“It is a new beginning for the gay community.” That, Smith said, was unacceptable, and the recently formed group would help enact change. “The state,” he told a journalist, “will not hire homosexuals.” Neither would schools or the federal government. And it was on those 200 acres in 1971 that - risking their jobs and their families - they held their first Gay Pride march.Īmong those gathered was Bill Smith, a charismatic activist shouldering a white purse and wearing a goatee as he recited opportunities that queer Americans were denied. It was at Piedmont, a year after the Stonewall Inn rebellion in 1969, that queer residents assembled to form the Georgia Gay Liberation Front. Less well known was Atlanta’s Piedmont Park. There were famed open-air refuges like Central Park’s Ramble in New York City, Griffith Park in Los Angeles and Rittenhouse Square in Philadelphia. Kicked out of the church and the home, or evicted from the bars, queer people would congregate outside. Historically, a city’s queer population ended up in the park, by default. That goes both ways.A NIGHT AT THE SWEET GUM HEAD Drag, Drugs, Disco, and Atlanta’s Gay Revolution By Martin Padgett The Bible says we should be tolerant of each other. “I’ve heard preachers say negative things,” says DeVille. The main message the Gospel Girls convey is that God’s love is for everyone. I don’t care what they are attracted to as long as they hear the message and take something away.” “Some are here for entertainment, some for inspiration and some come because they think it’s campy and funny. “People come for different reasons,” observes Devore. I think it touches a place in their hearts that haven’t been touched in a long time.” By the end of the show they are all up singing. “Then they realize we’re real people and we’re singing songs they know. “The first few songs they sit and stare at us,” Messer says. The Gospel Girls have taken their act on the road around the Southern United States, mostly performing for very receptive crowds, but they’ve gotten a chilly reception or two. They moved around from bar to bar in Atlanta, and now peform every Sunday night at Burkhart’s in the heart of Atlanta’s gay and lesbian community. Today the Gospel Girls include Morticia DeVille and The Gospel Echoes, Tina Devore and Ramona Dugger, a straight woman who boasts that she is the only “biologically-ordained female” in the group. “I sang in my church and played piano before my feet even touched the floor. Like DeVille, Devore always felt drawn to gospel music.
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“I don’t feel comfortable in a traditional church setting and this is an wonderful outlet.” Tina Devore, a beautifully tall and graceful African American drag queen, joined the group six months after it began. One of the Gospel Girls admits she falls into this category. Here it’s anonymous and they can come and hide and do their own individual worship.” “I tell everyone I can about the MCC church I go to,” Messer continues, “but these people are afraid to try because they’re afraid they’ll get slammed again. He and Mark Roberts joined up with DeVille a few years ago. “For some of them, this is their only outlet to worship,” says Gospel Echo Phillip Messer. The members of the Gospel Girls don’t see anything odd about praising God within the walls of a gay bar. When asked by DeVille for an “Amen, somebody,” they scream with enthusiasm, “Amen, somebody!” God’s presence was felt, even in a gay bar. People raised their arms in praise, and some cried. Along the front row sat a crowd of men who knew the words to every song, and sang along with gusto. She sees it as a ministry and so do I.”īy watching the crowd, you can see how deep that ministry goes. “But, my mother came to one of the shows and she told me it must be a calling from God, because she says she always knew that I was destined. “It was certainly not my life’s dream to be a drag queen,” DeVille says. The group known as The Gospel Girls began ten years ago when Morticia DeVille transformed herself into the first drag queen to sing gospel music in Atlanta, maybe even the first in the world to ever do it. They are not worshipping God in church, they are praising God in a gay bar. Many sit instead on bar stools, smoking a cigarette and cradling a beer as they applaud.
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The music builds and the announcement is made, “Please welcome, Morticia DeVille and The Gospel Echoes!” The crowd applauds as the trio moves to center stage, and breaks into song, singing “Let’s Have A Revival.”īut the crowd is not dressed in their Sunday best, they are not sitting in church pews. The organ music begins as the people chat with each other and make themselves comfortable. Hundreds of people pack a popular place to hear some good gospel music.