Note: Events are subject to change after press time. For costs and other details, visit venue websites. Thursday, Oct. 6...
Organizers of the second annual Marietta Rainbow Festival are promising a bigger and better Pride celebration this year in an expanded space that will include games, live entertainment, food vendors as well as booths set up for education and information about local organizations. There will also be plenty of space for fun for the kids.
Johnathon Murphy, managing partner of LeBuzz in Marietta and a main organizer of the event slated for July 29-30, says the OTP Pride celebration this year incorporates LeBuzz's new space in the former space of El Mariachi and the neighboring space of Enigma.
"We went from a 6,000 square space and added 14,000 square feet, so now we have about 20,000 square feet to hold the festival this year," Murphy said.
Organizers promise a bigger and better celebration in 2011
When syndicated conservative columnist Dick Yarbrough wrote an anti-gay rant last week in the Marietta Daily Journal mocking California's law requiring LGBT history be taught in schools, gay readers decided to respond in kind.
Two things for sure — some don't like being called "Gay Blade" or take kindly to hoop skirts.
Yarbrough wrote in his July 13 column about a phone conversation he had with this fictional character he called "Gay Blade," a flaming liberal, who warned him that soon Georgia's public schools would have to teach kids about historical LGBT figures. Because, you see, California is now doing it. Of course, there's a group of social conservatives trying to get the law repealed.
Yarbrough retorted to his fictional "friend" this was ridiculous because the state's leaders have more important priorities.
"Besides, we have a lot of pride in Georgia's history and the last thing we need to know is that some guy we named a county for used to run around at night in hoop skirts," Yarbrough wrote.
Today's offering from suburban newspaper columnist Dick Yarbrough mocks California's law requiring that LGBT history be taught in schools, envisioning a conversation between Yarbrough and a character he calls "Gay Blade, the world's flaming liberal."
Atlanta Pride doesn't take place until October, but at least three Georgia cities will host gay pride celebrations on the traditional last weekend in June. The Marietta Rainbow Festival is set for June 24-25, while Augusta Pride and East Side Pride take place June 25.
The Marietta festival is again hosted by the North Georgia Rainbow Coalition and takes place indoors at the New LeBuzz, Marietta's sole gay bar. The club has a new, larger home at 585 Franklin Road SE in Marietta, and the festival will be held there and at Enigma, next door.
Hours are 5 p.m. to 3 a.m. on Friday, June 24, and 1 p.m. to 3 a.m. on Saturday, June 25. Daytime events are family-friendly and open to everyone; events after 10 p.m. are aimed at adults ages 18 and over, according to Johnathon Murphy, a festival organizer and leader of LeBuzz.
Creative Loafing has an excellent story this week on the Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s recent change in editorial tone in a bid to win over more readers. CL highlights the AJC’s move north to Dunwoody and points out, in great detail, the paper’s recent lack of coverage of the inner-city as it looks to win over more conservative OTP readers.
One section in particular emphasizes the AJC’s lack of coverage of this year’s Atlanta Pride festival that we covered back in October.
I blasted the AJC then for failing to include any mention of Atlanta Pride in the print edition. The AJC’s website did have an online photo gallery from the parade, but at only eight images, it was paltry at best.
There's plenty to do tonight to get in the mood for this weekend's Atlanta Pride festival
Note: Events are subject to change after press time. For costs and other details, visit venue websites, or visit www.thegavoice.com and click “calendar.”
State of Black Gay America Summit takes stock; workshops empower; and stars shine at tonight’s events
As Black Gay Pride swings into full force this weekend, the memory of Durand Robinson will be everywhere. The man who many described as selfless and giving will be honored at parties and events during the weekend, which attracts tens of thousands of people to Atlanta from across the nation and around the world.
Robinson, 50, was shot and killed in the early morning hours of Aug. 25 in southwest Atlanta. The Atlanta Police Department continues to seek suspects and a motive as of press time.