Every year, Atlanta Pride names a group of individuals and organizations as Grand Marshals of the festival and parade. These community members represent bold activism, cultural preservation, and a commitment to amplifying and uplifting the LGBTQ+ community in Atlanta and beyond. This year’s Grand Marshals exemplify the 2025 Atlanta Pride theme, “Rooted in Resistance,” an homage to the activist history of Pride.
“Our Grand Marshals showcase the incredible range of work being done across our community, from preserving our past to shaping a more just and inclusive future,” said Chris McCain, Executive Director of Atlanta Pride. “Each of them is a reminder that Pride is not only a celebration, but a call to action. They embody the strength, brilliance, and resistance that have always defined our movement, and we are proud to honor their contributions on one of the biggest stages in the Southeast.”
Atlanta Pride’s 2025 Grand Marshals:
The Georgia LGBTQ History Project is a collective of archivists, librarians, and volunteers dedicated to preserving Georgia’s LGBTQ+ past. Through advocacy, education, and personal archiving, the project ensures that the stories and materials of queer Georgians are saved for future generations.
“We are deeply committed to preserving the oral histories and archival records of LGBTQ+ Georgians,” Tom Dibble Dempsey, a member of the Georgia LGBTQ History Project, told Georgia Voice. “By safeguarding personal narratives—from mid-century activists to today’s trailblazers—we ensure that future generations can stand on the shoulders of those who came before, rather than rediscovering lost chapters.”
LGBTQ+ Institute at the National Center for Civil and Human Rights
This vital program connects LGBTQ+ history to present-day advocacy through educational initiatives, civic engagement, and social programming with a particular focus on the U.S. South. In 2025, the Institute celebrates its tenth anniversary. The program launched on September 2, 2015, just a year after the Center’s opening.
“From connecting academics to advocates through our LGBTQ+ Southern Surveys documenting queer life in the South, to more recent efforts cultivating the next generation of advocates in response to intensifying threats to LGBTQ+ freedoms, the Institute seeks to be a leading program advancing true liberty and justice for all,” Tim’m T. West, the Executive Director of the LGBTQ+ Institute, told Georgia Voice. “…We march with pride when some would prefer we retreat into silence. We march for the ancestors and ‘transcestors’ who came before us, and for the generations yet to come, who deserve a world where thriving does not require bravery.”
Founded in 1990 during the height of the AIDS crisis, PALS has provided pet food and veterinary care for individuals living with HIV/AIDS, cancer, and other challenges. The organization has hosted the country’s longest-running drag bingo event for 28 years. This year, the organization celebrates thirty-five years of service.
“PALS Atlanta is incredibly honored to have been chosen as a Grand Marshal for Atlanta Pride 2025,” Tommy Burkhalter Lázaro, the Executive Director of PALS Atlanta, told Georgia Voice. “This is our 35th anniversary as we have been working in Atlanta’s LGBT community since 1990. Pride this year is extremely important as things seem to be getting darker in our country and we need beacons of light and sources of joy to overcome the fear and sadness that seems to radiate throughout our society. Atlanta Pride and PALS Atlanta will always be beacons of light for our community and for our PALS clients. Our organization is about the love and companionship between humans and their pets, and that type of bond, friendship and love is needed now more than ever.”
A beloved Atlanta-based educator and content creator with nearly four million followers, Jere Chang uses humor and honesty to inspire inclusive teaching practices. She is a vocal advocate for LGBTQ+ equity in education and is reshaping classrooms to center belonging and compassion.
Known to many as Sha Sha Sugarbaker, Shannon Bradley May has been a passionate HIV/AIDS advocate for nearly 30 years through his work with AID Atlanta and the Starlings fundraising collective. His grassroots efforts and drag performances bring joy, awareness, and action to the fight against HIV.
“I was honestly surprised when I learned I’d been selected as a Grand Marshal,” May told Georgia Voice. “I’ve always preferred to do the work quietly, behind the scenes, so to be recognized for my community work — particularly with AID Atlanta — is a true honor. To me, this moment is about more than recognition; it’s about using this platform to keep hope alive for people living with HIV/AIDS, to keep the conversation going, and to rally more people to get involved at a time when nonprofits are facing cutbacks… With this opportunity, I want to use my voice to call in allies, to encourage them to speak up, and to hold accountable the public figures and politicians who would rather silence us than see us thrive.”
Dr. Christy Perez is an Afro-Latina trans theologian, historian, and abolitionist whose advocacy and writing are grounded in healing and transformative justice. She serves as Managing Project Director of Dreaming Justice Project and the Leadership Development Coach at SNaPCO, and supports trans and justice-impacted communities across Atlanta.
“Being named a Grand Marshal is both a milestone of personal redemption and a public affirmation of the work I’ve committed my life to,” Perez told Georgia Voice. “My journey shows that we are never defined solely by our hardest chapters, but by the futures we choose to build. Through Dreaming Justice Project and SNaPCo, my focus is on reimagining safety as a public health issue, advancing abolitionist alternatives, and centering justice-impacted people, queer and trans communities of color, and immigrants in the fight for liberation. As a public theologian, I see Pride as sacred liturgy – a living ritual of resistance and renewal. As the first ever Afro-Latina transsexual Grand Marshal, I feel an immense responsibility to be a bridge and a rallying call within the Black, Latinx, and LGBTQ communities for solidarity in the fight for not just our rights or dignity, but possibly our very existence.”
Owner of the Atlanta Eagle and The Flower Cottage, Richard Ramey has spent decades building community and safe spaces for Atlanta’s LGBTQIA+ population. He is the founder of Drag Down South and a tireless advocate for queer visibility and empowerment.
The drag persona of Lester West, Lena Lust is a legendary performer whose career has spanned nearly five decades. A fixture of Atlanta’s queer nightlife since 1977, Lena continues to perform today and is celebrated as a community elder, HIV-positive activist, and drag mother.
An award-winning author and activist, Raquel is a national leader in the movement for Black trans liberation. She is the author of “The Risk It Takes to Bloom” and serves as executive producer for iHeartMedia’s Outspoken podcast network. Raquel was named to the 2025 TIME100, a list of the 100 most influential people of the year, and previously served as a Grand Marshal for NYC Pride.
A longtime community photographer and journalist, Russ Youngblood has documented Atlanta’s LGBTQ+ life since the 1990s. His upcoming book, “What I Saw,” is a visual love letter to queer resilience and joy in the South.
“I am incredibly honored and humbled to have been selected as a Grand Marshal for this year’s Atlanta Pride Parade. Having had the privilege of photographing decades of parades and Atlanta Pride events, I still get goosebumps and emotional each year as I walk down Peachtree Street,” Youngblood told Georgia Voice. “I also believe that we are entering a crucial era where it is vital for us to reassert ourselves and unite as a cohesive community to ensure our rights are not compromised or diminished. I look forward to contributing to this important effort as a Grand Marshal.”
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