Atlanta doesn’t celebrate Pride Month in June like many other places. Instead, the city holds its Pride Parade in October, during National LGBTQ+ History Month. This can leave many queer people in the city feeling left out of the national pride celebrations.
One place they can find connection during the month is at the Atlanta Pride Run and Walk.
“It is important for us to come back every year, especially in June because it is the national … level of Pride,” Atlanta Pride Run President and Coordinator DJ Pulce said. “And a lot of people in Atlanta are always like, ‘What can I do?’ Because there’s nothing they can do. We have to wait until October. So, I love that we have a beacon of hope, freedom, love for this time.”
The Pride Run has been held every year since 1991. Started out of frustration over a lack of response to the AIDS crisis and with the community mourning the thousands of lost lives, the race has evolved into a more celebratory event — though the proceeds from the race still go to local HIV charities like AID Atlanta.
“You have a lot of queer people in the community who have been coming since the 90s,” Pulce said. “So they love seeing it continue on and being able to honor the people that we’ve lost to HIV and AIDS … It’s always a hard balance, right? You don’t want to be depressing. Because HIV can be very scary and heavy but we hope by doing this inspiring version and like, giving people this bright graphic to love that they can realize it’s not the end of the road for you.”
The race is in its second year of a partnership with Lululemon, which is providing the race t-shirts and some fundraising prizes. Local businesses will feature at the event, including Popbar, which will be distributing free popsicles, and local Black, Queer artists will be painting canvases live at the race. Additionally, local DJ Ree de la Vega will be playing at the race.
These will all be rewards for the record number of people running the course. Pulce expects that over 3,000 people will be participating, nearly doubling their previous record of 1,100. This year’s theme is “Right Where You Belong.”
“We came to that slogan by taking votes on Instagram,” Pulce said. “And it was cool seeing that this is the message that people needed to hear based off of what they voted on. And so I love that we’re also giving people a little bit of therapy or self care … no matter what I’m doing I’m gonna get to the destination I deserve.”
Register for the Atlanta Pride Run and Walk here. The race is June 2.
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