Gay In Augusta

I stumbled upon this little gem tonight in the Aiken Standard (link):

This is a TalkBack against the Savannah River Site. Y’all won’t print it, but right as you go into Aiken barricade, there is a big sign Come Celebrate National Gay Pride Day with Us. Is the Savannah River Site taking taxpayers’ money and paying for a gay pride celebration? Gives you a serious case of road rage to go in the barricade to work and this sign glaring you in the face. I challenge you to take a picture of this and put it in the a paper and run a survey and ask the employees that have helped to build this country’s security and defense system about it being a slap in their face. Challenge you, Aiken Standard. We’ll see if you print it.

Help me answer this question…what exactly is a slap in the face? It appears to me to be an example of freedom – in speech and expression. Wasn’t our country’s defense system created to defend this very freedom? Or perhaps our defense system only exists to protect this one dear reader’s freedom of speech and everyone else should just shut up. Yep. I think that’s it.

With the advent of prom season, the ACLU has released their new LGBT Prom Resource for Students. These resources are based on calls they receive every year from LGBT students being told who they can and can’t take as dates and what they can and can’t wear. They also list contact information for anyone who has been discriminated against.

Please share this information with LGBT students you know. Also, if you have a prom experience you’d like to share, please do so in the comments.

I recently received an email from a reader inquiring about LGBT friendly areas in the CSRA. While, unfortunately, we don’t have anything like Midtown Atlanta to claim as our own, we should encourage and support those areas that are open and accepting. What parts of Augusta have you found to be LGBT friendly?

Here’s where you can help… our community isn’t going to grow unless more LGBT people move here and/or come out and become active in the community. Any information you can contribute would be SUPER helpful.

• What neighborhoods would you recommend as gay friendly?
• What apt./condo complexes would you recommend?
• What businesses, companies, and retailers have you had positive experiences with?

Leave your comments and encourage others to do the same. Thanks for helping build this resource for people inquiring about our area!

Tomorrow, students across the country will celebrate the National Day of Silence, bringing attention to anti-LGBT name-calling, bullying and harassment in schools. These students take a vow to not speak in honor of those who have been silenced and bravely stand up against anti-LGBT behavior.

I hope that students in the CSRA participate. If you or anyone you know participates, please leave a comment here with your experience.

To learn more about the Day of Silence, visit DayOfSilence.org.

The next meeting of the Coalition for Augusta Pride will be Thursday, May 21st, 2009 at 7 PM at The Filling Station bar on Gordon Highway. There will be lots of updates at this meeting, so be sure to pass the word on to anyone who may be interested.

Photo courtesy H4NUM4N via Flickr