As we continue celebrating our 25th anniversary, we pause to look back at the people and events that shaped Georgia Equality.

Cindy Abel, an Atlanta LGBTQ filmmaker, served as the first Executive Director of Georgia Equality. Cindy previously served as the Director of Stonewall Cincinnati and relocated to Atlanta to be Executive Director for the small, newly founded LGBTQ organization. At the time, Georgia Equality had no full-time staff and desperately needed full-time support to work on fundraising and increasing visibility. As for the political landscape – the State Capitol, according to Cindy, was “not a welcoming climate – to put it mildly.” “This was in the wake of the Otherside Lounge bombing of February of 1997 and LGBT relations were tense. Most work with the legislature involved stopping ‘anti-bills,’ and it was hard to promote anything for LGBT equality. We were mostly fighting off harmful initiatives,“ she continued.

Wins for the LGBTQ community came over time. This started with the first openly LGBT candidates being elected in Georgia throughout the late ‘90s and early 2000s, including Cathy Woolard being elected to Atlanta City Council in 1998 and becoming the first openly LGBTQ elected official in Georgia. Georgia Equality aided in the election of Rep. Karla Drenner to the State House shortly after that in 2000, making Karla the first openly gay state legislator.

Cindy mentioned the importance of having LGBTQ representation in public office, outlining bold visions for a future with even more strong LGBTQ leadership in elected positions, including 10% of elected officials across Georgia being LGBTQ and someday even having a LGBTQ governor. While this may seem improbable to some, Cindy points out that Georgia Equality’s success 25 years ago was improbable, too. “We have to have those bold dreams and those bold visions… Continue to build on the foundations laid … 25 years ago when the improbable became possible … and continue to dream big.” 

When asked about the success of Georgia Equality over time, Cindy spoke about the importance of working from a place of positive motivation: “That’s something I’ve been so encouraged to see. It’s been ‘What is the world we want to live in? What are we for?’ It’s been about articulating that vision.”

In her time as Executive Director, Cindy shared that one of her proudest accomplishments comes from cultivating a broad and diverse community of support. “This is a very connected fight,” she said. “At the time, we focused on bringing together communities of color, women’s organizations, rural communities, and others, and becoming allies with them. Everyone was still learning about intersectionality back then, even before there was a term for it. Having conversations with other communities and growing from them and with them is what matters. That’s what I’m really proud to say I was a part of.”