The Atlanta Eagle raid and lawsuit. The closure of Outwrite bookstore. The legalization of marriage equality. A Trump presidency and subsequent re-election. Over hundreds of issues and thousands of pages, Georgia Voice has been there for it all. Now, after 15 years of diligently serving Atlanta’s LGBTQ community, Georgia Voice is entering a new and exciting chapter.
On December 3, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution announced the acquisition of Georgia Voice by Rough Draft Atlanta, helmed by owner and publisher Keith Pepper. Beginning in January, Georgia Voice will publish on Rough Draft’s website, launch a weekly newsletter edited by former Georgia Voice editor Dyana Bagby, and shift to a monthly print edition edited by longtime Atlanta Intown editor Collin Kelley.
“It’s critical that the Voice continues for the LGBTQ community,” Pepper told the AJC. “Having an outlet that is edited and curated by folks in the community gives space for [different] voices, especially in the wake of the last presidential campaign and results of the election.
“Georgia Voice will offer news, opinion, and features for and about the LGBTQ+ community in the state,” Kelley wrote about the future of Georgia Voice. “We’re not going to shy away from the politics and decisions being made at both a state and national level that will affect the readers who depend on us. We will welcome letters and editorials to express a wide range of opinions and views in the Voice’s pages.”
In the midst of this transition into a new era of local LGBTQ journalism, we’re celebrating the last 15 years of stories, writers, columns, and people who have made this publication possible.
The Southern Voice
It’s impossible to embark on the history of Georgia Voice without discussing its predecessor, Southern Voice, a weekly 16-page newspaper founded by Chris Cash in 1988.
“Chris Cash taught me and others the importance of bringing our authentic selves into our reporting and the inherent value of queer people covering our own communities,” LGBTQ journalist Rich Eldredge wrote in a love letter to Georgia Voice for Atlanta Magazine. “In addition to the essential LGBTQ+ coverage it’s provided now for 35 years, that’s the Voice’s true legacy.”
In 2022, Cash was inducted into the LGBTQ Journalists Hall of Fame for her work with Southern Voice. Cash owned the publication until selling to Window Media in 1997. Twelve years later, Window Media declared bankruptcy — and from the ashes of SoVo rose Georgia Voice.
Georgia Voice was founded by Cash, Laura Douglas-Brown — the editor of SoVo at the time of its dissolution — and Tim Boyd. Boyd was in sales at SoVo during the ‘90s and grew to become Georgia Voice’s publisher and managing partner, eventually orchestrating the sale to Rough Draft. Since its foundation, Georgia Voice has been home to seven different editors, 13 regular columnists, and over 200 writers and contributors.
Editors of Georgia Voice
Laura Douglas-Brown
As the editor of Southern Voice from 2006 to 2009 and a co-founder of Georgia Voice, Douglas-Brown was the editor behind Georgia Voice’s debut issue, included in which were stories covering the federal lawsuit over the Atlanta Eagle raid in 2009; the election of the second openly gay person to the Georgia General Assembly, Simone Bell; and the state-wide tour of the Atlanta Gay Men’s Chorus.
Today, Douglas-Brown is the Assistant Vice President for Content and Brand Story at Emory University.
Dyana Bagby
Bagby took over for Douglas-Brown in 2013 and stayed on as editor until 2015. Some major stories covered during her tenure included the historic same-sex marriage cases heard by the Supreme Court and the subsequent fall of Georgia’s same-sex marriage ban.
“The Georgia Voice ensures LGBTQ stories are shared that challenge discrimination and advance acceptance of marginalized people,” Bagby told Georgia Voice. “It’s like a town hall where we can come together and see each other as we are. We deal with heartbreak sometimes, but we also celebrate each other and our victories. To me, the Georgia Voice is a history book, a love letter, a place to go to know we are not alone. It’s where we can go to find others to protest attacks on our communities and to dance with in a safe space with the best DJs, to support queer businesses, and to read about people and organizations that uplift us.”
Today, Bagby is a staff writer at Rough Draft Atlanta and will be the editor of the Georgia Voice newsletter.
Darian Aaron
Aaron had a brief but impactful stint as editor from 2015 to 2016, leading Georgia Voice with stories like former Governor Nathan Deal’s veto of an anti-LGBTQ “religious freedom” bill and South Georgia teen Mars Hallman leading the charge for creating a Gay-Straight Alliance at their high school.
Today, Aaron is the Director of Local News: U.S. South at GLAAD.
Patrick Saunders
After two years as deputy editor, Saunders led Georgia Voice from 2016 to 2018 — something he remembers as “an honor.”
“Being a part of Georgia Voice was inspiring because we got to be embedded in Atlanta’s LGBTQ community, and to report on everything about it — even when that reporting made some people angry,” Saunders told Georgia Voice. “We loved the community enough to tell all of its stories. It’s so important for Georgia Voice to continue on, especially as LGBTQ media outlets continue to fade away and attacks on us and our community’s rights escalate. Tim deserves a ton of credit for the sacrifices he’s made to keep things on track and thriving these last 15 years. I’m so happy he’s getting a chance to hand the reins over, and to do it to a team like Rough Draft, who I’m confident will carry things on with the same passion and boldness for the next 15 and beyond.”
After his time with Georgia Voice, Saunders spent time as the editor of the local LGBTQ publication Project Q before its hiatus in 2022. Today, Saunders is the supervising Digital News Editor at WABE.
Berlin Sylvestre
Sylvestre took over as editor from 2018 to 2019. During her time at Georgia Voice, she won the NLGJA Association of LGBTQ Journalists award for Excellence in Feature Writing, Non-Daily for her article exploring the realities of Alzheimer’s caretaking, entitled “The Thief of Self.”
Today, Sylvestre is working as a media and intelligence analyst for Bulletin Intelligence and Cision.
Patrick Colson-Price
Colson-Price led the Georgia Voice editorial team until the COVID-19 pandemic. He interviewed former Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms, Stacey Abrams, Billy Porter, Adam Rippon, Kim Petras, and Anjelica Ross.
Today, Colson-Price is a video producer at Gannett.
Katie Burkholder
I have been honored to have been a part of the Georgia Voice team since 2018, serving as editor from 2020 to 2024. Over the last six years, I have written over 1,500 stories, some of my most memorable honoring the lives of Cliff Bostock, Sheila Merritt, Mr. Charlie Brown (who I also got the honor of interviewing before his death) as well as interviewing incredible people like Melissa Etheridge, Alyssa Edwards, Jon Ossoff, and Chris Cash.
I am honored to continue contributing to Georgia Voice as Collin Kelley takes the reins as editor in the new year.
Longtime Staff and Contributors
Georgia Voice has been lucky enough to retain several contributors and staff since its early days. Dixon Taylor, Sales Executive, has worked with both Southern Voice and Georgia Voice since 1991, and has continued to keep the paper afloat and thriving with her community connections and inimitable ability to charm any client into an ad.
“I’ve had the great pleasure of working with both Southern Voice and then Georgia Voice since 1991,” Taylor told Georgia Voice. “During that time, I’ve seen the greater Atlanta community and the LGBTQIA community grow closer as we both learned how to live together. I believe these two newspapers were able to help facilitate that growth with great articles, interviews, photos, and an enviable list of advertisers who understood the importance of reaching us plus a commitment to support our newspapers. What a gift to be part of all this!”
Jim Farmer, the Festival Director of Atlanta’s LGBTQ film festival Out On Film and our resident film and theater columnist, has worked with both Southern Voice and Georgia Voice since the ‘90s.
“I started writing for Southern Voice in the mid-1990s and began a weekly arts column in 1997,” he said. “Southern Voice eventually became Georgia Voice and I have gone through more than a dozen editors during that time. But one thing has stayed the same: the joy in getting to share stories about LGBTQIA+ artists. I look forward to this next chapter and Georgia Voice’s expansion.”
Melissa Carter, who broke ground as the first out lesbian radio personality at a major Atlanta station, has continued her column, That’s What She Said, covering topics of feminism, motherhood, and more, since 2011; but she was also a journalist with Southern Voice.
“My initial media aspiration was to serve as a journalist, and the first assignment I received was in 1994 thanks to Southern Voice. I remember running from my car up my girlfriend’s sidewalk to share my first time in print.”
Other long-time editorial contributors include the late Cliff Bostock, Vandy Beth Glenn, Bill Kaelin, Ryan Lee, Charles Stephens, and Steve Warren.
The current Georgia Voice staff also includes Russ Bowen-Youngblood in sales and photography, Jim Brams in sales, and Rory Evans in distribution. Without their work and commitment, Georgia Voice would not be able to perform our mission of representing and serving LGBTQ Atlantans.
A Look at Columns Past and Present
Along with Carter and Farmer, Ryan Lee also wrote a regular column called Sometimes Y, where he would share sharp political critiques, stories of sexual exploits, and other acerbic observations, from 2013 to 2023. Cliff Bostock, who died earlier this year, wrote a restaurant review column, Eating My Words, from 2014 to 2020 before transitioning his writing into Old Gay Man, a column in which he would reflect on aging and eventually share his reflections on his cancer diagnosis.
Other columns that have been featured over the last 15 years include:
Domestically Disturbed, by Topher Payne (2010–2014)
Outside the Box, by Bill Kaelin (2014–2016)
The Iconoclast, by Charles Stephens (2015)
In the Middle, by Kim Riggins (2015–2016)
In the Margins, by Ashleigh Atwell (2015–2018)
The French Connection, by Buck Jones (2020–2021)
The Gayly Dose, by The Gayly Dose cast (2021–2023)
Reeling in the Years, by Maria Helena Dolan (2020–Present)
Thank You
Georgia Voice would like to extend a thank you to every business and organization that has supported us over the last 15 years. A huge thank you to Paws Whiskers and Wags, Randy Fry Law Firm, and Parker’s on Ponce for advertising since the beginning days of the paper, as well as major supporters AARP, Southern Nights, The Atlanta Braves, Electrobike Georgia, Atlanta Opera, Atlanta Ballet, and Voices of Note.
I would personally like to extend a thank you to Tim for believing in me and my work for the last six years, as well as to Rob for being such a phenomenal colleague to work alongside. I’m so proud of the work we have done together. Thank you to every freelance contributor I have had the pleasure of working with, especially Sukainah Abid-Kons, Hunter Buchheit, Luke Gardner, Vandy Beth Glenn, Rose Pelham, Cynthia Salinas-Cappellano, and Adalei Stevens.
Finally, thank YOU for following along and supporting Georgia Voice, whether you’ve been reading for a year or 15. Without you, none of this is possible. To follow us into this new chapter, keep an eye on roughdraftatlanta.com in January for the transferal of the Georgia Voice archive.