Atlanta is hosting an international celebration of the Black LGBTQ+ community all week. GPB's Amanda Andrews has more on what Global Black Pride means for the city.

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Atlanta is hosting its first Global Black Pride celebration through Labor Day weekend. The event is an international celebration of the Black LGBTQ+ community and a collaboration with Atlanta Black Pride Weekend.

The 2024 festivities began on Tuesday with more planned for the weekend. Organizers are expecting 30,000 guests throughout the week including Billy Porter, Niecy Nash Betts and Keke Palmer.

Atlanta Police Department were called to the event following vandalism to a vendor property Tuesday night. In a statement, APD said they have notified the LGBTQ Liaison Unit and they are “following up on leads regarding the identity of the suspect and are working to determine why the suspect caused the damage.”

Global Black Pride posted a statement about the property destruction on Instagram describing it as a “hateful attack”.  They wrote “Healing and Joy are our priorities in a world that often harbors hate. We will not be deterred, and we will not allow hate to stop us from celebrating our pride and resilience. When we fight, we win.”

Events will continued as planned through the rest of the weekend.

Bishop OC Allen is a senior pastor of The Vision Church in Atlanta and an organizer for this pride week. He said there are issues the LGBTQ+ community still faces, but there has also been a lot of progress.

“I mean, don't forget, you know, 20 years ago, there was no marriage equality. 20 years ago, we didn't see as much representation,” he said. “We have a lot of work to do, but there's much more representation in a lot of different areas.”

Festivities will include live music, a health conference, march and political summit. Mayor Andre Dickens will also host the 5th annual Global Black Pride reception this Thursday.

Allen said Global Black Pride is about celebrating and political organizing.

“This is an opportunity for us to galvanize, to talk about the issues that matter to us. To talk about reproductive health, to talk about equality and justice, to talk about immigration, talk about health care,” Allen said. “So, in totality we are partying with a purpose. Right? We have pride with a purpose.”

Partner organizations will be running a voter registration drive and offering HIV testing at events through the weekend.

Tags: Georgia  Atlanta  LGBTQ Pride