PHOTO BY JADE JOHNSON | THE SIGNAL
The Atlanta Pride Festival, now in its 44th year, is the largest pride festival in the Southeast.
I was amazed to meet people from all over the southeast who came to celebrate as one from Oct. 11 to Oct. 12 in Piedmont Park. Regardless of race, gender or sexuality, everyone who entered the gates of Piedmont Park arrived happily to express who they were without judgment.
As I walked through the park, an array of vendors was the first thing to be seen or maybe it was a group of men in pink tutus. Vendors sold their lemonades, Polish sausages and delicious funnel cakes, but so much more was to be seen on site.
Free things were being given out the entire day. Delta gave out free towels and luggage ID’s if you won a game tossing a velcro covered ball onto a map of major cities and volunteers behind booths earned me free snacks to eat as I continued my journey through the Atlanta Pride Festival.
One important element of the festival was the health awareness and services that were heavily advocated. Free and needle-less HIV tests were given and results were back within five minutes. Walgreens gave out free flu shots if you came by and asked. And free contraceptives in amounts of anyone’s choosing were left on tables and were open for the taking.
PHOTO BY JADE JOHNSON | THE SIGNAL
Pride brought some amazing acts for entertainment. The better known acts include Meghan Trainor who currently has the hit song “All About That Bass” commanding the radio and Lea Delaria who plays Big Boo from the very popular Netflix original show Orange is the New Black.
The ones to put this event together are members of the Atlanta Pride Committee. I was able to have a sit down with the board chair, Glen Paul Freedman and ask him a couple of important questions pertaining to the festivities.
Q: How long have you been a part of the board that over sees the Atlanta Pride Festivities?
Glen Paul Freedman: I have been on the board since 1995, so I’m one of the few people who’s actually been around for quite a while. I mean certainly not [since] day one like 41 years ago! But myself and probably 3 other people have been here for about 20 years.
Q: How does the Pride Festival affect the community?
GF: I think it affects it in different ways. Mostly I would say in all positive ways in that with the Atlanta Pride Festival is a festival that impacts individuals who are coming from all over the Southeast who are maybe just now coming out at an early age or maybe they’re actually in their senior years and it’s their first time being out at an event. I look at it as a safe environment for a human rights type of weekend.
Q: Is there a fundraiser element to the event? If so, who are the beneficiaries?
GF: There is a fund raising element. Atlanta Pride is a 501©3 federal nonprofit organization and the money that is raised from the event comes from parade entries, market stalls, income from the beverage sales as well as contributions from individuals who are coming to give money as well as corporate dollars. That’s what helps fund the organization and from that funding we give grants to non-profit groups throughout the year.
Q: What is the most impressive thing about the Atlanta Pride Festival?
GF: The people who come to the event, regardless of their gender or their sexual orientation. Every year seems to amaze me how more families are coming with children whether they be of same sex couples or heterosexual couples. Every year I think we move the needle more towards full equality.
Q: How does this event and the parade in Atlanta compare to the ones in other cities?
GF: Great question. It’s interesting that Atlanta Pride was one of the original groups after the Stonewall riots in 1969. Then it kind of started this whole equality type of thing first with gay pride, then gay lesbian pride, then gay lesbian bisexual transgender pride.
And Atlanta being one of the originals, what is different is since we’re in the southeast a lot people forget that there’s still not a lot of full equality. We’re not like New York or Chicago or San Francisco. They’re all probably a little bit larger with their parade, but we’re very unique because we have a two day festival as well as a full parade on Sunday. We also have the Trans March for transgender and we also have a Dykes March for the women, a commitment ceremony and we have a huge new thing which is a children’s program.
Q: How much negative attention does this event get?
GF: Good question! I would say over the years it’s gotten less. Unfortunately, it is sad to say there are still quite a few individuals and groups who really want to stop any type of equality or a civil rights-type movement and I say that regardless of people and their sexual orientation or gender or color. It’s just a group of people who want no one to have anything, but what they do and I would tell them to read the constitution. We do have people who protest, we do have some people who go through the park. We do not infringe on someone else’s rights. We ask them to do the same for us, to be respectful.
Q: The Atlanta Pride Festival is now in its 44th year. What plans are in place to keep it growing and to keep it relevant?
Another great question! Since we moved several years ago from June because it was so hot, to October, and it being National Coming Out Day, and the opportunity of the universities being in town, which is really important to us to branch out to younger people who are coming out.
What we do is a lot of community sponsoring programs. We are looking, future-wise, to doing more of a year round type of programming, and really looking hard on a human rights exhibit. We’re working with people from other counties. We’re branching out, so we want to be more of what the community wants us to be, within reason.
Pride not only brings people together under one setting unified, but it makes a huge impact, specifically on students.
Students Take on Pride Weekend
“Pride was awesome! There is so much support and love there it just makes me feel at home, and that’s the best feeling anyone can experience,” said Matt Toro, a Georgia State sophomore and geology major. “Its amazing being able to be comfortable in your own skin around people just like you. I can’t wait to go back next year.”
Even first timer, Layla Aden, Georgia State student and finance major, said she was glad to see the happy faces of children with their same sex parents and how open and free everyone was.
“I had so much fun at my first Atlanta Pride Festival. There were so many smiles on everyone’s faces,” she said. “The most memorable moment was seeing all the children playing with their same sex parents wearing t-shirts that said ‘I love my mommies’ and ‘I love my daddies.”
“I had never experienced an open group of people like this where judgement and discrimination seemed to not exist,” Aden continued. “It made me wish the rest of the world were like this.”
