Wrapping up Pride
Jun. 26 — Pride Month is wrapping up with a slew of events happening around the state. The Smyrna Pride Festival is Saturday from noon to 6 p.m. on Village Green, while Southern Fried Queer Pride rolls on with workshops and dance parties through Friday night. We’ve got even more events in our Best Bets block below.
A few more news bits:
🏳️🌈 Four teenagers – ages 16 to 18 – are facing hate crime and other charges after pulling down Pride flags outside Blake’s on the Park in Midtown and cutting them up in the Rainbow Crosswalk. We’ve got their names and the surveillance footage here.
📚 A ruling is imminent from the U.S. Supreme Court on whether parents will be able to opt their children out of having to read books with LGBTQ+ content at school. That high court decision will come on the heels of last week’s horrific ruling banning gender-affirming care for minors.
Let every colour illuminate,
Collin
☀️ Sometimes the best summer moments are the quiet ones — rocking on a porch swing, listening to the water lap against the dock, or feeling the warmth of the sun on your face with nowhere to be. At Lake Oconee, relaxation isn’t just encouraged — it’s part of the lifestyle. Find your reason to linger longer this summer at Lake Oconee. SPONSOR MESSAGE
Atlanta restaurateur Gee Smalls releases audiobook memoir
🎧 Five years following the release of his memoir “Black Enough, Man Enough: Embracing My Mixed Race and Sexual Fluidity,” Virgil’s Gullah Kitchen and Bar co-owner Gee Smalls has released the self-narrated audiobook version for Pride Month.
The book spans Smalls’ entire life, starting with his Gullah Geechee roots in Charleston (which informs the menu at his restaurant) as the child of a Black father and white mother, whose family disowned her after Smalls was born.
➡ Find out more about the memoir here.
Mythic creatures meet modern art!
SPONSORED BY THE FERNBANK MUSEUM
✨ Step into a world where mythology and art collide! Spirit Guides: Fantastical Creatures from the Workshop of Jacobo and María Ángeles brings vibrant, hybrid animal sculptures to life in Fernbank’s WildWoods.
These whimsical sculptures blend Zapotec culture and contemporary art, each representing spirit guides tied to personality and destiny. Designed by renowned Oaxacan artists, this exhibit offers a soulful journey through indigenous culture, identity, and the natural world.
➡ Open now through August 3, with special after-hours viewings on select nights. Don’t miss this magical experience!
Tequila brand embodies free ‘spirit’ of Pride and Juneteenth
🥃 With a name literally meaning “true freedom,” local Black- and LGBTQ+-owned tequila company Reyalibre embodies the spirit of June all year long.
Reyalibre is a premium sipping tequila, formulated to fulfill both E Jones and her wife Asiaa Karriem’s (pictured) desires for the spirit: one likes to sip it neat, while the other likes it mixed in a cocktail.
“We were spending quite a bit of money on different types of tequila,” Jones told Georgia Voice. “So, we said, ‘Hey, we should just make our own.’”
➡ Read more in Katie Burkholder’s feature here.
‘Noah’s Arc: The Movie’ catches up with iconic characters
📺 “Noah’s Arc: The Movie” – streaming now on Paramount+/ Showtime – catches up with iconic characters first introduced in the series 20 years ago.
Regarded as the first scripted television series to revolve around a group of Black gay men, the series and subsequent films and specials have given fans glimpses into the lives of the four main characters.
One of the main plotlines of the new film, which was shot in Atlanta, is the decision by Noah (Darryl Stephens) and Wade (Jensen Atwood) to have children, in this case twins.
➡ Read more of Jim Farmer’s interview with creator-director Patrik-Ian Polk.
☀️ Sometimes the best summer moments are the quiet ones — rocking on a porch swing, listening to the water lap against the dock, or feeling the warmth of the sun on your face with nowhere to be. At Lake Oconee, relaxation isn’t just encouraged — it’s part of the lifestyle. Find your reason to linger longer this summer at Lake Oconee. SPONSOR MESSAGE
Best Bets
🎨 The Bakery Atlanta presents For Them, For Us, a group art exhibition curated by Clovis Goss on view June 27 through July 6 at The Supermarket. The event showcases artists from the 2SLGBTQIA+ community addressing resistance and joy.
⚽ The Armorettes and All Stripes, Atlanta United’s LGBTQ+ supporters’ group, close out Pride month with Drag Bingo on June 28, from 4-7 p.m. at Brick + Mortar at Pullman Yards. The event raises money for HIV/AIDS organizations.
🎉 Georgia Equality’s Evening for Equity is June 28 at 7 p.m. at the InterContinental Buckhead Atlanta Hotel. The evening will mark Georgia Equality’s 30th anniversary.
👠 The Friends of Dorothy Gayla is June 28 at 6:30 p.m. benefiting Pine Lake’s annual Pride Lake festival in September. Live music, drag, sing-alongs and more.
🏛️ Head to Athens for the Queer Space Tour on June 28 and 29 at 10:30 a.m. presented by Athens Pride & Queer Collective. The guided two-mile walking tour explores the city’s LGBTQ+ history.
🪩 The Pride Prom is June 28 from 7 to 11 p.m. on the rooftop of Savannah’s historic Drayton Hotel. Music, food, themed cocktails, food station, games and more.
🍻 It’s Giving Edgewood: O4W Pride Crawl is set for June 29 from 3 to 8 p.m. along Edgewood Avenue in Old Fourth Ward. On the bar crawl are Pieces, Lore, Sister Louisa’s, Joystick, and Dad’s Garage Theatre Company.
Social Follow of the Week
📸 The Queer Archive gathers avant-garde art and photography on its Insta to promote artistic expression and history. Immerse yourself in the bold and the beautiful along with a touch of camp.
