Queer is an umbrella term for people who are not heterosexual or cisgender. Originally meaning 'strange' or 'peculiar', queer came to be used pejoratively against those with same-sex desires or relationships in the late 19th century. Beginning in the late 1980s, queer activists, such as the members of Queer Nation, began to reclaim the word as a deliberately provocative and politically radical alternative to the more assimilationist branches of the LGBT community.
The Ballroom Scene is an African-American and Latino underground LGBTQ+ subculture that originated in New York City. Beginning in the late 20th century, Black and Latino drag queens began to organize their own pageants in opposition to racism experienced in established drag queen pageant circuits. Though racially integrated for the participants, the judges of these circuits were mostly white people. While the initial establishment of Ballroom mimicked these drag queen pageants, the inclusion of gay men and trans women would transform the Ballroom scene into what it is today: a multitude of categories that all LGBTQ+ people can participate in. Attendees "walk" these categories for trophies and cash prizes. Most participants in Ballroom belong to groups known as "houses", where chosen families of friends form relationships and communities separate from their families of origin, from which they may be estranged.
Siegessäule is Berlin's most widely distributed queer magazine and has been published monthly, except for two brief hiatuses, since April 1984. Originally only available in West Berlin, it ran with the subtitle "Berlin's monthly page for Gays". In 1996, it was broadened to include lesbian content, and in 2005 it was expanded to reach a wider queer target base, becoming the only magazine of its scale in Europe to represent the full spectrum of the LGBT community. The magazine is available for free at around 700 locations in Berlin, printing 53.688 copies per month. Since March-issue 2013, it has been overseen by chief editor Jan Noll.
Anye Elite is an American singer, rapper and LGBT activist. He is best known for his contributions to Atlanta's gay community.
Atlanta Pride, also colloquially called the Atlanta Gay Pride Festival, is a week-long annual lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender (LGBT) pride festival held in Atlanta, Georgia. Established in 1971, it is one of the oldest and largest pride festivals in the United States. According to the Atlanta Pride Committee, as of 2017, attendance had continually grown to around 300,000. Originally a pride held in June, Atlanta Pride has been held in October every year since 2008, typically on a weekend closest to National Coming Out Day.
JD Doyle is an American LGBT music and history archivist/historian and radio producer. He is a staff member of the weekly radio show Queer Voices and produces the monthly radio shows Queer Music Heritage and OutRadio. He now lives in Houston, Texas.
Black Atlantans are residents of the city Atlanta who are of African American ancestry. Atlanta has long been known as a center of black wealth, higher education, political power and culture; a cradle of the Civil Rights Movement.
The state of Georgia mostly improved in its treatment of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender residents in the years after 1970, when LGBT residents began to openly establish events, organizations and outlets for fellow LGBT residents and increase in political empowerment.
Homotopia is an international LGBTQ+ arts festival held annually in Liverpool, England. The festival takes place in late-October and throughout November every year and features a mixture of theatre, dance, film, photography, art, cabaret and debate at numerous venues across Liverpool.
Atlanta Black Pride started in 1996 and is one of two officially recognized festivals for the African-American LGBT community. It is held in Atlanta each year at the end of August and beginning of September. Atlanta Black Pride is the largest black gay pride celebration in the world with an estimated 100,000 people annually in attendance. Atlanta Black Pride heavily contributes to the annual $65 million economic impact on Atlanta's economy during the city's eventful Labor Day weekend most recently organized by Traxx Girls Inc & Atlanta Black Pride Weekend LLC due to the administration dissolve of In The Life Atlanta.
My Sister's Room (MSR) is a lesbian bar in Atlanta, Georgia. It is one of the few remaining lesbian bars in the nation. It was opened in 1996 by Susan Musselwhite and has been lesbian-owned and operated bar since 1996. Pictures of My Sister's Room in the 1990s are in Emory University's permanent photo collection.
Alexander "Sasha" Hedges Steinberg, known professionally as Sasha Velour, is an American drag queen, artist, actor, and stage and television producer, based in Brooklyn, New York. Velour is known for winning the ninth season of RuPaul's Drag Race, her drag revue NightGowns, and her one-queen theatrical work, Smoke & Mirrors.
The American Music Show is a weekly public access variety television program, produced from 1981 to 2005 in Atlanta, Georgia by Dick Richards, James Bond, Potsy Duncan, and Bud "Beebo" Lowry. It aired on People TV and featured drag and musical performances, parodic sketch comedy, interviews, and reports from around Atlanta. The show became very influential in Atlanta's queer subculture, and due to its longevity, it has been described as "one of the most thorough archives of queer Atlanta history." RuPaul also made frequent appearances on the show.
Maxi Glamour is a non-binary multi-disciplinary drag artist from St. Louis, Missouri, and the self-titled "Demon Queen of Polka and Baklava". They were a contestant in Season 3 of The Boulet Brothers' Dragula.
Fluide, also known as We Are Fluide, is an American online cosmetics and beauty company headquartered in Brooklyn, New York. The company offers a collection of cruelty-free makeup that they state is aimed at all gender expressions, gender identities, and skin tones.
Rigel Gemini is the stage name of Rigel Cable, a queer, non-binary music artist known for his songs entitled "I Can't", "It's The -- For Me", "Coffee In My Cup", and "Gorgeois". His music videos have included queer and trans entertainers, including Gia Gunn and Alyssa Edwards in "I Can't", Gia Gunn in "It's The -- For Me", Ts Madison in "Coffee In My Cup, and Plastique Tiara and Heidi N Closet in "Gorgeois". He released his first album "MELT" in 2021. His music video for "I Can't" was removed from YouTube and re-released.
Taylor Alxndr is an Atlanta social activist, community organizer, entertainer, drag queen, and founder of the LGBTQ non-profit "Southern Fried Queer Pride".
Southern Fried Queer Pride (SFQP) is an Atlanta-based non-profit which works to center and empower Black queer and QTPOC communities in the South through the arts. Taylor Alxndr and Micky B co-founded the organization in 2014 to create a space for Black and brown queer folks in Atlanta. SFQP hosts 40-60 events each year, including festivals, drag shows, and community discussions. The organization also publishes its own zine, Kudzu, and organizes art projects like the SFQP Bites video series. A collective of Black and brown trans and non-binary working-class young folks and artists.
On August 5, 1969, the Atlanta Police Department led a police raid on a screening of the film Lonesome Cowboys at a movie theater in Atlanta, Georgia, United States. The raid targeted members of the city's LGBT community, and the aftermath of the raid let to the creation of the Georgia Gay Liberation Front and an increased push for gay liberation in the area. The event has been compared to the Stonewall riots, which occurred a little over a month before the raid. Atlanta Pride, one of the largest pride parades in the United States, was started in part as a response to the raid.
