Why Queer Hubs Like Atlanta Matter Now More Than Ever
As conservative lawmakers and activists target LGBTQ+ communities nationwide, queer hubs like Atlanta are more critical than ever. The city’s history in Pride’s timeline may often be overlooked, but for the people in the Southeast United States, Atlanta’s 1969 Lonesome Cowboys raid was their Stonewall; this city is their San Francisco, their Chicago, their West Village. Because in Atlanta, “y’all” means “all.”
“Contrary to popular belief, Atlanta is such a queer mecca,” said Taylor Alxndr, the legendary Atlanta drag queen and head of the drag family House of Alxndr. “You are constantly surrounded by queer and trans people, living outwardly, and then their truth. You’re also surrounded by so much history that can’t be ignored.”
This Pride Month, I’m paying tribute to the city I grew up in—to its history and roots in the earliest days of the movement for LGBTQ+ rights, and, in particular, how much Atlanta has long embraced drag culture. I photographed Alxndr and other local queens from Atlanta around the ongoing gentrification in Midtown.
“I feel very fortunate to have come into myself in this wonderful city,” Alxndr said. “It keeps me on my toes and always thinking of what’s next and how we can be even more inclusive and progressive.”
If you walk another 100 yards from where Dotte Com stands on the southeast corner of 10th Street and Piedmont Avenue in Atlanta’s “gayborhood,” you’ll be in Piedmont Park. The more than 200-acre park has been home to the city’s Pride festival since 1970, and it’s held in October to coincide with National Coming Out Day.
Molly Alxndr poses in front of a Tulum-centric Mexican restaurant, which used to house Outwrite Bookstore and Coffeehouse, an LGBTQ-owned and -themed bookstore and cafe. Outwrite closed in 2012.
Taylor Alxndr is also the executive director and co-founder of Southern Fried Queer Pride, a community arts organization providing spaces centering LGBTQ+ folks in the South.
Alxndr uses drag and artistry to “create intentional spaces for folks across identities.”
Molly Alxndr, Taylor Alxndr, Dotte Com, and JayBella Banks at one of the rainbow crosswalks, which was installed in 2015 in Midtown.
JayBella Banks in the parking lot of Blake’s on the Park, a gay bar that’s been a local institution for over 35 years.
