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Atlanta Transgender Woman Fired by State Official

Atlantan Vandy Beth Glenn was paid by the State of Georgia to check and change the language in state law. But when she examined her own life and determined that she had Gender Identity Disorder, her changes were not approved by her bosses. Now the transgender woman is suing the state in federal court for firing her, with the help of Lamda Legal.

Vandy Beth Glen

Glenn worked for two years in the Georgia General Assembly’s Office of Legislative Counsel, editing and proofreading the language of bills brought before state lawmakers. After years of private struggle, Glenn was diagnosed with Gender Identity Disorder (GID) and prepared to undergo gender transition. Glenn informed her immediate supervisor, Beth Yinger, that she planned to proceed with her transition from male to female last year. Yinger then told the General Assembly’s Legislative Counsel, Sewell Brumby, who runs the office where Glenn worked. Brumby confirmed that Glenn intended to transition from male to female, then fired her on the spot, according to information released by Lambda Legal.

Lambda Legal’s announced its intent to sue on behalf of Glen yesterday. The federal lawsuit asserts that Glenn was fired in violation of the Constitution’s equal protection guarantee, because it treated her differently due to her female gender identity and her nonconformity with gender stereotypes. In addition, Lambda Legal says that General Assembly officials disregarded Glenn’s GID and her needed treatment — also an equal protection violation.

“The leaders of the state of Georgia should be an example of fair–mindedness and ethical decision-making,” said Cole Thaler, Transgender Rights Attorney in Lambda Legal’s Southern Regional Office based in Atlanta. “Our client was a successful and professional employee who was fired because her boss didn’t like who she is.”

Glen’s case will be handled by Cole Thaler, Transgender Rights Attorney and Greg Nevins, Supervising Senior Staff Attorney in Lambda Legal’s Southern Regional Office in Atlanta.

“We should expect more from the leaders of our state than to fire me simply for being who I am,” Glenn said.

Yes, we should. But we would only be disappointed. It’s not surprising that the Georgia General Assembly’s treatment of its employees is just as intolerant as its treatment of LGBT Georgians in general.

See resources for the transgender community on our Transgender Info and Resources page.

Pride is Proof God Loves Gay Atlanta

Queers have been accused of creating a lot of havoc, so maybe it’s time to turn the tables and take a little credit. Atlanta Pride could be seen as proof that God loves gay people and wants us to have rain. If right-wing conspiracy theorists like Jerry Falwell and friends believe that homosexuals are the cause of hurricanes and terrorist attacks, then are we not also deserving of credit for last weekend’s much-needed rain over the city of Atlanta?  Why not.

Atlanta’s extended drought caused concerned city officials to kick Pride out of Piedmont Park for fear of  further deterioration of rain-starved trees and grass.  What history teaches us, however, is that it very often rains during Atlanta Pride.  This year was no exception, with a torrential downpour dampening Sunday’s Pride Parade.  In fact, statistically speaking, if Atlanta wanted to erase our rainfall deficit, LGBT Atlantans should be encouraged to celebrate Pride several times a year.

After a good soaking on Sunday, the skies cleared and gave gay Atlanta a pleasant afternoon to spend in the Civic Center parking lot.  All in all, it seemed that the Atlanta Pride Committee did the best that could be expected under the pressure of a last minute date and venue change.  It seemed the festival was slightly smaller, both in terms of vendors and visitors.  But I did not do a scientific count of tents and tables, so it could have been an optical illusion created by the unfamiliar location.  The crowds were respectable, despite the rain and a significant amount of unexplainable community backlash about the location change.  I don’t understand how Atlanta gays and lesbians could punish the Pride Committee for circumstances beyond their control.  Atlanta Pride is to celebrate and benefit the LGBT community.  It is by us, for us.  Piedmont Park, too, is in many ways a part of our community.  Why should we be angry when efforts are made to preserve it?  All in all, it seemed to me that not too many queers cut off their own noses to spite their faces.  People came out, despite heavy rain, and showed some Pride.

Get Exposed to Queer Music During Atlanta Pride

Southern Exposure, the successful weekly live music series at Blake’s on the Park, will give Atlanta’s LGBT community a chance to hear the group’s established roster of LGBT musicians – renowned, rising and underground – in the first annual Southern Exposure Gay Pride Music Festival, scheduled to coincide with Atlanta Pride. The event will be held at Front Page News (Midtown location) on Friday, July 4th & Saturday, July 5th, The festival will feature 14 local and two national musical acts. Solo artists and full bands, all fronted by GLBT performers, will perform their uniquely queer approach to folk, spoken word, electronic, punk, country and rock music.

Southern Exposure Pride Schedule (Subject to change)

Friday July 4th
Doors open 6 p.m.

Richard Solomon, Barb Carbon + Hollin Gammage + Arrie Bozman, Miss Xanna Don’t, Mike Rickard, Jessica Dunnagan, The Sexual Side Effects, Jet Blk Joy featuring: Emily Kate Boyd, Angela Motter and West, Eric Himan

Saturday July 5th
Doors open 6 p.m.

The Wayne Fishell Experiment + Amy Lashley, Julia Carroll + Corey.E.Houlihan, Guyton Maurice, Mr.B, Sean Kagalis, Flat Cat, Tracy Rice, Richard Bicknell & the Shameless Lovers

Representatives from Chriskids.org “Rainbow House Program” will be on hand both nights to accept contributions for homeless and displaced GLBT youth in Atlanta. This is a grassroots effort to raise awareness and create a positive impact in the community.

Get exposed to gay and lesbian music at The Southern Exposure Gay Pride Music Festival. There is no cost to attend this event. Get your gay and lesbian music fix at:

Front Page News, 1104 Crescent Ave NE, Atlanta, GA 30309
Phone: (404) 897-3500

Ample off street parking is available, as well as a full parking deck across the street from the venue. The festival is all ages until 9 p.m., 21 and over after 9 p.m.

Women’s Guide to Atlanta Pride

So much to do. So many places to see and be seen. What’s a dyke to do at Atlanta Pride? Well, I’m going to try to help. This is Life on Q’s officially unofficial guide to Atlanta Gay Pride. In this post, you’ll get the 411 on where the women will be.

What’s different about this Atlanta Pride Guide is my attempt to describe some of the events and venues as I have experienced them as a “pride veteran.” I have lived in Atlanta since… well, since a long time ago… and I have attended Pride events and have patronized gay and lesbian nightclubs in Atlanta for what feels like forever. For out-of-towners trying to figure out what’s what and who’s where, consider me your dyke welcome wagon. I’m going to list all the events, meetings and such I’ve researched with a combination of the promoter’s description and, where I have one, my own opinion and experiences. Please take my opinions for what they are. If you’re old enough to get into a bar, you’re old enough to think for yourself and make your own choices. If you’re planning to visit Atlanta Pride from out of town, or you’re an Atlantan looking for a change of scenery from your usual haunts, read on.

Three Themes, One Pride

There are three different women’s events happening simultaneously during Atlanta Pride weekend. The “official” women’s events (i.e., promoted by the Atlanta Pride Committee) are sponsored by Curve Magazine and are branded as “Peach.” The Peach events culminate with a massive dance party Saturday night. Girls in the Night and Girlology 101, who regularly bring Atlanta women great events, are calling their weekend party package “Fever.” And why not–it will be hot, on many levels. And Traxx Girls is adapting some of their regular events for a pride audience under the theme “Honey.” Both Peach and Fever events have individual night cover charges or VIP passes for all events. Check the specific event details below for info on cover charges, where available.

Getting Out and Around

For any out-of-towners or Atlantans who have been living under a rock, you should know that Atlanta Pride has moved from Piedmont Park to the Atlanta Civic Center. Almost all of the women’s events are just a few blocks north and south of this new Pride Central. Many are in Little 5 Points, just a few blocks south and east of the Civic Center. Others are in Midtown, a few blocks north of Pride itself. Remember that 14th Street has been closed for construction and that the Peachtree Road Race will be creating congestion early in the morning on July 4th. But if you’re planning to kick-off Pride with Thursday night’s events, you’ll probably still be sleeping as thousands run down Peachtree Street. If you’re a morning person, you’ll want to plan your breakfast location accordingly.

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Team Gina Reproduces the 80’s

If you lived through the 1980s, liked leg warmers or shoulder pads, be warned: you could have a faux-hawk flashback when the Seattle duo Team Gina comes back to Georgia just after Atlanta Pride. Gina Bling and Gina Genius, the sum total of Team Gina, will come through the South on their “Product of the 80s” tour, in support of their new album of the same name released on June 17.

The Products of the Eighties Tour will be at Little King’s Shuffle Club in Athens, Ga. on July 8 and at Mary’s in East Atlanta on July 9. I first saw the Ginas perform at MondoHomo 2007, and caught such a fever that I had to dig out my old sweatbands. Their previous album, Gina Gina Revolution, features tunes with such catchy lyrics as: “Straight Boys Love Us (But We Like the Girls),” and “I like butch dykes.”

IMHO, the Ginas are both Bling and Genius. Part camp, part rap, part high school cheerleader, part 80s hair band, this team is not your typical lesbian music duo. Team Gina will really take you back, playfully remind you of all the fun we had during the Reagan years, and bring out your inner Flashdancer. As Gina Bling might say, the Team Gina experience is “a total Landsberry.” If you’re not hip to the latest Gina Slang, you’ll just have to go to the show in Athens or Atlanta and ask them yourselves.

If you’ve never had the Team Gina experience, get a glimpse in their latest video:

For more info on Team Gina and the Products of the 80s Tour, visit Gina Bling and Gina Genius on myspace at myspace.com/teamgina. You’ll find other cities and show dates there for their nationwide tour.

Gina Bling was just in Atlanta to MC a show at MondoHomo 2008. She is looking good, and it only made my baby dyke crush worse. Ah, to be young again. Like I was in the 80s.

Queer Atlanta, Mark Your Calendars

After much wailing and gnashing of teeth with our original queer Atlanta calendar, Life on Q is debuting a new and improved calendar. We’re using Google Calendars and will add gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender and other general queer community events as we find them. As before, the Queer Calendar will focus on LGBT events in Atlanta and Georgia, with the occasional listing of national and international events when they are of particular interest to us or to the queer community in the Atlanta area.  We are determined to include not only gay and lesbian nightlife in Atlanta, but all LGBT events and meetings — from support groups to community service meetings to educational seminars to political events and more.  If it affects your queer life, we will try to include it.  It even includes a weather forecast for the next few days.  Take a look and let us know what you think.

Event organizers: if you see an error in a listing, please send an e-mail to editor@lifeonq.com. Event organizers who would like to see their events on the LGBT calendar should send an e-mail to editor@lifeonq.com. Send your Google Calendar URL or info on how to access your iCal-compatible calendar to editor@lifeonq.com. Events not available on a Web-based calendar will be added by Life on Q as time allows, pending editorial approval.  Atlanta is a big gay town and there’s only so much time to type in events, but we’ll do our best to keep the latest happenings noted.  We are in the process of adding Atlanta Pride event listings, so check back often as we add all the Pride festivities to your queer schedule.

MEGA Answers the Question: “Maybe Baby?”

If the sound of your ticking biological clock is driving you crazy, you may want to spend some time with the MEGA Family Project this Saturday, June 14 from 9:30 a.m. until 2:30 p.m. at UUCA. The LGBT family-focused organization is holding a workshop called Creating a Family: Choices for Prospective LGBT Parents. The day will include advice on your baby birthin’ options from professionals as well as personal stories about the issues faced, told by lesbian moms and gay dads who have already brought home their little bundles of joy and dirty diapers.

MEGA says the workshop will cover issues like open adoption, donor insemination, the current state of international adoptions, foster parenting, adopting from the foster care system and surrogacy, guided by professionals who work on these issues. Apparently The Stork was not available. An adoption attorney will advise you on the very important legal issues you need to consider in deciding to become a parent, and take questions from workshop attendees. Queer parents will share their personal journeys through the different methods available. Parental discretion is advised.

The workshop is $15, which even includes a pizza lunch, snacks and drinks. (If you cannot eat pizza, you can e-mail Kathy@megafamilyproject.org to discuss alternative menu choices.) There was no indication as to whether the drinks provided would include the liquid-courage adult beverages that some may require. You can register online anytime before the deadline, which is 11 p.m. tomorrow, Friday June 13.

Blogger’s Note: My feeble attempts at humor in this posting simply serve to express my personal fear of babies. This lesbian has never had even one fraction of a second of maternal instinct. I don’t know nothin’ about birthin’ no babies, and I prefer to keep it that way. Besides, it’s probably best for this DNA to stop here. For those of you with the intestinal fortutitude, desire and boundless love to take on the task of child rearin’, more power to you. And don’t miss MEGA’s workshop, where you’re sure to get the strength you will need. Kathy Kelly and her crew have done amazing work for queer families, and I’m sure this workshop will be no exception. The MEGA Family Project provides support, education and advocacy for Georgia’s LGBT families and our children. All programs are open to everyone, regardless of whether or not you have children.

MondoHomo Chock Full O’ Great Music

MondoHomo’s Chock Full O’ Nuts concert at Lenny’s was chock full ‘o fun. Bigg Nugg made a return appearance this year. A genuinely nice bear of a guy, Bigg Nugg’s homo hop is as contagious as his friendly approach to his fellow MondoHomies. His album La Revolucion (2007) is full o’ catchy rants that seem to spur us to action. The title track talks of a gay revolution that seems both in-your-face angry and uplifting. It’s an interesting mix. The track I Remember is one of those songs that took me days to get out of my head. If I could stop playing it several times a day, that might help.

After seeing Bigg Nugg at MondoHomo 2007, I had befriended him on myspace. I remember getting a thank you that struck me as written by Bigg Nugg directly — canned “marketing” by an agent or manager does not usually seem that genuine and gracious. His comment to me on myspace was the same as his autograph on the La Revolucion CD I bought at MondoHomo 2008: “Thanks for the support.” Bigg Nugg’s second thank-you was punctuated with a genuinely warm hug and smile. I like this guy, and his music.

Also performing at Lenny’s was DaLyrical, Atlanta’s own HomoHopper. I first saw her perform at Black Pride a couple of years ago. She struck me then as very talented onstage and almost painfully shy offstage. A couple of years later, she seems to be growing into the increasing attention. I did not have the chance to talk with her offstage, but her onstage performance was more connected and more confident that I remembered. DaLyrical is getting sexier, and her performance with Ohio’s Unecc got many of us hot from more than the Atlanta spring heat. Before her performance, DaLyrical shared that family tragedy had her distracted, but she put aside personal worries and gave the MondoHomo crowd all she had.

If you missed MondoHomo, you still have a chance to experience the triple threat of Bigg Nugg, DaLyrical and Unecc. They are touring together in a Unity Tour this year. Keep an eye on the Unity Tour ‘08 schedule so you won’t miss the chance to experience these talents in a city near you. With luck, maybe they’ll warm up Hotlanta again.

MondoHomo ‘08 > HomoHop

Photos from Friday night’s MondoHomo HomoHop concert at Lenny’s Bar.

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Team Gina's Gina Bling

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MondoHomos Meet at Mary’s

MondoHomo Dirty South ‘08 got off to a great start last night. The Homo-a-rama Dance Party at Mary’s in East Atlanta immediately followed the art opening at the Tilt Gallery downtown. Many of the artists and musicians performing at the event appeared at Mary’s for some social time with the MondoHomo team, other artists and the rest of us. When I woke up this morning still feeling a little tipsy, I knew MondoHomo was definitely underway.

I asked Kiki, one of the organizers of the alterna-queer arts and music festival, about her expectations for MondoHomo v. 2. Kiki says she anticipates an increase in attendance this year, and hopes it will continue to grow in popularity, scope and impact every year.

The first MondoHomo last year was held the weekend after Atlanta Pride. But with the drought-induced re-arranging of Atlanta events this summer, I suppose it doesn’t make much sense to tie another event on Pride’s coattails. Besides, MondoHomo deserves its own time and attention. It’s focused on queer art and music just to the left of the mainstream. Okay, make that way, far left of the mainstream. A lot of Pride’s purpose has always been inclusion and acceptance. MondoHomo is more about celebrating our differences–including the many differences within the queer community itself. The MondoHomo’s moved the festival to Memorial Day weekend, where it will stay for future festivals, according to Kiki.

The music starts tonight at 8:00 p.m. at Lenny’s Bar with MondoHomo HipHop.  See you there.