The 1969 Stonewall Riots were rooted in naughtiness: gay men and women partying at the Stonewall Inn during a time when it was forbidden for homosexuals to gather in public, and their rowdy defiance when New York police attempted to break up their party by hauling people off to jail.
So it’s fitting that one of the marquee events of Atlanta’s Stonewall Month – the East Point Possums drag show – also originated with a little mischief.
“When I first went to East Point [city officials] for the permits, I billed it as a Shakespearean variety show,” said Rick Westbrook, aka Sister Rapture Divine Cox, who helps organize the annual drag extravaganza.
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Former Atlanta drag personality Pasha Nicole, whose legal name is Christopher Lynch, pleaded guilty today to sexual exploitation of children and other charges before a Douglas County Superior Court judge.
Douglas County Assistant District Attorney Rachel Ackley today said Lynch pleaded guilty to one count of pimping, one count of pandering by compulsion and two counts of sexual exploitation of children.
Lynch was sentenced to 30 years to serve 14 in prison, Ackley added.
In a tearful and emotional plea before the judge, Lynch said what happened was a big mistake.
Atlanta drag personality Pasha Nicole, whose legal name is Christopher Lynch, will appear before a Douglas County Superior Court judge on Wednesday to face charges of human trafficking,
Lynch was arrested one year ago — March 4, 2011 — and charged with trafficking minors for sex.
Also arrested was gay bar BJ Roosters' former go-go dancer Stephen Lemery. Lemery remains in the Douglas County Sheriff's jail and his case is in a "holding pattern" right now, said assistant DA Rachel Ackley today. Lynch also remains in jail; both were denied bond.
Ackley said today she expects Lynch to plead guilty, but is still in negotiation to what exact charges.
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While possums are considered nocturnal creatures and prefer hiding in trees and scurrying under your porch looking for scraps to eat, the East Point Possums like to strut their stuff for all to see on a stage under the setting sun — and they have no fear of anyone taking a broom to try to swat them out of their yard.
At least we don’t think so.
For 14 years, the three men who now make up the East Point Possums — Rick Westbrook (a.k.a. Shennita Lott), John Jeffrey (a.k.a. Prissy Cilla) and Chesley Thurman (a.k.a. Dina Daintymouth) — have been performing what they readily call “good work through bad drag.”
But what has become one of the largest drag shows in the Southeast first began on July 4, 1998, in the backyard of a resident of East Point, Ga., located just outside Atlanta.