Mark Sweatman hopes to change lives with a 120-mile walk from Atlanta to Birmingham, a feat he would have never thought of undertaking were his life not forever changed by a Sunday stroll through Piedmont Park.
“I’m more active now as an amputee than I was before I lost my leg, because I don’t take things for granted as much,” says Sweatman, a gay Midtown resident whose left leg was amputated below the knee in January 2010. “I know how valuable mobility is, how precious it is to be able to get up, be active and do things.”
Lost-n-Found Youth hopes to raise $1 million by October 2014 to meet the needs of hundreds of Atlanta homeless LGBT youth seeking permanent housing.
The capital campaign was announced May 17 at Jungle. The club’s dance floor, typically filled with shirtless men dancing to popular DJs, was instead covered with trash, makeshift shelters and a snack table with garbage can lids used to hold the food as a way to show attendees how homeless people live.
Along one wall were large pieces of cardboard explaining the needs to meet in the next year to help more LGBT homeless. Those needs include opening a thrift store that would bring in a constant source of income, a drop in center and, eventually, a new transitional living center.
Now in its 12th year, Atlanta Cotillion is turning its old fundraising format on its crown.
The group has ditched the drag debutantes, tiaras and season-ending black-tie ball in favor of year-round team fundraising and a more inclusive annual bash to raise money for its longtime beneficiary, AID Atlanta.
In January 2013, event chair Darrell Burke, former chair John McGuirk and several past debs decided on an all-new format that kicks off with the group's "Cirque de Nuit," an avant-garde ball June 8 in the Historic Hangar of the Delta Heritage Museum.
The sports world is still waiting for the first out professional gay male athlete, despite much poking and prodding from gay and lesbian sports fans. Women’s professional sports have featured several openly lesbian and bisexual athletes, from soccer star Megan Rapinoe to women’s basketball icon Sheryl Swoopes.
But gay men, especially in the country’s five largest sporting leagues — National Basketball Association, Major League Baseball, National Football League, Major League Soccer and National Hockey League — have been reluctant to come out of the closet during their careers. Sure, there are some high-profile allies, like NFL players Chris Kluwe and Brandon Ayanbadejo, but we’re still waiting for an open, active professional male athlete.
The Human Rights Campaign hopes to change the environment in which players can come out with a new campaign called Athletes for Equality, which engages LGBT and straight athletes while raising money for the national LGBT rights organization.
The producers behind “Out of Order,” an independent documentary feature film which follows “three queer members of the Presbyterian Church (USA)” as they work toward LGBT acceptance, have created an indiegogo fundraising campaign to help finance the completion of their project.
The drive has already raised $3,608 of the $20,000 goal and ends April 10.
From the film's website: