In the past year Midtown’s chapter of the Gay Straight Alliance has dissolved due to lack of student leadership and participation.
Midtown’s Gay Straight Alliance club used to participate in Atlanta Pride by having a large festival at school. This celebration of Pride at Midtown has been put on hold this year.
Social Studies teacher and former GSA co-leader Chris Wharton, thinks one of the most important things that Atlanta Pride offers is an opportunity for Queer kids to realize they are not alone, as festivals like Atlanta Pride in Piedmont Park provide visibility for young Queer individuals.
“Nothing like that was anywhere close to me when I was growing up,” Wharton said. “You see that visibility is so important;you see that there are a lot of people around me who are like me. Or if they aren’t like me, they are supportive of me and who I am in my identity. That is incredibly affirming, [since] there’s a lot of Queer kids that often feel quite alone.”
Midtown’s GSA club, which was a safe community for Queer students, has fallen off in the past year. Wharton attributes this to a drop off in participation and a lack of student leaders to drive the club.
“We had a few years where we had very active student leaders and active participation,” Wharton said. “Starting last year, we would schedule meetings and advertise, and like three kids would show up. No one was really taking up the mantle of leading.”
Wharton has found the participation for GSA has come in waves, with some years having active leaders and other “dead years.”
“The kids who identify in some way as LGBTQ, you know they have got great support networks and friends,” Wharton said. “So, they don’t really feel like everything else that they are trying to do in high school, [since] so many Midtown kids are so over committed with activities or academics and everything. It may be that there are fewer kids who feel like they need to be a part of it because they have a support network. Or we need some motivated kids to take up the mantle who say, ‘this is what we want to do with this.’”
Another former co-leader, orchestra teacher Krissi Davis, agrees with Wharton that the GSA Club is going through a transformation.
“For right now, in GSA, we are going through a transition as we find new student leadership,” Davis said. “We are looking for new student leadership because GSA, at the core, is a student-led organization, and then me and Mr. Wharton were in a support role.”
Both Wharton and Davis recall Midtown’s festival during Atlanta Pride Month, which was thrown by the GSA club. The GSA also used to participate in Atlanta Pride by marching in the Pride parade.
“In the past, we did a really big pride event where we did an art installation, and we invited bands to come in late October,” Davis said. “We did an offshoot Midtown-specific event that was really nice. Hopefully, we will be able to continue that when we go through our transition. We also in the past participated in the parade and marched with the larger Atlanta Public Schools delegation in the parade.”
Tyler Nelson, a Pride Festival volunteer working with Love Travels, believes, like Wharton, that the best thing Pride has to offer is inclusion.
“For me, Pride is about inclusion, because everybody can fit in and be involved here,” Traylor said. “When everyone is together, everyone gets to enjoy these festivities.”
Nadira Williams,Pride on the Square viewer, said she enjoys Pride events since they are often lively and fun.
“I knew it was a Pride event, and I love Pride events because there’s so much fun; there’s so much love, and so much light, happiness and dancing, so I wanted to do it,” Diosa said.
Wharton thinks Pride gives exigence for the Queer community to come together which, according to Wharton, provides a feeling of safety and unity.
“When I celebrate Pride, I spend a lot of time with my friends; we get together,; we go to the park; we check out the vendors,” Wharton said. “Just hanging out with the Queer community is a wonderful thing. It is celebrating who we are, and it is nice when you go out and see support all around, and you feel like you are in a safe space; it is lovely. While also taking in some of the entertainment in the park, as well.” Senior Emmie Sneed, a member of the Queer community, is celebrating Pride by giving out pins and stickers at Pride on the Square with her mom’s yoga studio, onlYoga.
“I am being my true, authentic self; I am living my true, authentic self,” Sneed said. “At onlYoga today, I am going to celebrate [Pride]with my mom at Pride on the Square, which is a cool Colony Square Pride Month celebration. There [are] drag queens, and we have a little booth that I am working at. We are giving out stickers”
Williams thinks that Pride is important since it helps to spread acceptance to those who may not currently accept Queer members of our community.
“For us, for people who attend pride, we’re good at acceptance,” Williams said. “But I think people who don’t attend pride are not good at acceptance. So, I think that’s probably the number one issue or the number one thing I think it’s important to celebrate.”
