Meet 9 LGBTQ gym owners in Atlanta taking your fitness to a new level
Plus: Political progress and LGBTQ firsts in the New Year, a drag legend in need and Atlanta brands scoring perfectly on LGBTQ equality.
Welcome to the new Q! Your weekly newsletter from Project Q Atlanta and Q magazine looks a little different today. After three years, it was time for a change. We’ve revamped the look and feel, but it still offers the same quality content, event photos and weekend events you’ve come to expect on Friday mornings. Drop us an email and let us know what you think.
Work. It. Out.
We get it. Everyone is struggling – already! – to keep those New Year’s resolutions about getting more fit. To help, we take you to seven of Atlanta’s gay-run and queer-friendly gyms in a Q magazine photo essay that’s sure to inspire and motivate.
The profiles include Jeremy Ryan Allen (photo) from Armourbody:
I’m very lucky that I get to wake up every day and do something I love. But at the end of the day, all businesses are built because of the people. I have the most amazing staff and members — truly, it is like a family.
Check out the photo essay on Project Q Atlanta or by flipping through this week’s issue of Q magazine.
Need more help with those resolutions? Here are eight steps to hitting that goal.
What LGBTQ Atlanta is talking about
Drag legend Charlie Brown. By far the most read story we’ve published this month detailed plans to help the longtime drag performer. She’s been out of work for months due to health issues and fans are rallying.
WSB-TV, long the dominant player in local TV news, made history. On Jan. 13, when Jorge Estevez (photo) slid behind the anchor desk, he became the station’s first openly LGBTQ anchor (and second Latinx). We went behind the scenes to meet him.
Atlanta queens and kings served ‘60s Realness for MLK Weekend. Last weekend was Winter Pride for LGBTQ people of color, and Stars of the Century worked with our Q magazine to honor the weekend. The result? An epic photoshoot inspired by the Selma-to-Montgomery civil rights marches of the 1960s. It’s a must-see.
Is your favorite brand really that LGBTQ friendly? HRC is out with its annual Corporate Equality Index and these 16 Atlanta-based companies notched perfect scores. Two big local favorites that didn’t score a 100 will surprise you.
Political progress
If you didn’t think Doraville could get more LGBTQ representation – the DeKalb town has a City Council with two LGBTQ members and is led by a gay mayor – think again. Earlier this week, the city council unanimously picked transgender City Council member Stephe Koontz (photo) as mayor pro tem. That’s another first.
It’s the latest in a series of milestones for LGBTQ equality and visibility in Georgia in the New Year:
Bisexual entrepreneur Antwon Stephens became the first-ever LGBTQ member of the Clarke County School Board on Jan. 16. He beat out four other candidates to fill an open seat.
Former Doraville City Councilmember Joseph Geierman became the city’s first-ever LGBTQ mayor when he took the oath of office on Jan. 6. Gay IT professional Andy Yeoman was also sworn in as a council member.
Four days earlier, marketing firm owner Bill Grant became the first-ever LGBTQ mayor of Canton.
More political progress is brewing. Some 14 openly LGBTQ candidates are campaigning for seats in the Georgia Legislature this year. Kyle Lamont, Alex Wan and Devin Barrington Ward are the latest to announce campaigns. (Click their names to check out our interviews with them.)
Things To Do
Today
Get your weekend started with DJ beats, performances and scores of women with the Pretty Party at My Sister’s Room, 9 p.m.
Saturday
Leather & Lace brings the pageantry and kink back to the Atlanta Eagle, 8 p.m. Of course there’s an after party. (We’re looking at you, DJ Neon the Glowgobear.)
Sunday
If you haven’t heard the raspy voice of Ruby Redd (photo), can you really call yourself an Atlanta queen? She’s been doing the drag for 20 years and is celebrating the occasion with a special edition of the Heifer Review. There’s brunch (12 p.m.), the show (1 p.m.) and all you can drink mimosas for $10.
Need more? Check out the full Queer Agenda to keep this weekend busy AF.
That’s all for today
We hope you enjoyed the new look of the newsletter this week. Drop us a note – just reply to this email – and give us your take, share ideas for what you’d like to see and send any news tips. See you next week!