Atlanta Pride again comes out to Piedmont Park this year Oct. 13-14, making it the largest event to coincide with National Coming Out Day — and hoping to top record crowds from 2011.
"The Atlanta Pride Festival is currently the largest event in the United State to coincide with National Coming Out Day, which is observed on Oct. 11. Other [local] established community events that take place around the same timeframe include The Health Initiative’s Garden Party, Out on Film and the Atlanta AIDS Walk," says a press release from the Atlanta Pride Committee.
Despite protests from PETA's leadership last year about holding Atlanta Pride's official kick-off party at the Georgia Aquarium, the party will not be moving venues, say Pride organizers. In 2011, Dan Matthews, senior vice president of PETA, wrote in a Huffington Post blog that he believed the loud music and large crowds at the aquarium tortured the animals. Georgia Aquarium officials insisted no harm came to the animals.