In-person events were reimagined as virtual shows on platforms like Twitch, and we eventually realized we could do outdoor socially distanced events like drive-in drag shows. It was at Mary's, and it's kind of funny because my last performance was a Coronavirus number that I did to Britney Spears’ “Toxic.” Terrible in hindsight, but yeah, the pandemic changed everything. My last real, in-person drag show before the lockdowns was March 14, 2020. I am also the show director at My Sister's Room, which is really important to highlight because it's the only lesbian bar left in the South, and it’s owned by an amazing lesbian couple.Īs we all know, a lot of things shifted since the pandemic started. I’m also the show director at Sister Louisa's Church and at Georgia Beer Garden, and both of those are owned by queer people. When it comes to places that I frequent, I'm a big coffee person, like I could do a whole hour talking about the coffee shops in Atlanta, so HodgePodge Coffee is one of my favorite LGBTQ+ friendly shops in the city. You can go from one side of town and be in a neighborhood with its own unique cultural background and then drive 20 minutes across town and be in a completely different place. That’s part of what I love about Atlanta-it feels like so many different places and cities all smashed into one. But if you’re queer, trans, or Black and brown, the outskirts of downtown and East Atlanta are your best bet. īasically, there's pockets of different LGBTQ communities across the city, and I think if you're going for more of a mainstream-like top 40, capital G in the gay-kind of community, you're definitely gonna go to Midtown. There’s also Mary’s in East Atlanta, and the show director there is Ella/Saurus/Rex. Ponce used to be heavily LGBTQ back in the day, but now there’s really just Friends on Ponce, which is right next door to Drunken Unicorn and MJQ. Midtown is kind of where a lot of the nightlife for LGBTQ people happens, but I personally am somebody who really enjoys Atlanta below Ponce de Leon Avenue. There, you have Blake’s, the 10th & Piedmont restaurant, X, and if you go up from there you have Midtown Moon, which used to be called Burkhart's. When people think of LGBTQ in Atlanta, they think of Midtown-so obviously things like the rainbow crosswalks at the intersection of 10th and Piedmont. I realized that I don't have to move to Oakland or Brooklyn to be visible and safe and happy. Having moved to Atlanta in 2011 from Middle Georgia, the first few years of me going to events here-whether it was going to drag shows, going to the ballroom scene, seeing people vogue, or seeing a lot of the earlier protests to protect trans people-really just like shed a light on me and showed me that this community is so beautiful and so vibrant.