Tuesday: 16 gay things to do today

• Social Tuesdays heads to Las Margaritas for a tequila tasting. 7 p.m.
• Longtime LGBT activist Betty Couvertier hosts her weekly radio show "Alternative Perspectives" on WRFG. 7 p.m.
• The Hotlanta Volleyball Association offers up open play, while the Atlanta Rainbow Trout holds swimming and water polo practice. 7:30 p.m.
• There's bingo at Woofs, karaoke with Kitty LeClaw at Blake's and Mary-oke at Mary's.
• Mary Edith Pitts (photo) hosts a special evening with the Armorettes and other guests as she continues efforts to raise $40,000 for HIV charities. 11 p.m.

View the full list of gay things to do today on Project Q Atlanta's interactive community calendar. You can also submit your events.    READ MORE »

Tuesday: Ricky Berens’ bootylicious baring

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UGA’s Joe Cox lives up to his name

UGA quarterback Joe Cox likes "Family Guy," Lil Wayne, wings and Tiger Woods. His best physical attribute? His red hair.Oh, Joe, we so know it's not your, well, wanker. How's that?    READ MORE »

Gay chamber networks with West Midtown

The Atlanta Gay & Lesbian Chamber of Commerce hit the swanky West Midtown digs of Studio B on Friday. The crowd mingled in kitchen, batch and interior retail showplace.    READ MORE »

Setting the stage for workplace equality

Contributing blogger John Long is a professional career coach in Atlanta who founded Two Roads Resources. He answers: "Should I ask my company to include “sexual orientation” in our policies?    READ MORE »

TV gays, secret HIV, Outgames, E. Lynn Harris

• Study: HBO leads on TV in showing gay characters, including Lafayette from "True Blood" (photo).
• E. Lynn Harris, best-selling black gay author from Atlanta, told of black gay life.
• After the breakup, what about the lake house?
• Study: Half of HIV-positive men in Chicago don't know it.
• Gay marriage backers rethink California push.
• Foes of gay partnerships in Washington say petition drive 'too close to call.'
• Let the games begin: World Outgames celebration of gay sport gets under way.
• Senate to hold hearings on military gay policy this fall.
• U.S. Rep. Jared Polis takes seat on Air Force Academy board as first openly gay member.
• Dallas police, sheriff bolster LGBT liaison assignments.    READ MORE »

Monday: 16 gay things to do today

• Downtown Atlanta Restaurant Week kicks off two-weeks of three-course meals for $25 at 28 restaurants scattered throughout downtown.
• Young Women Writers (5 p.m.) and Writing with Intent meet at Charis (6:30 p.m.).
• "Hedwig and the Angry Inch" (photo) screens at Movie Mondays at Joe's 8 p.m.
• Show off that burly chest at Bear Chest Night at the Eagle. 10 p.m.
• Alexandria Martin leads Drag on the Edge at Blake's. 11 p.m.

View the full list of gay things to do today on Project Q Atlanta's interactive community calendar. You can also submit your events.    READ MORE »

Monday: Rick Day scores with these ‘Players’

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Joining Hearts rocks Piedmont for charity

A sold-out Joining Hearts packed the refurbished Piedmont Park Aquatic Center on Saturday, raising tens of thousands of dollars for two local HIV-related non-profits.

The annual summer event pulsated with the sounds of DJ Roland Belmares, who returned after providing the tracks for the event in 2008 when it was held at the Atlanta Civic Center.

More, including photos, after the jump.    READ MORE »

Sunday: 14 gay things to do today

• Sol Sundays goes poolside at the W Atlanta-Midtown. 1 p.m.
• Closing parties: The AIDS Vaccine 200 (photo) holds its at Plaza Midtown (3 p.m.), while the National Flag Football League of Atlanta goes to Blake's at 4 p.m.
• Joining Hearts continues its weekend with a t-dance at Opera. 6 p.m.
• Come Out and Play with the Atlanta Freedom Bands. 6 p.m.
• Mary Edith Pitts continues her birthday fundraising push with the Armorettes. 9 p.m.

View the full list of gay things to do today on Project Q Atlanta's interactive community calendar. You can also submit your events.    READ MORE »

Saturday: 25 gay things to do today

• SisterLove celebrates its 20th anniversary with a weekend of events. 10 a.m.
• The Atlanta Lesbian Health Initiative offers Health Fair to Go. 12 p.m. Read more about the event.
• The Big Gay Supper Club's Rande Head (photo) offers up brunch at No Mas Hacienda & Cantinia. 12:30 p.m.
• A sold-out Joining Hearts 22: Return to Paradise is sure to pack the pool of Piedmont Park. 4 p.m. The after party takes place at Jungle. 10 p.m.
• Gay-owned Noni's celebrates its one-year anniversary. 8 p.m.

View the full list of gay things to do today on Project Q Atlanta's interactive community calendar. You can also submit your events.    READ MORE »

Tracks to fuel your Joining Hearts weekend

Professional fraternity man by day and roving entertainment reporter by night, Buck Cooke moved to Atlanta in 2000. Armed with a passion for pop culture and rabid appetite for music, Buck scours the entertainment landscape for treasures in music, TV and cinema.

You probably can't afford to have DJ Roland Belmares come to your house and spin tracks to get you in the mood for Joining Hearts, so here’s a list of the hot dance tracks to get your dance face on.

More after the jump.    READ MORE »

Reports: E. Lynn Harris dies during book tour

UPDATED | Friday, 4:25 p.m.


Gay Atlanta author E. Lynn Harris died Thursday night while staying at a Beverly Hills hotel during a publicity tour for "Basketball Jones."

Reports of the nine-time best-selling author’s death surfaced in blogs Friday morning. A Harris publicist and publishing executive confirmed his death with the Associated Press and Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

More after the jump.    READ MORE »

Lambert, billboard, demotion, clothes flap

• New York senator backs off bill on moratorium on military discharges.
• San Francisco wants a say in Prop. 8 lawsuit.
• Navy: Murder charge filed in gay seaman's death.
• Complaint targets outfit of nation's first openly transgender mayor.
• Anti-gay Singapore professor cancels NYU stint after uproar.
• Straight believers find a home in gay churches, synagogues.
• Bishop: Episcopal Diocese of Dallas won't accept gay unions.
• Retired pastor rents town's only billboard to rally against gay rights.
• 10 questions with Adam Lambert.
• Gay news anchor in Miami, Charles Perez, demoted.    READ MORE »

AAA South changes policy on gay couples

AAA South announced that it's backing away from a policy that treated gay couples differently than straight ones, after being pressured from a coalition of gay groups that included Georgia Equality.

AAA South in the past has said LGBT partners can be added as primary members, but not associates. The prohibition can be costly, meaning gay couples pay $34 to $59 more than married, heterosexual couples for an annual membership based on the plan they purchase.

Georgia Equality and Tennessee Equality Project joined with an effort led by Equality Florida last month to pressure the AAA affiliate to mend its ways. The effort apparently paid off, according to Tom O’Brien, president and CEO, AAA Auto Club South, after a face-to-face meeting on Wednesday.

More after the jump.    READ MORE »

Friday: 18 gay things to do today

• The Atlanta Gay & Lesbian Chamber of Commerce holds its 4th Friday networking. 5:30 p.m.
• "The Wild Party" continues its run at OnStage Atlanta. 8 p.m.
• Sonia Leigh (photo) gets unplugged at Bellissima. 8 p.m.
• Gay artist Austin DeBoer is among those featured at the Summer Lovin' opening at gay-owned Kai Lin Art Gallery. 8 p.m.
• A weekend of events centered on Joining Hearts 22 gets kicked off at Heretic. 9 p.m.

View the full list of gay things to do today on Project Q Atlanta's interactive community calendar. You can also submit your events.    READ MORE »

Friday: Who’s got the hottest firefighters?

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Social Tuesdays goes sky high

Perched atop the 16th floor of the W Atlanta-Downtown on Tuesday, the crowd at the weekly Social Tuesdays networking event enjoyed the poolside bar and scenic -- if not a little smoggy -- view of the Atlanta skyline.    READ MORE »

Kristine W. to headline Pearl Day in Sept.

The fall event season is getting more interesting.

On Tuesday, the Atlanta Pride Committee announced details of Opening Night for the former fun festival of summer that is now relegated to late October.

And Thursday, the folks putting together the Big Gay Out at Six Flags -- officially known as the resurrected Pearl Day -- announced that Kristine W. and Kelly Rowland are among the performers in place for the Sept. 11 event.

More after the jump.    READ MORE »

Man-ban, kiss-in, book burn, T.R. Knight

• California teen to stand trial in gay classmate's killing
• Gay men's beauty pageant: Contestant, judge accused of beating another judge with trophy.
• Three U.S. cities among bidders for 2014 Gay Games.
• Library fight riles up city, leads to book-burning demand.
• San Jose gay center warns it may have to close.
• Kiss-in protest is held outside Mormon Temple.
• Dr. Joel D. Weisman dies at 66; among the first doctors to detect AIDS.
• T.R. Knight (photo) on why he really left "Grey's Anatomy."
• Man-ban at Australian lesbian party.
• British churches performing 'exorcisms' on gays.    READ MORE »