For the fourth consecutive year, Atlanta Pride will be held in Piedmont Park in October to coincide with National Coming Out Day.
This year’s festival will be held Oct. 12-13. National Coming Out Day is Friday, Oct. 11, the night of the Pride kick-off party at the Georgia Aquarium, which also returns for 2013 despite criticism from some animal activists last year.
"Atlanta Pride is excited to announce our dates for the 43rd Annual Atlanta Pride Festival. Planning for the 2013 festival began six months ago and we are, of course, always thrilled to return to Piedmont Park,” said Buck Cooke, Atlanta Pride executive director, in a press release today.
"National Coming Out Day continues to be a great fit for our festival and we are excited to have the Official Kick-off Party at the Georgia Aquarium occur on this very important date,” Cooke said.
October is LGBT History Month. The month of observance was first organized in 1994 by high school teacher Rodney Wilson to coincide with National Coming Out Day (Oct. 11) and was meant to highlight the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender rights movement.
In 2006, the Equality Forum began promoting the annual commemoration by featuring a different LGBT icon each day.
“This is the 7th anniversary of LGBT History Month. There are a total of 217 Icons that inspire pride in our heroes and our impressive national and international accomplishments,” said Malcolm Lazin, Equality Forum executive director, in a statement.