Meet 5 LGBTQ Valentine matches living, loving in Atlanta
Plus: Gay film star arrested, Baptists expel Decatur church, Mike Bloomberg's big gay splash and your LGBTQ weekend planner.
Good morning and Happy Valentine’s Day! Or if you’re single (like me) for this Hallmark holiday, enjoy National Single Awareness Day tomorrow. This week, crime and politics lead the news. So sit back and take a minute to catch up. If you’re new to The Q, please subscribe so we can pop into your inbox every Friday. Thanks!
Five LGBTQ Valentine matches loving in the ATL
We go all in on Valentine’s this week by highlighting committed couples and polyamorous clusters making it work today and every other day of the year. They dish about how they met, helpful advice and what they do to keep things interesting. The couples are profiled in a Q magazine photo essay and again with outtakes and extended interviews online with Project Q.
Taylor Alxndr (photo center) offers several nuggets of advice, including:
You can never over-communicate. Especially being polyamorous, you’re always communicating and checking-in. And never look for love. Love will find you. Regular, everyday things have become ways we express our love for each other: grocery shopping, cleaning, etc. It’s not always about dates or grand gestures, but just showing up for each other.
I don’t know who needs to hear this …
If you’re falling a little short of being the bestest bae you can on Valentine’s, here are 10 ways to step up your game. Number 7 is my fave.
What LGBTQ Atlanta is talking about
Zachary Robert Santangelo (photo), who performs as Aspen in gay sex videos, was busted – again. This time, Dunwoody police charged him with child molestation. His brushes with the law span three metro Atlanta counties, three states and at least nine years.
First Baptist Church of Decatur gets bounced. The congregation was expelled – after 110 years – from the Atlanta Metro Baptist Association for performing same-sex marriages and appointing LGBTQ members to church leadership.
Mike Bloomberg is making a big gay splash in Georgia. His presidential campaign tapped gay politico Lance Orchid to run the operation in the state ahead of the presidential primary on March 24. They are assembling a team of nearly 70 staffers.
State Rep. Sharon Cooper, a Republican from Marietta, is leading a push to modernize the state’s HIV laws. Currently, it’s a felony for people living with HIV to have sex without disclosing their status.
Things to do
When the dust settles from Valentine’s Day, there’s an entire weekend of queer things to do. Here’s our take on what should be on your agenda.
Today
Edie Cheezburger, Jaye Lish and the cast of the Other Show take on the day with a Valentimes special edition at Midtown Moon, 9 p.m.
Saturday
Vicki Powell’s Deep South series (photo) returns with the popular Horse Meat Disco at Heretic, 10 p.m.
Sunday
Drinks, Dancers and DJ Rob Reum kicks Sunday Funday into high gear at Ten, 4 p.m.
Pic of the week
Nothing says Valentine’s quite like the annual kickoff event for the Joining Hearts fundraising season. Love on the Rocks kept the cocktails flowing and the silent auctions bids coming in Sunday at the Frazer Center. It tops our most popular event photos of the week. But Russ Bowen-Youngblood didn’t stop there. He also snapped images of the Atlanta Bucks auctioning their bachelors at Woofs and Southern Sole Bootblack Weekend at the Atlanta Eagle.
That’s all folks!
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