The Latest

by Wes Sanders

Special Announcement

For us, at Georgia Equality, it’s a big week– twenty-five years ago this week, in 1995, Georgia Equality became an officially recognized organization with the Georgia Secretary of State’s office. Help us celebrate by chipping in $25 now!

In a time when our very sexuality was considered a felony offense, and the promise of broad nondiscrimination protections and marriage equality were considered unattainable, a group of Georgians came together to stand up for all of us. Ed Stansell. Cherry Spencer-Stark. Brad Wilkinson. Aida Rentas. Charles Gossett. These are the founders listed on our original filing. We have all been a part of what they started 25 years ago, and that’s how we’ve come so far. Each of us has pushed a little each day and what we’ve accomplished together is truly amazing.

This year has been turned upside down by the COVID-19 pandemic, and our plans for the 25th year with it. So, today we have an important announcement to make– our annual gala, Evening for Equality, will not happen as it usually would. We always enjoy the chance to gather and celebrate, so this year, I hope you’ll enjoy the series of online events we put together just as much and continue to #InvestInEquality. Keep an eye out for more information on these in the weeks to come.

We have so much to celebrate, and so much left to fight for. With your help, the next 25 years for Georgia Equality will be its best yet! Join me today and invest in equality!

by Wes Sanders

ACTION ALERT: People living with HIV facing homelessness

 

HIV Advocates:

The City of Atlanta has once again failed to reimburse payments to nonprofits that provide housing to people living with HIV in a timely manner. This means that hundreds of people living with HIV who currently receive housing assistance through these nonprofits may be facing homelessness during an extremely vulnerable time.

Join us in urging Atlanta Mayor Bottoms to immediately use her authority and power as the administrator of these funds to ensure that the funding owed to agencies to ensure that People Living with HIV/AIDS are stably housed is dispersed immediately.

Send your message NOW:

I’m a person at risk of losing my
HOPWA supported housing		 I want to advocate for
People Living with HIV

Thank you,

-Georgia Equality

 

by Wes Sanders

Transgender Day of Visibility 2020

Today is International Transgender Day of Visibility (TDOV), an annual event dedicated to celebrating transgender people and raising awareness of discrimination faced by transgender people worldwide, as well as a celebration of their contributions to society.

Whether you’re transgender, gender non-conforming (GNC) or an ally, join Georgia Equality in sending a note to your state legislator. We must make sure they know that transgender Georgians are important to our communities, and they deserve protection from discrimination in state law.

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by Danielle Quesenberry

What the LGBTQ community needs to know about COVID-19

As the spread of the Coronavirus (COVID-19) increases, many LGBTQ people are understandably concerned about how this virus may affect us and our communities. Georgia Equality joined over 100 community organizations to highlight the LGBTQ community’s increased vulnerability to the Coronavirus. As LGBTQ community leaders, we stand with health leaders to make sure we do not allow any population to be disproportionately impacted or further stigmatized by the virus.
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by Danielle Quesenberry

Reflections at 25: Cindy Abel

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.

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