First City Pride Center

First eat 20 hot dogs wins! Welcome back, Savannah. We're ready to go Bananas!

Jeffrey’s Place is Savannah’s safe haven for LGBTQIA+ Youth. Family members, friends, significant others, and allies of the LGBT community are welcome here. We look forward to seeing you (digitally, for now!) Zoom link on website! #FCPC #community #mentalhealth #support #youthgroup #savannah

The exhibition Love is Love is now up and open for viewing at the FCPC gallery space on 1515 Bull Street! Take some time to stop by during our open hours and feel the messages of love by artists from local colleges and universities of Savannah. The exhibition is soon to be virtual on the FCPC website. #loveislove #fcpc #local #art #artshow #create #gallery #lgbtqia Pictured is Patrice, art director and Toni installing the artwork @rooted_art.by_patrice @studiohazeleyes

We're working to best serve our community, and we need your help to guide us forward! Please take 5 minutes and complete the survey linked below. https://georgiasouthern.co1.qualtrics.com//SV_9v1f2LyD2zCf

Today we celebrate our Trans family on this Transgender Day of Visibility! We love you and are so glad you’re here on this journey with us. #Tdov https://www.cosmopolitan.com///transgender-joy-visibility/

We're excited to join Susie King Taylor Community School tomorrow to help support diversity and inclusion in literature at our schools. Thank you Mayor Van Johnson and Dr. Alicia Brunson for speaking at this event.

Our support group focuses on the feelings and challenges faced by the family and friends of transgender persons with the ultimate goal of creating a more inclusive, understanding, and supportive atmosphere for our transgender loved ones. #trans #support #fcpc #savannah #youth #family #transgender #LGBTQIA #love

Call for Art! FCPC is unveiling our "Love is Love" exhibit April 1June 30, 2021 (Submission Deadline: March 25, 2021). Open to current students and recent graduates of local universities and colleges including Georgia Southern University, Savannah State, Savannah Tech, and SCAD. Any wall art media welcome. Visit our website for more information on how to submit your artwork. Questions? Please contact our Art Director Patrice Jackson at [email protected] #loveislove #art #localart #savannahart #artists #creativity #students #local #artexhibit

February 6, 1923 Blues legend Bessie Smith makes her first recordings. By the end of the 1920s, Smith was the highest-paid Black performer in the world at the time, earning herself the title Empress of the Blues. Smith was bisexual, and had affairs with women while on the road, away from her husband. One night she was overheard snapping at her lover, The hell with you, bitch. I got twelve women on this show and I can have one every night if I want it. She later sang: ...When you see two women walking hand in hand, just look ’em over and try to understand: They’ll go to those parties have the lights down low only those parties where women can go. For women-loving chanteuses like Smith, blues music in the 1920s was so far under the radar of mainstream America they could get away with expressing their unconventional desires. Smith died from injuries sustained in a road accident at the age of 43. She bled to death while waiting for an ambulance to get her to a hospital. It was said that, had she been white, she would have received medical treatment that would have saved her life. See more

On Feb. 5, 2020 - LGBTQ rights icon Bayard Rustin granted a posthumous pardon in CA. Few people know the mastermind behind MLK, Jr.’s 1963 I Have A Dream March on Washington was an out gay man - Bayard Rustin. He started his activist career when, in his early 20s, he was arrested, beaten and jailed for refusing to sit at the back of a bus. Arrested again, he served time on a chain gang. He taught King about Gandhi’s non-violent resistance philosophy but, though he was well ...known in activist circles, he was kept behind the scenes by civil rights leaders. His sexuality was regarded as a liability in a movement dominated by clerics. His position became particularly vulnerable following his arrest in CA where he was caught having sex with two men in a parked car. He was charged with sexual perversion, was sent to jail and was forced to register as a sex offender. Nevertheless, he continued to work for the movement and was a trusted advisor to King. He devoted much of his later to gay rights, claiming the new n***ers are gays, bringing focus from civil rights to the LGBTQ+ movement. 67 years after his homophobic arrest, and 33 years after his death, Rustin was pardoned by California Gov. Gavin Newsom. See more

February 4, 2020 Rev. Kim Jackson, an Episcopal priest, continues race to become Georgia’s First Openly Gay State Senator. This past January, while a lot of fanfare was centered on the historic U.S. Senate swearing-in of Rev. Raphael Warnock, the first Black senator to represent Georgia, and John Ossoff, the first of Jewish faith to do so, absent of much attention at all, Jackson made history when she was sworn in as Georgia’s first openly LGBTQ state senator. Her district ...includes portions of DeKalb and Gwinnett counties. Jackson has her work laid out for her - The state Senate is often a driving force in anti-LGBTQ legislation. Jackson’s victory was part of a nationwide rainbow wave in 2020, which saw numerous Black queer politicians claiming victory. Mondaire Jones and Ritchie Torres, both elected from New York state, became the first Black, queer Congressmen in the country’s history. See more

February 3, 1957 Groundbreaking filmmaker and gay rights activist Marlon T. Riggs is born. His best-known work was the 1989 documentary Tongues Untied, a highly personalized and moving documentary about the life experiences of gay Black men. Tongues Untied would break the silence from and around Black gay men by demanding they be seen, acknowledged, and no longer marginalized by their own communities for being who they are. When it premiered on PBS nationwide, some sta...tions around the country wouldn’t run it. Condemned as pornographic by right-wing pundits who distorted the film’s content, Tongues Untied was debated in the halls of Congress as the movie became the centerpiece of a wider debate namely, how the National Endowments of the Arts distributed its funding. Tongues Untied had received a $5,000 grant. While working on it, Riggs was diagnosed with HIV. The film shows the pain as well as the mentally and physically agonizing therapy that Riggs had to endure in order to deal with his terminal illness. He succumbed to AIDS in 1994. See more

February 2, 2020 It is announced that Marsha P. Johnson and Sylvia Rivera, pioneering transgender activists who were at the vanguard of the gay rights movement, will be immortalized in a monument near the Stonewall Inn - the first permanent, public artwork recognizing transgender women in the world. Johnson and Rivera were both vibrant characters in Greenwich Village street life who worked on behalf of homeless L.G.B.T.Q. youth and those affected by H.I.V./AIDS. For thre...e decades Johnson was a fixture of street life in NYC. The P stood for Pay It No Mind, which is how she’d respond to questions about her gender. She was a central figure in the Stonewall Riots it’s said she threw the first brick. She was the most marginalized of people black, poor, queer but she channeled it all into political action. We believe in picking up the gun, starting a revolution if necessary. She and Rivera founded Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries to advocate for young transgender people. She had a knack for commanding attention. Her outfits red plastic high heels; slippers and stockings; shimmering robes and dresses; costume jewelry; plastic flowers in her hair were often assembled from scavenged materials. On July 6, 1992, her body was pulled from the Hudson River. Although her death was initially deemed a suicide, authorities later changed that to drowning from undetermined causes. The case remains open to this day. See more

Based on the encouragement of public health officials to avoid gathering in groups and to socially distance, the Center will be closed until further notice starting Monday, March 16. The health and well-being of our community is critical to our mission. As more information becomes available in the coming days, we will revisit the planned date to reopen the Center. If you need immediate assistance, you can continue to reach us here on Facebook, and we will work to connect individuals to care. Thank you for your patience and understanding.

February 1, 1902 Poet, social activist and novelist Langston Hughes is born. He was the first African American literary figure to gain widespread critical and popular acclaim. Many Americans who have never heard of him may know this: What happens to a dream deferred?/Does it dry up / Like a raisin in the sun?/Or does it explode? While he embraced his obvious racial identity, he hid his homosexuality to all but his close friends. It was both professionally and personally d...angerous to be gay, especially a gay Black man. In his most obvious queer works, he does not align himself with queerness but rather shows his support for the queer community. In ‘Cafe, 3 AM’, he says: Degenerates,/some folks say./But God, Nature,/or somebody/made them that way. Hughes’s powerful story Blessed Assurance deals with a father’s anger over his son’s effeminacy and queerness. Hughes died at age 65. See more

ACE WEEK: Asexual people experience unique pressure from their peers to fulfill sexual desires that they do not experience, such as dating, kissing, or sex. For more information visit: www.aceweek.org

ACE WEEK: Did you know that 1 in 100 people are Asexual? For more information visit: www.aceweek.org

We are pleased to welcome a new member of the team! For more information: https://www.savannahnow.com//first-city-pride-center-annou

ACE WEEK: The Ace community blossomed in the 1990s thanks to internet forums that allowed folks of similar experiences to finally connect across geographic boundaries. For more information visit: www.aceweek.org

October is #LGBTHistoryMonth, so it is fitting that this month we recognize two #AmazingSavannahWomen Patty Latham and Pat Gallagher. Both were instrumental in ...the early years of First City Network (FCN), the oldest LGBTQ+ advocacy organization in Savannah, and one of the oldest organizations of its kind in Georgia. FCN was founded in 1985, and early goals addressed AIDS education, advocating for equal rights, and providing a safe way for the LGBTQ+ community to meet. LGBTQ+ community members nominated these women to our Amazing Savannah Women series, and we are grateful they agreed to interviews by Municipal Archives staff about their work with FCN. Patty Latham originated the idea of FCN for AIDS education with Lawrence Marley and was the only woman out of the 13 original founding members. Pat Gallagher was recruited to join FCN by Latham, and served as the first editor of "Network News," FCN's monthly newsletter. Pat, who wrote under the pseudonym "I. Emma Ware," a play on "I am aware,' recalled how important "Network News" was in the 1980s, when few resources were available to the LGBTQ+ community, as a way to get news and stay informed. "Network News" is the oldest continuously published LGTBQ+ newsletter in Georgia (December 1985-present), and FCN has generously allowed the Municipal Archives to digitize their newsletter to increase public access. You can explore the collection online (digitization is ongoing; check back as we continue to work): https://bit.ly/2Hm3exj. (Photograph of Pat Gallagher and Patty Latham, Courtesy of Patty Latham) See more

ACE WEEK: The Asexual Umbrella includes Gray-sexual and Demi-sexual. Gray-sexual refers to those who may only experience sexual attraction rarely. Demisexual people can only experience sexual attraction if a strong emotional bond is formed. For more information visit: www.aceweek.org

What do you think about Pope Francis' words? For more information: https://www.americamagazine.org//pope-francis-gay-civil-un

https://www.cnn.com//transgender-voter-suppress/index.html

Whether you came out years ago, are speaking your truth today, or are planning for the future, never doubt that you have the support of countless Americans nationwide. You are loved.

https://www.cnn.com//national-coming-out-day-20/index.html

Proud Savannah!

It is with great sadness that we acknowledge the passing of trans activist and blogger Monica Roberts earlier this week. She was a powerful voice in the LGBTQ+ community and will be greatly missed. Rest in peace. For more on her life and legacy: https://www.advocate.com//monica-roberts-pioneering-acclai

The First City Pride Center is getting a makeover this week! We can't wait to show you more of our new look. Stay tuned. Volunteer to help. Click on the link below. https://www.firstcitypridecenter.org/volunteer