Atlanta Pride 2024. A glorious October day. I park myself – literally, sitting in my comfy walker — on Peachtree Street, just yards from where the parade begins. Why this position? Max swag tossing and max infectious energy as thousands burst outward and onward.
Hours later, as the final marchers make their way toward Piedmont Park, I follow a line of exuberant and exhausted spectators to the MARTA Civic Center station platform, heading home.
I find myself in a small gaggle of folks regaling each other with pieces of parade moments. One quiet young woman is coaxed to share her take on the day.
“Well, I’m 17. And this is my first Pride. And I am s-o-o-o proud. Oh, I had no clue!”
Around her, laughter, smiles, some tears, hugs, mostly young folk but not all. Smiling, I interject, “Let me say, I am so proud of you for being able to be here, and to feel this way!”
Smiles and hugs all around.
“Allow me also to say that my first Pride was in 1976. (Gasps! “Whoaaaa”) I was a very new arrival to the ATL, and newfound friends didn’t really know why this June thing, just that “every year we have this march and we go from the Civic Center to Piedmont Park, and it’s always a lot of fun, so you should come.”
Yes, it was a lot of fun, that special day, especially when then-Atlanta Mayor Maynard Jackson officially proclaimed June 26 as “Gay Pride Day” in Atlanta. And fundamentalist Baptists lose their minds!
A group calling itself “Citizens for a Decent Atlanta” immediately buys full-page ads in local newspapers denouncing “acts against the moral laws of the Judeo-Christian tradition.” They try to get a court order to rescind the proclamation. They agitate and fulminate, and we begin to boycott aligned businesses, such as Majik Markets and Days Inn.
By 1977, I understand so much more. There’d been a thing called Stonewall back in 1969, and a riot when queers fought back, and now we commemorate it and gain strength from it. Some of us counter-culturist types know we’re in a clear movement for LIBERATION, and we are finding out how much we don’t know about our collective queer past and how we’re moving forward and getting people on board and – whew!
Looking back, 1977 is a turning point in the LGBTQ+ movement. Washington, D.C. adopts a human rights code banning sexual orientation discrimination; Dade County, FL enacts a Human Rights Ordinance; Tucson, AZ passes an ordinance prohibiting housing, employment, and public accommodation discrimination; transgender tennis player Renee Richards wins a New York Supreme Court case allowing her to play in a tournament.
One of the biggest milestones of 1977 is Harvey Milk becoming the first openly gay man in the U.S. elected to a major political position after he won a seat on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors.
The LGBTQ+ community has gained so much in the last nearly 50 years, but we are in the process of losing what may be more difficult to regain.
Since 2025, the federal government has reversed or narrowed protections for LGBTQ+ people, particularly transgender Americans. Republicans have made trans people their fearmongering tool of the midterms. Bans and challenges to LGBTQ+-related books at public and school libraries continue to expand.
When the Atlanta Pride parade rolls out on Oct. 11, come to Peachtree Street. Get on board, remember our collective queer power, and go to the polls in November.
We need that 1977 spirit again.
