Queer is an umbrella term for people who are not heterosexual or are not cisgender. Originally meaning 'strange' or 'peculiar', queer came to be used pejoratively against LGBT people in the late 19th century. From the late 1980s, queer activists began to reclaim the word as a neutral or positive self-description.
The Ballroom scene is an African-American and Latino underground LGBTQ+ subculture. Its origins can be found in drag balls of the mid-19th century United States, such as those hosted by William Dorsey Swann, a formerly enslaved Black man in Washington D.C.. By the early 20th century, integrated drag balls were popular in cities such as New York, Chicago, New Orleans, Baltimore, and Philadelphia. In the mid-20th century, as a response to racism in integrated drag spaces, the balls evolved into house ballroom, where Black and Latino attendees could "walk" in a variety of 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. The influence of ballroom culture can be seen in dance, language, music, and popular culture, and the community still exists today.
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.
MondoHomo Dirty South is an alternative queer music & arts festival that debuted in Atlanta in June 2007, during the first U.S. Social Forum. MondoHomo was the love child of Kiki Carr, Ria Pell and Nikki Chotas, and was inspired by Olympia, Washington's Homo-a-Gogo Festival.
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 (LGBTQ) 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 held in June, Atlanta Pride has been held in October every year since 2008, typically on a weekend closest to National Coming Out Day.
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 and remains a lesbian-owned and operated bar but welcomes the entire LGBTQIA community. 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 the stage name of Maximus Ademaus Glamour, 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.
Kimberly Sue Jackson is an American politician and Episcopal priest from the state of Georgia. A member of the Democratic Party, Jackson has represented the 41st district in the Georgia State Senate since January 2021. As a lesbian, she is Georgia's first openly LGBT+ state senator.
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.
