Yesterday was National Marriage Equality Day, an effort launched by Atlanta-based Equally Wed magazine to encourage consumers to patronize businesses that support same-sex marriage rights. The response, originally focused on Starbucks but then expanded, is intended to counter Chick-fil-A and its anti-gay leadership in the wake of CEO Dan Cathy's recent interview where he stated his chicken chain was “guilty as charged” when it came to opposing marriage equality.
The event has garnered national media attention and almost 35,000 checked on Facebook that they planned to participate.
Equally Wed is also sponsoring a photo contest for the best pictures of those participating in National Marriage Equality Day.
Florida Lt. Gov. Jennifer Carroll made headlines after being caught in a sexually compromising situation with a female travel aide and retorted to reporters asking about the accusation that, "Black women who look like me don't engage in relationships like that."
Atlanta singer and activist Doria Roberts took to Twitter to voice her anger and began a trending hashtag #thisiswhatalesbianlookslike. She also wrote an open letter to Carroll for Huffington Post.
Now, a national petition drive has been started to demand Carroll apologize for her remark by Nadine Smith, executive director of Equality Florida.
Many of our readers know Doria Roberts as a local legend with her music and activism, as well as the good food she and her wife, Calavino Donati, cook up at their East Atlanta bodega, Urban Cannibals.
But many may not realize that Doria Roberts likes Twitter (@doriaroberts). Well, when Florida Lt. Gov. Jennifer Carroll was allegedly caught in a "compromising position" with a female travel aide, Carroll was beside herself and had this defense: "Usually black women that look like me don't engage in relationships like that."
Lesbian activist, singer and bodega business owner Doria Roberts will sing at a benefit concert at First Existentialist Congregation on Saturday to help raise funds for Charis Circle, the nonprofit arm of Charis Books & More.
An update on plans for the Charis Feminist Center and a new cornerstone campaign for the center are expected to be announced at the fundraiser that begins at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $15 each or $25 per couple and will be available at the door and also at Charis located in Little Five Points.
In the intimate setting of Urban Cannibals Bodega & Bites in East Atlanta Village, Doria Roberts sang a couple of songs from her new CD, “Black Eyed Susan,” which will be released Sept. 20.
Roberts, 40, a longtime Atlanta artist and activist, got the crowd involved, clapping hands, as she belted out songs from the new album that honors one of her friends, mentors and heroes — Odetta.
Odetta, a foremother of the Civil Rights folk music movement and one of Bob Dylan’s major influences, touched Roberts’ life in many ways in the times they played together in 2003 and when she toured with Odetta and the Holmes Brothers a few years later.