Pioneering study of Atlanta’s LGBTQ+ history seeks public input

By John Ruch

A pioneering examine of Atlanta’s LGBTQ+ historical past is taking public enter and contributions, with some neighborhood occasions to be introduced quickly.

Historic Atlanta, a nonprofit targeted on underrepresented historical past, final 12 months secured funding for the examine. Along with the Atlanta Division of Metropolis Planning (DCP), the examine will proceed by the top of the 12 months and culminate in a “Historic Context Assertion,” a report supposed to tell and encourage future preservation efforts like landmarking and itemizing on registers of historic locations.

DCP has been speaking with numerous neighborhood teams for enter for the reason that starting of the 12 months, in response to division spokesperson Paula Owens, and a webpage was launched at atlfutureplaces.com/lgbtq-grant. And extra is on the best way.

This month, a request for enter can be rolled out to the Neighborhood Planning Models. That request says: “You possibly can fill within the particulars of the Metropolis’s LGBTQ+ historical past that may not in any other case be present in archives or normal publications, share a narrative a few particular LGBTQ+ place within the Metropolis of Atlanta, go alongside supplies or paperwork associated to the Metropolis’s LGBTQ+ historical past, or tell us about what our analysis ought to concentrate on.”

DCP can also be engaged on “neighborhood occasions” that doubtless can be introduced subsequent week, Owens mentioned. Even after the examine wraps up in December, she added, that gained’t be the top.

“Our aim is to additionally proceed ongoing neighborhood dialogue on the subject even after the conclusion of the formal analysis,” Owens mentioned.

For extra data, see the examine’s webpage. Recommendations and supplies might be despatched to the examine staff at lgbtqcontext@historicatlanta.org.