Coming out – the process by which LGBTQ+ people disclose their sexual orientation or gender identity – is difficult. It is not a one-and-done event. It is not a single… Read on
Tag Archives: pride
Justice Seekers EP. 3: Performative Activism in Action [PODCAST]
This week on Justice Seekers, one of our co-hosts, Sanjna, dives deeper into internet activism and specific types such as “clicktivism” and PowerPoint activism. She also talks about past events like the 2021 Met Gala, Pride Month, and the BLM Protests of 2020. She covers multiple perspectives on how these acts of what seemed to be harmful ways to raise awareness, have hidden dangers that slow the movement for justice.
It’s hard to tell if a company genuinely cares about the LGBTQ+ community or just wants to exploit it. Often companies just change their logos to rainbow logos. Read on
"Sometimes being gay feels like it’s obstructing my high school experience. So I asked some of my gay friends. I wanted to know what they thought about being gay and how it affects them in high school." Read on
As soon you enter Midtown Atlanta on Pride weekend, you see rainbows and colors adorned everywhere. Whether it is on people, flags, signs, or dogs, rainbows are everywhere. Atlanta Pride Festival attendees are there to make a statement and show who they are. Read on
PRIDE 2018: The Children Are Not Our Future, But Our Today [GALLERY]
Thousands upon thousands of men, women, and children flooded the streets for Atlanta’s 2018 PRIDE parade, marking the 48th consecutive year that the LGBTQ community has marched on the city, flags flying high and unapologetic. The festival took place Sunday, October 14th, from Midtown to Piedmont Park. Festival-goers began to flood into the streets at around 10 a.m. to kick off the vibrant revelry early, despite the march starting well into the afternoon and the festivities continuing into the late evening.
The energy of the parade was infectious. Color, sound, and music exploding from every corner and every crevice of the streets of Atlanta. Joy weaving itself into every hue and bleeding from the rainbow blanketed crowds.
A cacophony of music and laughter wove itself into the environment of the parade, and vendors with carts full of vibrant PRIDE merch shouted into the streets waving various strings of beads and flags and t-shirts. People decked in PRIDE wear and rainbow flags grasped signage painted with a spectrum of colors in their hands, the empowering statements on them as vivid and impassioned as its hues.
Though PRIDE is a celebration meant to empower LGBTQ communities and promote LGBTQ visibility, it is also about more than that; it is about community and solidarity. It is about family. PRIDE is a wholesome demonstration of human strength and compassion, of the human capacity to persevere and love despite all circumstances. Set against Atlanta’s rich history of minority empowerment and public acts of civil disobedience, the continuing tradition of this powerful hallmark of queer culture and empowerment gives honor to a legacy of leaders and courageous acts of resistance for equality.
The parade serves as a call to action in the context of a current tumultuous sociopolitical climate where LGBTQ visibility is more prevalent and necessary than ever. The march becomes a radiant reminder that the struggle for queer rights will always be at the forefront as long as individuals have the courage and ability to fight for it, march on the city in their bold colors hand in hand, and scream to all the world that this community is still here and isn’t leaving anytime soon.
For the upcoming generation of social change agents and leaders, the power of their voice and actions not only drives the future fight for LGBTQ rights and visibility but is also shaping the ‘now’ of it. The most beautiful and hope-eliciting aspect of PRIDE was the concentration of young people there who stood unafraid to reclaim their identities and fight for their communities, and for themselves.
Many say that the youth are shaping the future. However, a closer look at the youth-driven movements for change and social activism prove that they are changing the world today. And as these young people pave the way for the generations that will come after, the empowering legacy of Atlanta PRIDE lives on.
Erin Davis is a journalist and photographer who strives to uplift marginalized communities and subcultures through her work and happens to be one of the youths who is shaping today.