Patrick Saunders, Editor of Georgia Voice

Patrick Saunders: Retail therapy and showing our power

When life is getting you down — or maybe you’re worn out from so many acts of resistance in a week — sometimes a little retail therapy can do you good.

And with that, we present our 2017 Holiday Gift Guide.

The staff has been scouring the city for weeks now to find you the best gifts in a number of different price ranges and areas of interest.
We’ve got two pages of fashion finds, a page of super queer stocking stuffers, two pages of enticing tech toys, and pages for scents and sensations to help you chill. Oh and we’ve got the kiddos — and furkiddos — covered, two full pages of home décor delights, a page of jewelry for those that like to sparkle, a page of random gifts for your fabulous friends and — just because — a page of gifts featuring unicorns and mermaids.

Now, I agree with those of you out there that think the holidays have gotten too commercialized. That’s been the case for quite some time now, and the annual scenes of Walmart stampedes prove that some of us have a discounted TV or washer-dryer just a little too high up on our priorities list.

But part of us doing this guide is to feature not only some great gifts, but to feature pro-LGBT businesses and, whenever possible, local ones as well. The power of the LGBT dollar is strong, and this can be your guide to flex it by supporting the businesses that support us.

A report from the National Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce (NGLCC) estimates that the LGBT community contributes over $1.7 trillion to the U.S. economy. We’re also rock stars when it comes to owning our own businesses. In 2015, NGLCC-certified LGBT-owned businesses contributed over $1.15 billion to the U.S. economy. And if all of the estimated 1.4 million LGBT businesses in America are considered, that figure jumps to nearly $2 trillion.

So pat yourselves on the back, and maybe get yourself something nice while you’re at it.

Elsewhere in the issue we’ve got election results from a potentially historic day. Keep in mind that we held off our printer as long as we could before we had to send this issue to press Tuesday evening, so we may not have all results you were looking for. We posted results in our online coverage all that evening and next day so make sure to check us out there.

We also bring you the story of transgender woman from Guatemala who was housed at a men’s detention center here in Georgia. Needless to say, that was not a safe situation for her, but being sent back home would have been even worse. Read about how the Southern Poverty Law Center helped her get asylum in the U.S.

In our A&E section, we’ve got a revealing interview with “A Bad Moms Christmas” stars Mila Kunis and Kristen Bell, plus a review of the critically-acclaimed new film “BPM,” a review of a tapas restaurant at Krog Street Market and your Best Bets for events to hit up over the next two weeks.

Enjoy that, and all of our columnists as well, and have a safe and happy holidays.