After seven years of service in a historic role, Malik Brown is moving on to his next chapter. On Dec. 23, Brown announced via social media that he would be stepping down from his role as the City of Atlanta’s founding Director of LGBTQ Affairs.
“This role has been very life-changing for me and has been such a part of my journey,” Brown told Georgia Voice. “I was 27 when Mayor [Keisha Lance] Bottoms appointed me, and so [the role has] shaped my adulthood and how I entered adulthood. Seven years is a very long time – especially in government, it’s like 20 years in government years. I came to City Hall knowing that this wasn’t going to be a forever position. I think it became more evident for me [over the last few months] that I just wanted to start my next chapter.”
Brown’s appointment as Atlanta’s LGBTQ Affairs Coordinator – a role that would later become codified into a full-time, director-level position in 2020 – by former Mayor Bottoms was historic as the first position of its kind in the Southeast. Brown acted as a “direct line” between the mayor and Atlanta’s LGBTQ+ community and continued to do so for Bottoms’ successor, Mayor Andre Dickens.
During his tenure, Brown assisted in establishing required annual LGBTQ Cultural Humility Training for city employees and elected officials, making Atlanta the first-known municipality in the U.S. to do so; designating the first LGBTQ+ historic landmark in the South with the former location of the Atlanta Eagle; introducing the city’s first line item budget allocation for HIV program resources; instituting over 100 all-gender city-owned restrooms; partnering with Atlanta Legal Aid Society to offer free legal name and ID changes to transgender Atlantans; and establishing Youth Pride, a festival and summit for LGBTQ+ youth ages 25 and under.
Moving forward, Brown hopes to see the continuation and expansion of the work he was doing before he left the position, namely the city’s partnership with Rainbow Railroad, a nonprofit dedicated to assisting LGBTQ+ refugees facing persecution, and the pursuit of a new LGBTQ+ cultural center following the approval of a feasibility study by the Atlanta City Council. With the election of President Donald Trump, Brown predicts that much of the work the city will need to do for the LGBTQ+ community will be defensive.
“We have done a lot over the last seven years, but there’s so much left to do,” Brown said. “There’s a lot of fear about what’s next for the LGBTQ civil rights movement. There’s been chatter of overturning Obergefell. There’s anti-trans violence and this concentrated attack on trans kids, so I think a lot of work [the City of Atlanta will do in 2025] is going to be covering our residents from the sort of federal and state attacks that we can anticipate.”
Brown’s successor is yet to be announced. As of Jan. 7, the Mayor’s Office has not yet responded to a request for comment on whether the position will be maintained.
As for Brown himself, he will continue to advocate for the LGBTQ+ community in a new role that will be announced in the coming days.
To keep up with the work of the Mayor’s Division of LGBTQ Affairs, visit atlgbtq.atlantaga.gov/home.
