On These Shoulders We Stand: Early roots of Atlanta’s LGBTQ+ movement

The origins of Atlanta and Georgia’s LGBTQ+ rights movement stretch back to the upheavals of the 1960s, when a handful of activists began laying the groundwork for visibility and justice.

Among the earliest leaders was Lorraine Fontana, co-founder of the Atlanta Lesbian Feminist Alliance (ALFA), the state’s first lesbian organization. Abby Drue became the first openly LGBTQ+ person to serve at Atlanta City Hall, working under three mayors and later leading the Ben Marion Institute for Social Justice. Gus Kaufman wrote for the alternative newspaper “The Great Speckled Bird” and went on to become a visible activist known for his political advocacy.

Their contemporaries included fellow writers Berl Boykin and Steve Abbott, who co-founded the Georgia Gay Liberation Front (GGLF), with Kaufman