“Tender” is a column about all of the beautiful, delicious, and liberating ways that LGBTQ+ people work with food. From production to preparation, local farms to reimaginings of the restaurant, our community is at the forefront of what it means to nourish and be nourished today. Read more from the series here.
The South has always been a cradle of queer liberation.
Today, the region is home to one in three LGBTQ+ adults in the United States, more than any other in the country, but its history as a cornerstone of the queer liberation movement is less well known.
A century before the Stonewall uprising, one of the earliest known drag queens was born into slavery, survived the Civil War, and fought back against police in Washington, D.C. when they raided her dances, formal dinners and queer cakewalks. The gatherings that she organized embodied a precursor to the glittering era of ’80s Southern Black queer nightlife that stretched from the heart of Atlanta, the queer capital of the South, throughout the southeastern corridor.
Over a hundred years later, Taylor Alxndr is continuing that vital work through Southern Fried Queer Pride, a Black trans and queer-centered community arts organization operated out of Atlanta on Muscogee and Cherokee land. Alxndr cofounded the group back in 2014, when Alxndr was still a college student performing in Atlanta’s local drag scene. There, the rural Georgia-born artist met a community of working queens who were organizing around HIV/AIDS awareness and housing justice for trans folks. Without reliable venues to host drag shows or fundraisers, Alxndr started hosting events in her friends’ backyards, local cafés, and empty parking lots. It was through this microcosm of scrappy queer ingenuity that SFQP was born.
Many of SFQP’s reoccurring events are categorized using the language that gives soul food a queer bent: Peach Pit, a campy queer pageant, is named after the state fruit of Georgia. Hawt Sauce, a dance party, brings the same spice to the dance floor that the condiment does to the tongue. DJs from Atlanta and across the South pump house, pop, reggaeton and even punk music into the airwaves, creating a vibe that is as diverse as it is electric. Sweet Tea, a variety show, is named after the ubiquitous Southern beverage and creates space for queer and trans people to express themselves through art. “It’s like a refreshing sip of queer talent,” Alxndr remarks in an interview with Them. “There’s not a lot of variety shows around here that,” they pause for a beat, “are actually full of variety.” Every batch of Sweet Tea brings out new local talent. Any given show could feature musicians, drag and burlesque performers, comedians, spoken word artists, and even juggling clowns.
