Lip sync for a cause!
Wednesday, Aug. 12 — AIDS Walk Atlanta kicks off on Thursday, Aug. 13, at 6:30 p.m. with the annual Lip Sync Battle at My Sister’s Room in Midtown. Hosted by Phoenix, with special performances by Destiny Brooks and Detox, this is your chance to cheer on the event’s beneficiaries as they battle it out on stage and raise funds for the AIDS Walk Atlanta Music Festival and 5K Run on Sept. 26 at Piedmont Park.
And now, on to the headlines:
📣 Macon Pride has announced the dates and programming for the four-day 2026 festival, Sept. 24-27.
🗳️ LGBTQ+ advocacy group Georgia Equality has released its first round of candidate endorsements for the upcoming 2026 midterm elections.
🏳️🌈 Atlanta Pride has announced that drag icon Shea Couleé will join the entertainment lineup for the 2026 festival on Oct. 10-11.
🏳️⚧️ The Trump administration has finalized a rule cutting off Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance Program funding for gender-affirming medical care for transgender youth.
⚖️ The Human Rights Campaign Foundation filed a class action lawsuit against the Trump administration as it attempts to restrict gender-affirming healthcare for federal employees.
⚕️ The Trump administration is abandoning its effort to obtain medical records from transgender young people who received gender-affirming care at UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh.
🙄 The 21-year-old son of Republican House Rep. Lauren Boebert, who has repeatedly accused LGBTQ+ people of “grooming” children, has been charged with three felony counts of sexual exploitation of a child.
🌈 Tens of thousands of people participated in the World Pride March in Amsterdam on Saturday.
You only have to look behind you…
Collin
🤝 Community starts with connection. Meet Rosemary Watts and Nikki Washington and discover how they’re helping shape Perimeter through connection, placemaking, and community in the Heart of Perimeter video series. SPONSOR MESSAGE
SnapCo. kicks off $5M fundraising campaign for new permanent home
🎉 Solutions Not Punishment Collaborative (SnapCo.), a Black trans-led organization building safety and political power for Black and brown trans people in Atlanta, is raising $5 million to build a permanent home for the organization.
SnapCo. celebrated 13 years with the Forever Paradise Gala on Aug. 8 at Center Stage. The event included performances by the Atlanta CommUNITY Choir, Fatima Jamal, and Executive Director Toni-Michelle Williams.
Providential Paradise, the forthcoming permanent home for SnapCo., will be developed on 11.2 acres in South Fulton. The public capital campaign has already raised over $1.4 million.
➡ Read the full story and see more photos here.
Meet the People at the Heart of Perimeter’s Community
SPONSORED BY PERIMETER COMMUNITY IMPROVEMENT DISTRICTS
🤝 Community doesn’t just happen. It takes people who create reasons to connect.
Meet Rosemary Watts of Create Dunwoody and Nikki Washington of Perimeter Connects, two leaders helping transform Perimeter into a place where people want to gather, explore, and belong.
📹 Watch their stories in the Heart of Perimeter video series and discover what’s bringing people together.
Atlanta couple will channel Copenhagen cafe culture at their Danish cafe and bakery in Midtown
☕ When Freddy Adkins and Mikkel Jensen got married in 2024, they merged cultures: Adkins is an American from the South, and Jensen moved to Atlanta from Denmark to be with him.
As the couple established their new life together in Midtown, they quickly realized they couldn’t find the dishes and baked goods they loved eating at cafes in Copenhagen. Adkins and Jensen want to change that, and plan to open The Danish Bakery & Smørrebrød Café in Midtown, styling it after Copenhagen’s bakery-cafe culture.
“In Copenhagen, where [Mikkel] came from, in a one-mile radius there’s 10 to 12 very successful bakery-cafes, because it’s just the culture,” Adkins told Georgia Voice. “That was what we wanted to bring to Atlanta, that [Copenhagen] cafe culture.”
➡ Find out more about the cafe in Katie Burkholder’s story here.
🤝 Community starts with connection. Meet Rosemary Watts and Nikki Washington and discover how they’re helping shape Perimeter through connection, placemaking, and community in the Heart of Perimeter video series. SPONSOR MESSAGE
Theatre Best Bets
🪦 Don’t miss the new play “Queerly Departed” by Ian “EL” Trutt April 13-16 at 7 Stages in Atlanta. We’ve got more about the show and SheATL Summer Theatre Festival here.
🎭 The Essential Theatre Festival continues through Aug. 23 with premieres by Georgia playwrights.
💈 OnStage Atlanta’s production of “Sweeney Todd” continues through Aug. 30, but it’s nearly sold out, so grab tickets fast.
🎶 The coming-of-age story “Choir Boy” by Tarell Alvin McCraney, the Oscar-winning writer of “Moonlight, continues at Actor’s Express through Aug. 30.
➡ Find many more events and activities in our IG stories @thegeorgiavoice.
New DGA on the way!
The Georgia Voice team is working on the 2026/2027 edition of the Destination Gay Atlanta travel guide in partnership with the Atlanta Convention and Visitors Bureau.
With Atlanta Pride coming in October, the guide is an excellent resource for lodgings, entertainment, dining, and shopping in the city. The guidebook will be available at local hotels and other venues around the city, as well as online, in September.
➡ If you would like to advertise in DGA, contact sales@roughdraftatlanta.com.
