Transgender activists and artists and a lesbian of color will lead this year’s Atlanta Pride parade, as the annual festival strives to be more welcoming of everyone fitting under the “LGBT” umbrella.
Transgender performance artist Scott Turner Schofield and Shonia Brown, author and publisher of African-American lesbian romance and erotica, are the festival’s 2008 grand marshals. Calpernia Addams, a transgender author and reality TV star, will act as an honorary marshal.
“Pride has tried especially hard this year to be more inclusive,” Pride Executive Director Donna Narducci says. “We have more transgender acts than before and our first transgender male grand marshal.”
Atlanta Pride rejected a $5,000 sponsorship from the Human Rights Campaign over the national gay rights group’s actions during Congressional debate over the Employment Non-Discrimination Act.
After years of covering just “sexual orientation,” ENDA was introduced in the U.S. House last year with “gender identity” as well. But the category was dropped when the bill’s main backer, openly gay U.S. Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.), says there were not enough votes to pass the broader measure. The U.S. House approved ENDA with just sexual orientation in November 2007; the Senate hasn’t voted.
HRC supports including gender identity in ENDA, but urged Congress members to vote in favor of Frank’s sexual orientation-only bill as an incremental strategy.
Schofield was unaware of his status as Atlanta Pride’s first transgender male grand marshal, but welcomed the opportunity to make a statement.
“I’ve noticed that there have been some issues with some people who came to Pride and who didn’t feel included,” Schofield says. “The HRC is a way for many, many people to do the activism in their lives. That says, this year [HRC] really, really messed up, and it’s going to take a long time for it earn my trust, and the trust of the community.”
WHAT’S A GUY TO WEAR?
When the Pride Committee first contacted Schofield about Pride, he wanted to make it very clear that they couldn’t use his vehicle.
“When they asked me what I was doing on the 4th of July I was very cautious,” Schofield says. “I told them I didn’t want to move anything, I didn’t want to drive anything, no, they couldn’t borrow the car. Then they told me they wanted me to be a grand marshal.”
Playwright and actor Schofield will stretch himself thin during Pride between his marshal duties; performing excerpts from his well-received one-man show “Becoming a Man in 127 Easy Steps,” at 1:15 p.m. Saturday on the Bud Light stage; and then emceeing the Athens Boys Choir show, also Saturday, at 3:45 p.m. on the Coca-Cola stage.
(Photo courtesy Scott Turner Schofield)
“I think I’ll perform lots of little stories for folks,” he says. “Stories that tell first I came out as a lesbian and then transgender who is a straight man who many people think is gay.”
Schofield has made a living writing about his transition from when he was female and a member of his high school homecoming court, to now being a trans performer and educator. He’s toured nationwide with his one-person shows “Underground TRANsit” and “Debutant Balls” since 2001. Schofield also is the first transgender performer to qualify for a number of government grants and is returning to 7 Stages Aug. 14-24 with “Becoming a Man in 127 Easy Steps.”
“I’m going to be doing teasers [at Pride], tell stories that I hope will make people want to come see my show,” he says, noting his run of the show in February sold out. Since debuting on the Atlanta stage, he has traveled to gay centers in San Francisco and as far as Anchorage, Alaska, to share his stories.
Schofield, who elected not to have gender-reassignment surgery, has been a voice for inclusion of the transgender community and inclusion within the transgender community. He is struggling with how to blend activism with the party scene of Pride, and he is also struggling with what to wear.
“I want to support the festive atmosphere but I want to make a stand,” he says. “Riding in the parade, most people wouldn’t know I’m trans, they would probably just think I’m some young gay guy, so I really want to do something. As a performance artist it’s very distressing not knowing what to wear.”
There is something calling him from the back of his closet.
“When I was 17, I was in the homecoming court, and we got to ride around in the back of a cool car and all those things,” he says. “I still have the dress; I’m really thinking of wearing that.”
Atlanta Native Shonia Brown published her first novel, “A Deeper Love,” a lesbian urban romance, in 2002, and since then has been working to promote lesbian artists.
Six years ago she started a website where artists could promote their work and support each other. That site evolved into lesbian411.info, set to premiere in September. The website, currently up with sexy promos, will screen movie trailers, music clips and lesbian authors.
“I wanted to utilize Lesbian 411 to promote lesbian artists in the community,” Brown says. “We promote a lot of artists who don’t get recognized anywhere else.”
Brown has evolved from novelist to publisher, releasing “Longing, Lust and Love: Black Lesbian Stories,” a collection of African-American lesbian erotica under her Nghosi Books imprint.
Brown was stunned when Pride asked her to serve as a grand marshal.
“This is very new to me,” she says. “I’ve always been there to watch the parade, but I’ve never actually been behind the scenes to know what goes into the grand marshal position. So I’m very excited to find out exactly what all my duties are.”
Like Schofield, she hadn’t decided what to wear, but she has to be sure not to be outdone by her mother.
“My mother is going to be there, and I’m really excited to be with her and she’s a dresser,” Brown says. “So she’ll probably be out there with a great looking dress and one of her hats, so I’ll have to dress up, too.”
Including her mother in the parade seemed like a natural decision for Brown, who has been out to her mother since she was a teenager.
“She happened to overhear a conversation I was having over the phone, somewhat by accident, as she claims, and the next day she asked me if I was gay,” Brown says. “We may have had disagreements on other things … but we never really fought about that.”
In light of her mother’s recent health issues
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