The Atlanta Pride Committee is kicking off the 2010 Pride season by announcing its events for Stonewall Week. Held from June 19-26, Stonewall Week centers on the anniversary of the infamous Stonewall raid and riots which took place in New York in late June 1969.

Atlanta Pride announces Stonewall Week events

For many years, the Atlanta Pride festival was held in Piedmont Park at the end of June, but large-scale festival restrictions at the park forced the event to change the date to fall in 2009. This year’s Pride will take place Oct. 8-9, while the APC will honor the traditional date by hosting or sponsoring a series of community events throughout the end of June.

“While our festival is now held in October, it is important to Atlanta Pride to commemorate the Stonewall Riots through events that build community,” Atlanta Pride Executive Director JP Sheffield said in a press release issued today.

“If we look at where the movement has taken us since Stonewall, we can see the growth of a variety of causes championed by the queer community,” he said.

Stonewall Week kicks off June 19 with the 13th Annual East Point Possums show, one of the largest annual drag shows in Atlanta. The event will benefit the APC as well as the Atlanta Lesbian Health Initiative. This year’s drag line-up will include The East Point Possums, Gigi Monroe, Ginny Tonic, Alexandria Martin and others. The full line-up is slated to be released later this month.

The Out & OutLoud StoryCorps, an oral history project, will take place on June 23 at Radial Café from 7-9 p.m. StoryCorps collects oral history from the LGBT community. To date, the organization has collected more than 50,000 life stories from family and friends of LGBT people.

The following night (June 24), “Evening for Equality” an annual fundraiser for Georgia Equality, will take place at the Ventanas atop the Hilton Garden Inn. A silent auction and this year’s Equality Awards will take place starting at 6:30 p.m. 2010 honorees include Ken Britt, Fulton County Commissioner Nancy Boxill, Maru Gonzalez, Austin Lauferweiler and State Representative Mike Jacobs.

Out on Film will screen “Stonewall Uprising” on June 25 at the Midtown Art Cinema. Told by those in attendance of the 1969 Stonewall Inn raid, including patrons and police, the film looks at the political and social climate that lead to the raid.

The following afternoon the Sylvia Rivera Stonewall Community brunch will take place at Central Presbyterian Church. The event will be co-produced by Juxtaposed Center for Transformation, Transgender Individuals Living Their Truth (TILTT), and Atlanta Pride and will benefit the 2010 Trans Day of Remembrance and 2011 Rustin / Lorde Community Breakfast. The brunch will highlight the transgender community’s involvement in the Stonewall Riots and highlight trans people who have been at the forefront of the LGBT-rights movement.

Stonewall week concludes with “Be Visible, Make a Statement” rally and community art project at the State Capitol. Pride photographers will be on-hand to take pictures of attendees which will then be passed on to local artists and turned into a work of art that will be displayed at the 2010 festival. Participants are encouraged to bring their own materials.

For more information, please visit www.atlantapride.org.

06/19/10
The East Point Possums Show
8 -11 p.m.
Downtown East Point, On the Commons across from City Hall

06/23/10
Out and OutLoud: Stories of Love and Community
7-9 p.m.
Radial Café, 1530 Dekalb Avenue NE, Atlanta

06/24/10
Evening for Equality
6:30 p.m.
Hilton Garden Inn, 275 Baker Street, Atlanta

06/25/10
Out on Film Screening: “Stonewall Uprising”
Tentative times 7 & 9 p.m.
Midtown Art Cinema, 931 Monroe Drive, Atlanta

06/26/10
Sylvia Rivera Stonewall Community Brunch
11:45 a.m. – 1:45 p.m.
Central Presbyterian Church, 201 Washington Street SW, Atlanta

06/26/10
“Be Visible, Make a Statement” Rally & Community Photo Shoot
2-3:30 p.m.
State Capitol, 100 Washington Street SW, Atlanta