LGBTQ+ community leaders, city employees, and entrepreneurs came together at Atlanta City Hall on Aug. 8 for an LGBTQ+ Town Hall led by the new Director of LGBTQ+ Affairs, Dewayne Queen.
The event served as an opportunity for the community to voice their concerns about LGBTQ+ issues in Atlanta and inform the Mayor’s Office of Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion’s (MOEDI) future programming.
Queen kicked off the interactive town hall by introducing himself and the other members of MOEDI before turning the discussion over to the event’s attendees, who were asked to discuss issues related to community well-being, youth and elders, economic equity, civic engagement, and safety in small groups before broadly sharing their thoughts. Among those in attendance were Andi Monroe, the Southern Regional Office Manager and Regional Program Coordinator for Lambda Legal; Bentley Hudgins, the Georgia State Director of the Human Rights Campaign; Alphonso Mills, a community health worker at Positive Impact Health Centers; and Dr. R. Wayne Woodson, the CEO of NAESM.
Issues raised by the community included limited access to mental health services and other health care, a lack of financial education surrounding building wealth and starting a business, and legislative attacks on queer youth, specifically regarding education.
“The kids are experiencing a generational attack on the institution of public education that undermines everyone’s access to education,” Hudgins said. “…[The FBI] had a report come out about hate crimes and [the LGBTQ+] community is the top three [of communities victimized by hate crimes in 2024]. A trend that came from the year before that is sustained by this year’s report is that schools are the number one location for hate crimes for kids who are queer. They’re facing violence and discrimination at school, where they’re required to be by law.”
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A lack of transparency within local government was another concern raised. Some in attendance said they didn’t even know about the existence of MOEDI before Friday’s event, let alone what work the office was doing.
“I don’t know how anyone can feel represented in a government that only has one person that’s designated to address our concerns,” Dr. Woodson said, referring to the fact that, despite LGBTQ+ people working in every branch of government, Queen is the only city employee specifically dedicated to LGBTQ+ concerns.
Other attendees offered tangible solutions like a mentorship program between LGBTQ+ youth and elders, an exclusively LGBTQ+ elder care facility, grants and other financial support for LGBTQ+ entrepreneurs, and a resource center.
“[We need] a resource center that does more than just provide resources,” Ja’Mel Ware, the founder of the IR Agency, said. it also has educational aspects. We need to be able to teach people from a foundational level all the way into an implementational level about how to build wealth and what different careers are available to you.”
Malik Brown, Queen’s predecessor, is currently directing a feasibility study to explore the potential development of an LGBTQ+ community center in Atlanta, a hub for connection and resources that could serve as a space to address some of the issues raised on Friday.
Queen says he hopes to make the town hall a quarterly event to continue receiving feedback from the community year-round. To keep up with the Mayor’s Office of Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion, follow them on Instagram @atlequity.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by PostX News and is published from a syndicated feed.)
