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| In January, the Atlanta Human Relations Commission ruled that the Druid Hills
Golf Club violated the city’s non-discrimination ordinance by not providing
equal benefits to the domestic partners of gay members Lee Kyser
and Randy New. (Photo by R.O. Youngblood) |
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HOME > NEWS > LOCAL
By: RYAN LEE
COMMENTS |
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Atlanta’s reputation as a safe haven for gay men and lesbians was seriously
challenged in 2004, by everyone from conservative state legislators determined
to ban same-sex marriage to Atlanta officials who seemed bent on turning the lights
up on the city’s gay nightlife.
In October, the Georgia Supreme Court tossed out the state’s hate crimes
law, which has been used to prosecute anti-gay attacks. A week later, on Nov.
2, a state constitutional amendment banning gay marriage passed with 76.2 percent
of the vote.
So went the year in gay Atlanta: the progress toward gay rights that comes
with each year, accompanied by dramatic backlash.
New year, new rules for bars. Just hours after ringing in 2004, partygoers at
Backstreet were made aware that a new era in Atlanta’s gay nightlife had
arrived. City police switched on the lights at Backstreet at 3 a.m., ending
the venerable gay club’s near three-decade run as a 24-hour party spot.
The first of the year also marked the beginning of a 2:30 a.m. last call and
3 a.m. closing for all bars in the city, shortening Atlanta’s nightlife
by an hour.
Bias panel sides with gay couples in inaugural ruling. In its first hearing
since being created in late 2000, Atlanta’s Human Relations Commission
found the Druid Hills Golf Club guilty of discriminating against two gay members,
Lee Kyser and Randy New, by not offering spousal-equivalent benefits to their
domestic partners.
According to the ordinance, Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin was due to levy
penalties against the club within 30 days of the Jan. 12 hearing. But Franklin
did not act until December, when she fined the club $500 per day for a maximum
of $90,000.
Georgia’s first trans politician takes office in Riverside. When Michelle
Bruce, 42, took a seat on the Riverside City Council in January, she became
Georgia’s first openly transgendered elected official, and possibly the
first in the Southeast, according to the Gay & Lesbian Victory Fund.
“All my life I’ve had to listen to ‘You’re gay, you’re
a fag, you’re a man in damned dress’ or some other snide remark,”
said Bruce, who was born intersexed and identifies as transgender. “Now
I’m trying to make a difference the best positive way I can.”
Gay marriage ban introduced in General Assembly. State Sen. Bill Stephens (R-Canton)
introduced Senate Resolution 595 on Jan. 21, a state constitutional amendment
that reads “this state shall recognize as marriage only the union of man
and woman.”
Stephens, who said the amendment was intended to protect “the sanctity
of marriage,” lowered his profile two weeks later when Southern Voice
reported about his annulment of a 15-year marriage, which ended after his ex-wife
heard “persistent rumors” that Stephens was committing adultery.
Gold Dome serves as ground zero. Gay issues dominated the Georgia state legislature
like never before in February 2004. Hundreds of opponents of the gay marriage
ban descended on the Gold Dome on Valentine’s Day to participate in a
rally sponsored the grassroots group Don’t Amend Atlanta. Intense lobbying
for and against the amendment occurred on almost all 40 days in the legislative
session, including a pair of massive rallies that pitted both sides on the streets
outside the state Capitol.
State Senate approves SR 595. The gay marriage amendment, which needed approval
by two-thirds of both legislative chambers, passed the Republican-controlled
state Senate by a three-vote margin.
Amendment goes down in first House vote. In a dramatic and emotional moment,
gay Georgians muscled their way to a historic victory on Feb. 26 when the state
House rejected the gay marriage ban by a three-vote margin. The measure needed
120 votes to passed, but received 117, after a coalition of black and urban
Democrats, along with Republican Jill Chambers, voted against the ban.
Franklin comes out in favor of gay marriages. Attending an anti-amendment press
conference with some 40 other female business and political leaders, Atlanta
Mayor Shirley Franklin told reporters that she supports the idea of same-sex
couples being allowed to legally marry.
House approves gay marriage amendment. With only two days remaining in the
legislative session, the state House voted 122-52 to approve SR 595 on March
30.
Woolard runs for Congress. Atlanta’s first openly ...
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