Celebrating LGBTQ+ culture, this weekend’s 2023 Atlanta Pride Festival, including its massive parade, seeks to present the vibrant, gay South as inclusive, supportive and united, organizers say.
At a time when the community is facing anti-gay, anti-drag and anti-transgender legislation, the theme of this year’s festival is “Show Up and Show Out.”
“Bring your full self, bring your full conviction,” said Chris McCain, who became executive director of the Atlanta Pride Committee earlier this year. “And do that in a way that is helping to advance our community’s efforts for justice, solidarity and support for one another.”
The main festival takes place Saturday and Sunday in Piedmont Park, including the parade at noon Sunday, but pre-festival events are planned for Friday too.
By gathering for the largest Pride festival in the South, McCain said, the community makes a hopeful statement.
Credit: Jenni Girtman for the AJC
Credit: Jenni Girtman for the AJC
Atlanta Pride is, of course, also a massive party. The musical headliners performing Saturday on the Coca-Cola Main Stage in the park are the Swedish DJ duo Icona Pop, rapper Saucy Santana and Australian singer-songwriter G-Flip.
The festival will showcase local talent including singing group Voices of Note and Out Front Theatre Company. Local drag performers will also take the stage Sunday at the Starlight Cabaret, the largest outdoor drag show in the country that traditionally closes out the weekend.
Credit: The Headshot Truck LLC
Credit: The Headshot Truck LLC
“The Starlight Cabaret has always meant a lot to me because of the real diversity of drag artists that it brings to the stage,” McCain said. “They represent both Atlanta drag today and Atlanta drag over decades. There’s not really another time in the year where so many performers — some of whom have been pioneers in the Atlanta drag scene and built it to where it is today — appear with newer, more recently established talent.”
The biggest moment of the weekend will be Sunday’s parade from Peachtree Street down 10th Street to Piedmont Park, which traditionally draws around 100,000 people. McCain said this year’s parade will feature 300 groups with about 5,000 people marching.
“I think it’s overwhelming to see so many people turn out in support of our community and a powerful reminder of how important visibility is for our community,” he said. “Being publicly proud of who we are and standing on the streets in the middle of the city — representing our community and its diverse groups and businesses that show out in support — is really important, especially in a time when we feel so much negative pressure from many elected officials and folks who are very opposed to rights for our community.”
Credit: Jenni Girtman
Credit: Jenni Girtman
This year’s 10 parade grand marshals include a number of advocates and activists whose work to save lives and protect LGBTQ+ rights underlines the political nature of Pride events that began in the U.S. with New York’s Stonewall Inn uprising in 1969.
The grand marshals include Danielle Bonanno, executive director of Inclusive Recovery Athens, which offers trauma-informed care around addiction for the LGBTQ+ community, particularly for transgender people.
“Six years ago, I made the decision to do whatever I had to do to break the bonds of trauma and addiction,” she said. “I lived in survival mode for a very long time, and I subscribed to a lie that a lot of trans women subscribe to, that we’re not ever going to be visible or that our voice is never going to be heard.”
She said it’s an honor to be a grand marshal.
“It’s been a really unreal year for me,” she said. “It’s hard for me to step back and see the impact of what we’ve done. But I was shocked. This is probably one of the most amazing moments of my life. To think of where I was a few years ago and where I am now, it’s incredible.”
Toni-Michelle Williams, executive director of the Solutions Not Punishment Collaborative, which works to reform the criminal justice system and protect those harmed by it, will also serve as a grand marshal.
“I was in awe at the fact that folks are being impacted and inspired by our organization’s leadership, that it was well-received and relevant,” she said of her selection. “It was energetic, electrifying to have that kind of platform to discuss the issues that I care about and the people: the trans women I love who inspire me and those that we’ve lost.”
FESTIVAL PREVIEW
2023 Atlanta Pride Festival
Saturday and Sunday. Piedmont Park. For a full list of events, see atlantapride.org.
Credit: Daniel Varnado
