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Editors’ note: This week, Southern Voice concludes a two-part series using Atlanta’s public transit system to explore the visibility and experiences of lesbian and gay people throughout the city. Part I is available online by clicking here.
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HOME > NEWS > LOCAL
By: RYAN LEE
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As a young gay person who is integrating herself into Atlanta partly via public transportation, Marguerite van Mansfeld is inspired when she notices she’s not alone.
“I see other people with their little flags, or their bandannas, or their belts or key chains, and it’s really nice just to see other people on MARTA — other people in the queer community in public, out in public,” said van Mansfeld, 17.
“I see more lesbian families, like family units with the happy couple and their child, on MARTA than I have seen gay male couples,” she added.
Each school day, van Mansfeld walks about 15-20 minutes from her home on Atlanta’s west side to the nearest train station, then boards two trains and a bus to get to her school near Emory. She also catches the train to YouthPride about three days a week, and considers it fortunate that the organization is located about 50 feet from the Inman Park/Reynoldstown train station.
“It’s easier to get to because not all of the youth drive, and so it’s very important the youth can get here by MARTA,” she said.
YouthPride’s leadership also recognizes the crucial role of MARTA for its participants, and recently discovered that 42 percent of its current members lived outside of MARTA rail coverage. To compensate, the organization is exploring having monthly meetings in outlying counties for youth who cannot catch MARTA to Inman Park, said John-Paul Griffin, director of programs at YouthPride.
“I think if we weren’t as close to a MARTA station as we are, a lot of kids wouldn’t be able to come to the center,” said Joseph Merritt, a center attendant at YouthPride and a daily MARTA rider.
Riding MARTA to school and YouthPride instills many youth with a sense of independence and familiarity with Atlanta.
“It makes them more involved not just in the center, but in the city,” said Merritt, 22.
In the three years that she’s been riding public transportation, van Mansfeld has developed the same peeves that many MARTA riders share: consistently late buses, poor customer service, and the unique, stale smell in some trains and stations. She’s also become accustomed to spotting other gay riders, and noticing the reaction they generate.
“It’s either queer folks noticing other queer folks, or some random straight person starting mess,” she said. “It’s rare that someone is just asking questions that’s not trying to be an ass.”
Merritt also knows that MARTA is not always a safe place for gay passengers, especially expressive youth. He and some friends were recently riding to Midtown station — “the gayest train station in the city” — when another passenger began to mock them.
“There were like these straight guys or whatever on the train, and one was like, ‘All these faggots on the train. Man, these faggots,’” Merritt recalled.
One of his friends responded to the homophobic heckler, but Merritt tried to laugh it off.
“It takes a lot more to offend me now, so something like faggots, I laugh at it, I think it’s humorous,” he said, before adding that the threat of anti-gay taunting is frustrating.
“It’s almost kind of like, at certain train stations, you have to conform and you have to all of a sudden be straight just to keep from being harassed, or keep from having someone bother you and taunt you,” Merritt said.
‘NOT A GOOD IMAGE’
Gay and lesbian MARTA riders catch the train and bus to gay organizations like YouthPride and AID Atlanta, and to more informal institutions like Bulldogs and the Heretic. Terry Hall recently began driving after a yearlong stint of riding MARTA, but he still uses it when he goes clubbing at spots like the Trademark and Blake’s on the Park.
“It’s not even about the gas prices, it’s more about the responsibility factor and being intoxicated,” Hall said. “The only thing I don’t like is how [MARTA] ends at 1 [a.m.] and the bars close at 3, that doesn’t make sense.”
MARTA begins service each day at 5 a.m., and a handful of clubs like Traxx and Club 708 don’t close until after the morning trains and buses resume service.
“But some clubs close at 3, and we be stuck,” said Marquez Montgomery, 22, who rides to clubs with his friends. “What we have to do is just wait until it starts running again.”
Emmious Marshall fondly remembers being 19 and 20 years old, catching the train with friends from College Park and Buckhead to go to Club 708 in Midtown, and partying until the next morning when the trains started running. Marshall still rides MARTA daily to ...
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