Thousands pack Piedmont Park for Black Gay Pride’s first Pure Heat Community Festival
The sweltering Atlanta heat on Sunday made the name of the first Pure Heat Community Festival quite fitting, but did not dissuade thousands of Black Gay Pride attendees from enjoying a day of live entertainment and celebrating in Piedmont Park.
Organized by Traxx Girls and the Vision Community Foundation, a nonprofit organization of Vision Church, the first such fest was deemed a success by nearly all in attendance, especially by the community partner organization. The Vision Community Foundation does outreach to homeless people, organizes HIV testing, and provides youth mentorship among other community projects.
State of Black Gay America Summit seeks to inspire change through ‘collective power’
The sixth annual State of Black Gay America Summit over Labor Day weekend covered a broad range of topics over the course of the day on Sept. 1 — from HIV prevention medicines and the need for volunteers in vaccine research to the specifics of the Affordable Care Act to how much money does it cost to run an effective campaign in Atlanta and Georgia.
Keynote speaker Je-Shawna Wholley, a recent Spelman graduate who now lives in Washington, D.C., and is a senior fellow at the National Black Justice Coalition, tackled the subject of this year’s theme at the summit at the Melia Hotel. “Embracing Our Collective Power to Influence Change” must be made by building coalitions and being sincere in the work people do, Wholley said.
[Photos] 2012 Black Gay Pride in pictures
The 2012 Black Gay Pride festival was held in Atlanta over Labor Day Weekend and featured dozens of events, from afternoon pool parties to the annual State of Black Gay America Summit. GA Voice was on-hand throughout the weekend and participated in the first-ever Pure Heat Community Festival, held Sunday, Sept. 2 in Atlanta’s Piedmont Park.
Victims help catch suspects who robbed them after leaving Blake’s
Two men who were robbed at gunpoint Tuesday night after leaving Blake’s on the Park helped police catch their alleged assailants.
Fabian Gutierrez and Michael Davis were robbed at the corner off 10th Street and Charles Allen Drive as they walked to Gutierrez’ apartment from Blake’s on the Park, according to an Atlanta Police Department report.