- Oct 25, 2005
- 1,210
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As Atlanta's gay black community grows, its push for a larger voice grows too
Los Angeles Times
Thursday, May 18, 2006
ATLANTA - On Thursday nights, Bulldogs is the hub of gay blacks in Atlanta. Strobe lights swirl around the chrome dance floor; men in baggy tracksuits and tight tank tops groove to disco anthems and sip strong cocktails from plastic cups.
But outside the small bar on Peachtree Street, there are few signs that Atlanta is home to the largest community of black same-sex couples in the South. Most of the city's gay nightclubs are predominantly white, and the same is true of most gay networking groups and political institutions.
Yet as more gay blacks settle in Atlanta - attracted by the city's low cost of living and party-hard reputation - they are pushing for more representation within the mainstream gay community.
"People say that Atlanta is a black gay mecca," said Gregg Flynn, 46, a Bulldogs regular who works for an Atlanta staffing company. "I'm happy that lots of black gays are here, but I want our voices to be heard."
Resentment in the black gay community was exacerbated recently when the Atlanta Pride Committee turned down an offer from Clik, a national black gay magazine, to make an in-kind trade of advertising space. The magazine hoped to help build blacks' attendance at June's annual Atlanta Pride festival, which has been predominantly white.
Atlanta Pride said its decision didn't single out the magazine, but reflected an earlier decision not to accept in-kind sponsorships because it could not reciprocate with free booth space.
But Dwight Powell, Clik's editor in chief, saw a deeper problem and sent out a mass e-mail complaining that Atlanta Pride was not doing enough to attract a racially diverse audience.
"This was a slap in the face for the black gay community," Powell said last week. "In a heavily African-American city, we have a white gay-pride event and the organizers don't seem to want to change that."
After receiving complaints from blacks across the country, Donna Narducci, executive director of Atlanta Pride, admitted that she had failed to see the "intrinsic value" of sponsorship with Clik magazine. "My decision obviously touched a nerve in the African-American community," she said. "We have tried to be inclusive, but maybe we are not being as inclusive as we think we are."
Racial division is uncomfortable for a community that prides itself on being the progressive gay mecca of the South, a place of opportunity for gays and lesbians. Atlanta is considered the fourth-largest black gay community in the country, behind New York, Washington-Baltimore and Chicago.
Blacks make up more than a fifth of Atlanta's gay community. According to the 2000 census, the Atlanta area has 3,471 black gay and lesbian couples.
Over the years, a legacy of mistrust has built up between the black and white gay communities. Black gays say that white gay venues introduced stricter entrance requirements - asking for two forms of identification or imposing two-drink minimums - to keep black patrons out.
At Bulldogs, which used to be a predominantly white gay bar, Flynn said that whites gradually left the building as more blacks turned up during the 1990s. "Everything we're around, they tend to stray away from," he said.
Brandon C. Bragg, 37, a black community activist who set up the Brunch Conversations Networking Group for gay and lesbian professionals last year, said he tried to attract white gays, dropping off fliers in bars and bookstores in Atlanta's tony, predominantly white gay neighborhoods. But only 5 percent of the people who attend his monthly social mixers are white. "We're in the South," Bragg said. "We have learned segregated behavior."
Yet Earl Fowlkes, president of the International Federation of Black Prides in Washington, said that the racial divide in the gay community was not confined to Atlanta, or the South, and that it was a product of economic disparity.
- Jenny Jarvie
Los Angeles Times
Thursday, May 18, 2006
ATLANTA - On Thursday nights, Bulldogs is the hub of gay blacks in Atlanta. Strobe lights swirl around the chrome dance floor; men in baggy tracksuits and tight tank tops groove to disco anthems and sip strong cocktails from plastic cups.
But outside the small bar on Peachtree Street, there are few signs that Atlanta is home to the largest community of black same-sex couples in the South. Most of the city's gay nightclubs are predominantly white, and the same is true of most gay networking groups and political institutions.
Yet as more gay blacks settle in Atlanta - attracted by the city's low cost of living and party-hard reputation - they are pushing for more representation within the mainstream gay community.
"People say that Atlanta is a black gay mecca," said Gregg Flynn, 46, a Bulldogs regular who works for an Atlanta staffing company. "I'm happy that lots of black gays are here, but I want our voices to be heard."
Resentment in the black gay community was exacerbated recently when the Atlanta Pride Committee turned down an offer from Clik, a national black gay magazine, to make an in-kind trade of advertising space. The magazine hoped to help build blacks' attendance at June's annual Atlanta Pride festival, which has been predominantly white.
Atlanta Pride said its decision didn't single out the magazine, but reflected an earlier decision not to accept in-kind sponsorships because it could not reciprocate with free booth space.
But Dwight Powell, Clik's editor in chief, saw a deeper problem and sent out a mass e-mail complaining that Atlanta Pride was not doing enough to attract a racially diverse audience.
"This was a slap in the face for the black gay community," Powell said last week. "In a heavily African-American city, we have a white gay-pride event and the organizers don't seem to want to change that."
After receiving complaints from blacks across the country, Donna Narducci, executive director of Atlanta Pride, admitted that she had failed to see the "intrinsic value" of sponsorship with Clik magazine. "My decision obviously touched a nerve in the African-American community," she said. "We have tried to be inclusive, but maybe we are not being as inclusive as we think we are."
Racial division is uncomfortable for a community that prides itself on being the progressive gay mecca of the South, a place of opportunity for gays and lesbians. Atlanta is considered the fourth-largest black gay community in the country, behind New York, Washington-Baltimore and Chicago.
Blacks make up more than a fifth of Atlanta's gay community. According to the 2000 census, the Atlanta area has 3,471 black gay and lesbian couples.
Over the years, a legacy of mistrust has built up between the black and white gay communities. Black gays say that white gay venues introduced stricter entrance requirements - asking for two forms of identification or imposing two-drink minimums - to keep black patrons out.
At Bulldogs, which used to be a predominantly white gay bar, Flynn said that whites gradually left the building as more blacks turned up during the 1990s. "Everything we're around, they tend to stray away from," he said.
Brandon C. Bragg, 37, a black community activist who set up the Brunch Conversations Networking Group for gay and lesbian professionals last year, said he tried to attract white gays, dropping off fliers in bars and bookstores in Atlanta's tony, predominantly white gay neighborhoods. But only 5 percent of the people who attend his monthly social mixers are white. "We're in the South," Bragg said. "We have learned segregated behavior."
Yet Earl Fowlkes, president of the International Federation of Black Prides in Washington, said that the racial divide in the gay community was not confined to Atlanta, or the South, and that it was a product of economic disparity.
- Jenny Jarvie