly, making the man remove them. The Wind, surprised, admitted it underestimated gentleness. The Sun suggested they work together, creating pleasant weather. The traveler, now comfortable, smiled and continued his journey, teaching that warmth and kindness can be more powerful than force.
I think this lesson is an important one in today’s political climate, where force and control are being prioritized over inclusion and respect.
NPR recently reported that NASA employees are being required to remove pronouns from emails and other applications following an executive
personalization.
This move aligns with broader federal efforts to restrict certain content. NASA employees were directed to remove terms such as “Indigenous people” and “women in leadership” from public websites. Additionally, NASA’s acting administrator had earlier announced the termination of all Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) programs, citing concerns over racial division and government spending.
Similar actions have been taken in federal health agencies, with pages and data removed from Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) websites, raising concerns among scientists about lost information. This aligns with the decision by the State Department to stop issuing passports with an “X” gender marker and no longer allowing transgender individuals to change gender markers between “M” and “F.” The “X” option was also removed from online application forms. These changes reflect a growing pattern of erasing identities that don’t conform to outdated, rigid standards.
order signed by President Trump. The order, titled “Defending Women from Gender Ideology and Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government,” calls for federal agencies to eliminate funding for gender ideology.
In response, NASA disabled the ability to add pronouns in Microsoft Outlook and Teams, stating that previously added pronouns would be automatically removed. The agency also mandated a standardized email signature for all employees, banning additional
Stand up and be the Sun. THAT’S
I have spent my whole life witness to those who would rather see women disappear – both in the straight and gay communities – as well as the continued effort to uphold a white-straightcis-maledominant status quo. However, I understand the moral of Aesop’s fable: soft persuasion can sometimes win over the mightiest power. These desperate conservatives who are trying to change the clocks to display the past will fail. We are here, clutching onto our authentic selves, while those in power bluster their way into what they think is a better future for our country. I say don’t get caught up in their cult-frenzied and toxic spew. Instead, remember what that ancient slave was trying to say – working together with warmth and kindness is what ultimately works. They want us fractured and discouraged, but what they need to see is that their ways don’t work. They will be left behind in their false nostalgia, while we move forward.
Aesop’s ‘The Wind and The Sun’ (Courtesy Library of Congress)
ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
Spring Arts Preview
By Collin Kelley and Katie Burkholder
It’s going to be a busy arts season this spring, with theatre world premieres, big concerts, and evocative visual arts. We’ve rounded up some of the best bets to add to your arts calendar. Be sure to check out our How Do You Atlanta? calendar (HowDoYouAtlanta.com) in partnership with WABE and SCAD for even more things to do.
THEATRE
Horizon Theatre
With plenty of twists and turns along the way, this tour-de-force starring renowned Atlanta actor Carolyn Cook is a taut, suspenseful mystery that packs a real emotional wallop. March 14-April 5. horizontheatre.com.
City Springs Theatre
Before she was music superstar Carole King, she was Carole Klein – a spunky, young songwriter from Brooklyn who wrote hit songs for the biggest acts in music. “Beautiful: The Carole King Musical” chronicles her rise as a songwriter. May 2-18. cityspringstheatre.com.
Alliance Theatre
Inspired by Frank Cottrell Boyce’s beloved novel and film, “Millions” is a hilarious and heartwarming new musical about two brothers, their newly widowed father, a train robber, and (possibly a miracle.) May 9-June 15. alliancetheatre.org.
Actor’s Express
In Suzan-Lori Parks’ Pulitzer Prize-winning “Topdog,” two Black brothers named
Lincoln and Booth cope with poverty, racism, work, women, and their troubled upbringings. March 20-April 19. actorsexpress.com.
Theatrical Outfit
The theatre will stage the world premiere of the hip-hop musical “Young John Lewis” Written by playwright Psalmayene 24 with all original music composed by Eugene H. Russell IV, this new hip-hop musical examines ten crucial years in the early life of the congressman and his journey from student activist to Civil Rights leader. June 4-29. theatricaloutfit. org.
Out Front Theatre
In “Immediate Family,” the Bryants’ prodigal son Jesse shows up for a family wedding with his new Swedish boyfriend and turns the family reunion into a family showdown. March 19-29. The theatre is
also staging the world premiere of “Trick! The Musical” based on the 90s romantic comedy film. May 1-17. outfronttheatre.com.
Synchronicity
Mitchell Anderon and Jennifer Levison team up for a staging of the classic A.R. Gurney two-character play “Love Letters” about a man and a woman who exchange letters, but not marriage vows, in a warm and complicated friendship lasting fifty years. April 4-6. synchrotheatre.com.
Fox Theatre
“Beautiful Noise: The Neil Diamond Musical” brings to life the man behind the music of such hits as “Sweet Caroline,” “America,” and “Forever in Blue Jeans.” March 11-16. foxtheatre.org.
MUSIC
Kylie Minogue
The Australian pop diva returns for her
first concert in Atlanta since 2011 on the “Tension” tour, riding high on her massive hit “Padam Padam” as well as a catalog of dance hits. State Farm Arena. April 11. ticketmaster.com.
Alison Moyet
A rare show at Center Stagbe by the British singer/songwriter who rose to prominence in the 80s as the lead singer of Yazoo before a successful solo career. She’s on a greatest hits tour, so expect some classic tunes. April 26. centerstage-atlanta.com.
Kendrick Lamar and SZA
Lamar and SZA team up for a post-Super Bowl tour, pulling into Mercedes Benz Stadium on April 29. ticketmaster.com.
Pearl Jam
90s grunge will never die as long as Eddie Vedder and co. are still crunching out the
Continued on page 16
‘Young John Lewis’ at Theatrical Outfit.
Jennifer Levison and Mitchell Anderson in ‘Love Letters’ at Synchronicity.
Beautiful Noise: The Neil Diamond Musical at The Fox.
Kylie Minogue at State Farm Arena.
hits. The band stops at State Farm Arena on May 1. ticketmaster.com.
Post Malone
The rapper and singer is on the road this spring and brings his tour to Mercedes-Benz Stadium on May 11. ticketmaster.com.
Jon Batiste
The singer and multi-instrumentalist brings his solo piano tour to the Fox Theatre on April 17. foxtheatre.org.
Atlanta Jazz Festival
Mark your calendars for Memorial Day Weekend, April 24-26, for the beloved festival at Piedmont Park. The lineup is expected to be announced soon. atljazzfest. com.
Atlanta Symphony Orchestra
The ASO has a packed spring lineup, including Robert Spano conducting an evening of Copland (March 20-22), Natalie Stutzmann conducting Beethoven’s Triple Concerto (April 3-4), and folk star Amos Lee with the ASO (April 25). aso.org.
VISUAL ART
Jackson Fine Art
Evocative photographer Sally Mann returns with a new series called “At Twelve:Portraits of Young Women,” a collective portrait of 12-year-olds on the verge of adulthood. Jackson Fine Arts. Through March 29. jacksonfineart.com.
High Museum
Ryoji Ikeda’s immersive video installation, “data-verse,” will be presented floor-toceiling onto the walls of the museum’s largest exhibition space, featuring visualizations of data extracted from mathematical theories and the study of quantum physics. March 7-Aug. 10. highmuseum.org.
MODA
Experience the transformative power of textile art in “Threads of Change,” a multi-artist exhibition that explores the intricate connection between humanity and the natural world. Through May 25. museumofdesign.org.
Chastain Park Arts Festival
Billy Idol and Joan Jett & The Blackhearts
The festival returns May 10-11 to Chastain with 175 artists displaying selling fine arts and crafts. chastainparkartsfestival.com.
A double dose of 80s nostalgia at Ameris Bank Amphitheatre on May 9. livenation. com.
Out on Film’s Spring Mini-Fest set for March 17-19
By Colin Kelley
Out On Film will bring five of 2025’s most anticipated queer films and documentaries to Landmark Midtown Art Cinema March 17-19 for Spring MiniFest’25.
Back for a third year, Spring Mini-Fest kicks off on Monday, March 17, at 7 p.m. with the joyful comedy-of-errors film “The Wedding Banquet,” starring Bowen Yang (“SNL,” “Wicked”) and Golden Globe Award winner Lily Gladstone (“Killers of the Flower Moon”).
Here’s a rundown of each of the films: The Wedding Banquet (March 17, 7 p.m.)
From director Andrew Ahn comes a joyful comedy of errors about a chosen family navigating cultural identity, queerness, and family expectations. Frustrated with his commitment-phobic boyfriend Chris and running out of time, Min makes a proposal: a greencard marriage with their friend Angela in exchange for her partner Lee’s expensive IVF. Elopement plans are upended, however, when Min’s grandmother surprises them with an extravagant Korean wedding banquet. Starring Bowen Yang, Lily Gladstone, Kelly Marie Tran, Han Gi-chan, Joan Chen, and Youn Yuh-jung, The Wedding Banquet is a poignant and
“The Wedding Banquet” is one of the films screening at this year’s Out on Film Spring Minifest. (Courtesy Out on Film)
heartfelt reminder that being part of a family means learning to both accept and forgive.
SALLY (March 18, 6:30 p.m.)
Sally Ride became the first American woman to blast off into space, but beneath her unflappable composure was a secret. Sally’s life partner, Tam O’Shaughnessy, reveals their hidden romance and the sacrifices that accompanied their 27 years together. Cristina Costantini’s rich portrait of Ride brings a fullness to her life that goes beyond the headlines of her trailblazing voyage past Earth’s atmosphere. SALLY skillfully weaves together the dual threads of Ride’s story:
the private romance she shared with her partner and the professional trajectory of her time in the space program that saw her contend with overt sexism and homophobia, prompting her secrecy.
An Unexpected Community (March 19, 6:30 p.m.)
In the early days of the pandemic, Andrea Meyerson, founder of Women On A Roll, launched an online platform for lesbians and queer women. She called it Women On The Net. Five nights a week, Meyerson provided a place for women all over the world to gather and share a wide range of entertaining programming. Feelings of isolation and loneliness were
replaced with joy, laughter, and new friends - all via Zoom. Featuring: Lily Tomlin, Kate Clinton, Meredith Baxter, Vickie Shaw, Suzanne Westenhoefer and more.
Speaking
Out (March 18, 8:30 p.m.)
Three gay men, Jose, Charlie, and Rigg, plagued by trauma of their own, undergo an emotional journey toward healing to become resilient, overcome their past, and finally speak out in director John Solis’ gripping, excellent documentary On Swift Horses (March 18, 8:30 p.m.)
Muriel and her husband Lee are beginning a bright new life in California when he returns from the Korean War. But their newfound stability is upended by the arrival of Lee’s charismatic brother, Julius, a wayward gambler with a secret past. A dangerous love triangle quickly forms. When Julius takes off in search of the young card cheat he’s fallen for, Muriel’s longing for something more propels her into a secret life of her own, gambling on racehorses and exploring a love she never dreamed possible. Directed by Daniel Minhan, the film stars Daisy Edgar-Jones, Jacob Elordi, Will Poulter, Diego Calva and Sasha Calle.
York Voices by Sandrine Lee
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Voices of Note present ‘This Is Me!’
By Dyana Bagby
The Atlanta Gay Men’s Chorus and the Atlanta Women’s Chorus are coming together on March 15 for “This Is Me!” The concert by the choruses, known collectively as Voices of Note, is their first joint performance in over a decade and will feature songs about body acceptance and diverse experiences of body image and selfesteem.
“This Is Me!” is a concert that will bring together more than 200 singers to create a bold statement — for the singers and the audience — that queer people are here, are proud, and their voices will not be silenced.
“When the Atlanta Women’s Chorus (AWC) and Atlanta Gay Men’s Chorus (AGMC) come together as Voices of Note, they perform more than a concert — it’s closer to musical theater and production,” said Felicia Seamón, director of development for Voices of Note. “We are looking at a transformative journey ... towards self love and acceptance.”
leaders, a free burlesque demonstration, health resources and more.
“The redefining of body image and challenging those societal norms, the songs and production absolutely will do that,” Seamón said. But it was also important to resources available from organizations that have and expertise to challenge those norms and provide information on how to do so, she said.
On March 14, the day before concert, the choruses will host “Every Body is Beautiful,” a free community event at Tea’z Social in Little Five Points. There will be a panel discussion with local body diversity
The concert will feature performances such as the AGMC’s rendition of “Creep” by Radiohead. The AWC will perform “Perfect” by P!nk and “What Was I Made For” from the “Barbie” soundtrack – songs that explore themes of self-acceptance, confidence, and finding one’s place in the world.
Tickets are available at voicesofnote.org.
The Atlanta Women’s Chorus joins the Atlanta Gay Men’s Chorus in March for their first joint concert in over a decade. (Photo courtesy Voices of Note)
