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Speaker 1: Hey, this is Anny and Samantha.

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Speaker 2: I'm welcome to stuff I never told you production of

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Speaker 2: iHeartRadio and welcome to a Monday MANI today is October sixteenth,

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Speaker 2: twenty twenty five, and this one's late. Sometimes we do

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Speaker 2: one that's late, but I was interested in learning more

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Speaker 2: about about it, so I thought, you know what, let's

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Speaker 2: look into it late than never. Yeah, better late than never.

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Speaker 2: So Atlanta Pride was this last weekend as we record

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Speaker 2: October eleventh through twelfth, with the theme of Rooted in

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Speaker 2: Resistance and so. Atlanta Pride was established in nineteen seventy,

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Speaker 2: making this it's fifty fifth year. Up until two thousand

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Speaker 2: and eight, it was held in June to coincide with

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Speaker 2: National Pride Month, but it moved to match up with

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Speaker 2: National Coming Out Day and October in part because the

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Speaker 2: weather in Atlanta in June is no joke, it's very hot.

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Speaker 2: October is much more pleasant. Nowadays. It attracts about three

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Speaker 2: hundred thousand attendees every year, and in fact, if you

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Speaker 2: are a listener who tunes in often, you'll know. I

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Speaker 2: recently had my mom. I've been trying to meet up

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Speaker 2: with her. She was going to meet up with me

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Speaker 2: that weekend and I said, nope, the traffic will be horrendous.

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Speaker 2: And I was correct. The traffic was horrendous because I

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Speaker 2: live near where it's held, which is nice for walking

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Speaker 2: but terrible for driving and parking. The story goes that

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Speaker 2: Atlanta Pride came about after the police raided an Annsley

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Speaker 2: Mall movie theater showing that Andy Warhol film The Lonesome Cowboys,

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Speaker 2: and they rated it because it was quote provocative. It

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Speaker 2: was a home eerotic comedy. That's that's how it was

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Speaker 2: described at the time. I haven't seen it, so I

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Speaker 2: can't say, but that's how it was described. It featured

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Speaker 2: a scene where two cowboylike men kissed. This was in

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Speaker 2: nineteen sixty nine, and it was kind of a big

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Speaker 2: deal that it was showing in Atlanta. Like I read

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Speaker 2: a lot of quotes about it, and people who were

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Speaker 2: there at the time were so, like, this is a

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Speaker 2: movie that's only showing in New York and now it's

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Speaker 2: in Atlanta. You know, that kind of thing. But that

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Speaker 2: meant that it was big enough that the showing drew

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Speaker 2: anti gay protesters. Within fifteen minutes of the film start,

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Speaker 2: the police began their raid and they claimed they were

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Speaker 2: there to find gay people and the audience and uphold

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Speaker 2: obscenity laws, and to do this they frisked the men

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Speaker 2: against the wall. And for some this was a real

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Speaker 2: wake up call. I think that Atlanta is an interesting city,

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Speaker 2: not that it's entirely unique, but a lot of people thought,

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Speaker 2: like Atlanta was so progressive, they're showing this movie. It's

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Speaker 2: just a movie, and then this happened, and it was

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Speaker 2: just really clear that there was a lot of backlash

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Speaker 2: still to this progress and it was a time when

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Speaker 2: conservative communities were pushing back against the gay community. Atlanta

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Speaker 2: was fairly progressive in some ways, but yeah, there was

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Speaker 2: still a lot of pushback, and this was a real

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Speaker 2: I mean, we've talked about this before. This was a

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Speaker 2: time of a lot of ideas changing and people fighting

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Speaker 2: against them if they didn't like them. The gay community

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Speaker 2: was fighting to be seen in a part of the conversation,

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Speaker 2: and so in nineteen seventy one they held their first

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Speaker 2: parade with over one hundred marchers, and they were determined

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Speaker 2: to be seen and heard. The fight is ongoing as

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Speaker 2: we jump ahead. In two thousand and nine, the gay

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Speaker 2: bar The Eagle was rated by police all the patrons

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Speaker 2: were ordered to lay on the ground as police ran

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Speaker 2: their IDs. The owner of the bar and a few

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Speaker 2: other plaintiffs filed a lawsuit against the city. They, alongside

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Speaker 2: the Southern Center for Human Rights representing black folks who

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Speaker 2: had experienced similar things, settled for about one point five

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Speaker 2: million dollars. The city apologized, and the APD instituted LGBTQ

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Speaker 2: plus sensitivity trading. Obviously, while there has been a lot

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Speaker 2: of progress with what we're seeing right now, with a

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Speaker 2: lot of rollback, we have to keep fighting. Also of note,

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Speaker 2: Atlanta Black Pride got started in nineteen ninety six. It

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Speaker 2: takes place the week leading up to Labor Day. About

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Speaker 2: one hundred thousand people attend, making it the largest Black

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Speaker 2: gay Pride celebration in the world, and Raquel Willis has

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Speaker 2: been one of the marshals of it. Our good friend

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Speaker 2: the show. Yes, So that's sort of Atlanta Pride in

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Speaker 2: a nutshell. But I originally was looking into the history

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Speaker 2: of National Coming Out Day. So National Coming Out Day

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Speaker 2: was first founded in October nineteen eighty eight in response

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Speaker 2: to the AIDS epidemic and the anti gay Reagan administration

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Speaker 2: at the time. A lot of people were in what

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Speaker 2: is called the glass closet, which is sort of out

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Speaker 2: but not officially out. People were getting outed when dying

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Speaker 2: of AIDS, and that's how family members were finding out,

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Speaker 2: and oftentimes they weren't accepting about it, even though someone

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Speaker 2: was on their deathbed. Author, editor and advocate Gene O'Leary

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Speaker 2: pushed for gay rights through litigation and really made a

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Speaker 2: lot of progress with the Carter administration and not just

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Speaker 2: around gay rights, but gay rights. But then Reagan was

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Speaker 2: elected and a lot of that ground got lost. On

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Speaker 2: October eleventh, nineteen eighty seven, O'Leary marched on Washington with

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Speaker 2: around two hundred thousand others demanding gay rights and funding

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Speaker 2: for AIDS on the anniversary of the March of the

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Speaker 2: following year. O'Leary wanted to come up with something to

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Speaker 2: showcase that people knew gay people and that they weren't

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Speaker 2: just the caricature created by conservatives, like they weren't just

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Speaker 2: in San Francisco at these marches, you know they're your neighbors, right.

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Speaker 2: So O'Leary, along with doctor Robert Eichberg and some others,

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Speaker 2: came up with the idea of a day where everyone

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Speaker 2: came out together. Some people thought it would never work,

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Speaker 2: but they went along with it anyway, putting together resources

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Speaker 2: to help people if they were nervous about it, how

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Speaker 2: to do it. All of that and people did it.

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Speaker 2: It was a really emotional time for a lot of folks.

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Speaker 2: The message of the campaign which did highlight what was

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Speaker 2: going on with AIDS, and you can still find the

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Speaker 2: video hammered home the message coming out is a political

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Speaker 2: act of courage. In recent years, some have questioned whether

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Speaker 2: this day is still important, but many argue that it

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Speaker 2: still is. It is still scary for a lot of

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Speaker 2: people to come out, even though embracing that identity is

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Speaker 2: something to celebrate. Some who came out on that day

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Speaker 2: remember them of it like it's a significant day every

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Speaker 2: year for them, how meaningful it was, and how younger

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Speaker 2: folks might experience the same thing. I read a lot

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Speaker 2: of parents thinking about their children having this day. And

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Speaker 2: here's a quote from Kyle Gomez in parade. When is

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Speaker 2: National Coming Out Day twenty twenty five and what does

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Speaker 2: it mean for members of the LGBTQ plus community. Quote? Truthfully,

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Speaker 2: coming out never ends. There will always be new coworkers, teachers,

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Speaker 2: and friends that you tell while in the back of

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Speaker 2: your mind you wonder if this news will change their

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Speaker 2: opinion of you. It shouldn't and it more than likely won't,

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Speaker 2: but it does serve as a reminder of why we

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Speaker 2: recognize this day every year, and speaking of ACE week

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Speaker 2: is October nineteenth through the twenty fifth of this year.

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Speaker 2: So as as longtime listeners know, I kind of came

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Speaker 2: out on the show, and actually that's how some people

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Speaker 2: found out about it. Yeah, but yeah, I do think

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Speaker 2: it is important, and I think it's good to know

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Speaker 2: the history of it and remember why it is important, right.

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Speaker 1: I know, when we feature so many people around the

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Speaker 1: world and our activists around the world, when they talk

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Speaker 1: about having their own pride in their country, they take

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Speaker 1: a lot of pride in the fact that this is

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Speaker 1: a thing and how significant it is for them that

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Speaker 1: in itself is an act of rebellion and being able

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Speaker 1: to come out in that way in countries where they're

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Speaker 1: afraid to because they're still being persecuted and prosecuted for

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Speaker 1: their orientation sexual orientation. So we know it's significant because

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Speaker 1: it is caught on around the world and it's huge

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Speaker 1: and it's a big deal.

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Speaker 2: Absolutely absolutely so to everyone happy Pride. I know not

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Speaker 2: everybody does in October, but a few places do do

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Speaker 2: it in October, not just Atlanta. And yeah, we hope

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Speaker 2: that you're all well. If you want to share any

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Speaker 2: stories about this, we would love to hear from you.

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Speaker 2: You can email us at Hello at Stuffannever Told You

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Speaker 2: dot com. You can find us on blue Sky at

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Speaker 2: moms a podcast, or on Instagram and TikTok at stuff

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Speaker 2: I Never Told You for us on YouTube. We have

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Speaker 2: some new merchandise at Cotton Bureau and we have a

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Speaker 2: book you can get wherever you get your books. Thanks

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Speaker 2: is always to our super producer, received our executive producer,

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Speaker 2: and a contributor, Joey. Thank you and thanks to you

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Speaker 2: for listening. Stop one Never Told You the protection of

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Speaker 2: my Heart Radio. For more podcasts on my Heart Radio,

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Speaker 2: you can check out the iHeart Radio app, Apple podcast

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Speaker 2: or where you listen to your favorite show