To get everyone ready and excited for Pride, we’ve searched far and wide for 15 facts about the Atlanta Pride movement. We hope you find something helpful and informative. For those interested in more information about Atlanta Pride, its website has an expansive history of the movement and its progression.
Atlanta Pride began in 1970. It was the one-year anniversary of the New York City Stonewall Riots.
The first Pride event wasn’t a festival or march. Instead, activists handed out flyers.
The first Pride march in Atlanta was in 1971 and held by the
Georgia Gay Liberation Front. It went from Peachtree Street to
Piedmont Park.
In 1973, activists at the Pride rally in Piedmont Park wore
paper bags over their heads. The sacks conveyed the message,
“Do You Know Who is Under Here?”
1976, six years into the Atlanta Pride movement, Mayor
Maynard Jackson declared June 26 Gay Pride Day.
Four buses of Atlantan activists attended the
1979 Gay Pride march on Washington.
In 1991, attendance jumped from 5,000 to over
20,000 attendees at the Atlanta Pride festival.
In 1996, the year of the Atlanta Olympics,
over 100,000 were counted over Pride weekend.
That same year, the Indigo Girls performed
for Atlanta Pride, and Mrs. Coretta Scott King spoke.
In 1997, Cathy Woolard was elected the first
openly gay official in the city of Atlanta.
In 2000, the B-52s performed at Atlanta Pride.
In 2008, a drought forced Pride to a different
date and out of Piedmont Park.
In 2009, the festival returned to
Piedmont and moved to October.
The Trans March joined the Pride Festival that same year.
In 2017, over 300,000 people attended Atlanta Pride Festival.
I hope to see you all at Pride this weekend.