Marching for Gay Rights in Atlanta, 1971: An Excerpt from A Night at the Sweet Gum Head

Abstract

This excerpt, as well as the accompanying video stills, centers the activism of Bill Smith, a central figure in the founding of Georgia’s Gay Liberation Front and a member of the Southeastern Gay Coalition. Smith served as the first out-gay man in Atlanta city government as Sam Massell’s appointed Community Relations Commissioner (1973–1976) and played a key role in the development of the Atlanta gay press through his editorship and ownership of The Barb (1974–1977). Adapted from the book A Night at the Sweet Gum Head: Drag, Drugs, Disco, and Atlanta’s Gay Revolution (New York: W.W. Norton, 2021). Reprinted with the permission of W.W. Norton.