How coronavirus is impacting LGTBQ Atlanta
Plus: Atlanta's own Sharon Needles in coma, Grindr sex bust and Ria Pell Ale.
It’s the end of the first full week of social distancing and self-quarantining. Things are changing from hour to hour. We tried to make sense of it with our coverage, updating you on how LGBTQ businesses and organizations are being impacted. But what about you? Have you been furloughed? Sent home to telework? Experienced a coronavirus scare? Share your story about being impacted by coronavirus with us by replying to this email.
LGBTQ nightlife is canceled
Bars and gyms – popular spots for some LGBTQ folks – started temporarily closing earlier this week. Then Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms (photo) made it official on Thursday: Shut. It. Down.
The mayor ordered bars, nightclubs, gyms, movie theaters and live performance venues in the city to close. The order from Bottoms also restricted restaurants to offering takeout, drive-thru or delivery only.
“The fate of cities across the globe will be upon soon if we do not follow recommendations to slow the spread of the coronavirus,” Bottoms wrote on Twitter.
So the bars are closed and your nightlife just got a lot less interesting. But there’s a bright spot: Midtown Moon is offering takeout and Woofs will reopen on Monday to do the same. (Several LGBTQ restaurants are offering takeout.)
LGBTQ-owned restaurants outside the Atlanta city limits are also facing limits on their operations. Several metro cities have restricted occupancy or, like Atlanta, ordered them closed other than takeout or delivery.
We’ve also detailed how other LGBTQ businesses and organizations are being impacted. Spoiler alert: It’s not good. And a handful of groups in Georgia called on public health officials and the media to be sure to include LGBTQ people in their response to the pandemic. Finally, we offered suggestions on books to read while you’re quarantined.
Before coronavirus fully engrossed all of us, we worked hard to produce our annual Dining Guide special issue of Q magazine. It hit the streets this week with lots of support from LGBTQ-owned eateries. Flip through, enjoy and make plans to show them some love right back when we’re allowed out of the house. (In the meantime, you can support them – and their staff members – with takeout, delivery or a gift card.)
What LGBTQ Atlanta is talking about
Drag queen Sharon Needles (photo) is in hospice care. The longtime camp queen and member of the Armorettes is in a coma after a long battle with cancer. “If there was any kind of drag show, Sharon Needles was there,” said longtime friend Sasha Stephens. “She was either performing or in the audience supporting.”
Nicholas Fontana, a 21-year-old Army soldier, was arrested in Savannah after allegedly having sex with a man in public. The two men met on Grindr and Fontana’s sex partner to told him he was 28. Turns out, he was underage though police won’t release his age.
Tyler Beck, the Georgia Tech police officer who shot and killed Scout Schultz, won’t face criminal charges. Schultz was the leader of the campus Pride Alliance and had a confrontation with officers in 2017. Schultz’s parents have since filed a wrongful death suit against the university.
Creature Comforts Brewery honored beloved lesbian chef Ria Pell by releasing its Ria Pell Ale. Pell, who owned Ria’s Bluebird on Memorial Drive in Cabbagetown, died in 2013 at age 45. She gained fame in 2012 after winning the Food Network show “Chopped.”
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