Gay Atlanta’s weekend is bursting with opportunity. What you do with it is on you, but a slew of fun LGBT event suggestions are on us. Check out our top picks to put the big and the gay in your Friday through Sunday.
Friday, May 17
Margaret Cho (top photo) lays down standup as part of comic Jim Short’s gigs all weekend @ Laughing Skull, 8 p.m. and 10:30 p.m. Both perform Saturday and Sunday shows, too. Gay Atlanta funnyman Ian Aber joins the lineup on Sunday. Maybe Margaret will scream-tweet some haters. #bitchisnothavingit
The Campaign for Atlanta: An Essay on Queer Migration. From the ever-whirring minds of Atlanta’s gay “idea collective” John Q, who brought gay Atlanta to its knees with the Memory Flash, comes this live performance and multi-media experience (second photo) about the flow of queers in and out of the ATL. Soak it in @ Cyclorama, 6:30 p.m. reception, 7 p.m. performance. No late seating. Saturday, too. Read all about it.
International Day Against Homophobia & Transphobia Georgia. Come out for the day-of event during a week of local IDAHO commemorations with speakers, honors and more @ First Christian Church of Decatur, 5 p.m.
Lost N Found Strategic Plan & Campaign Launch Party. The locally loved group helping Atlanta’s LGBT youth throws a big gay party with cocktails and appetizers to discuss huge plans. Come be part of the future @ Jungle, 5 p.m.
Fourth Friday Networking is the monthly happy hour with the LGBT professionals of the Atlanta Gay & Lesbian Chamber of Commerce. Get with them for hobnobbing @ the Barrelhouse, 5:30 p.m.
Dinner & A Movie with Jaye Lish kicks off Jungle’s Friday with a full menu, drink and meal specials, giveaways, surprises. This week, “9 to 5” (third photo) on the big screen in the Jungle Room @ Jungle, 7 p.m. – 9 p.m. Then it’s The Other Show with Edie Cheezburger and that cast of crazies, 9:30 p.m.
Bitch Please: Spring Fling lays down the smoothest grooves in this seasonal edition of the Friday night East Atlanta gay dance party. Bust out your short shorts and coochie cutters to flash your moose knuckle @ Mary’s, 9 p.m.
Got Leche? weekly gay Latin night @ Club Rush, 10 p.m. – 5 a.m.
“Uncensored: Live” records a TV show with you in the mix. Destiny Brooks headlines the part drag, part male performers, part cash and prizes and all original and amazing experience @ Le Buzz, Marietta, 11 p.m.
FUR is Heretic’s Friday bear dance party. Get into it this week with the beats of guest DJ Sean Mac (fourth photo) @ Heretic, 10 p.m.
BanjeeGirl: Women’s Football Edition gets your lesbian weekend started right with a DJ-driven dance party and all the ladies you can handle from the TraxxGirls promoters @ My Sister’s Room, 9 p.m.
The Fab Five drag revue puts the glamazons on display each week hosted by “America’s First Tranny Super Model” Angelica D’Paige. Get your dollars ready for some of Atlanta’s premiere queens @ Burkhart’s, 11 p.m.
Saturday, May 18
AIDS Vaccine 200 (fifth photo) pedals off into the sunrise and across Georgia through antebellum towns all the way to Eagle Rock and back. Bid the riders you sponsored farewell if you’re up and at ‘em by 7 a.m. @ Emory School of Medicine. Or just plan to Cheer at Sunday’s Finish Line Party at a more reasonable hour.
Flag Football League continues its spring season pitting the 10 gay teams of National Flag Football League of Atlanta in five games @ Boulevard Crossing Park, 11 a.m. – 2:30 p.m. And you do not want to miss the gay jocks and the bottomless beer of the NFFLA Spring Beer Bust @ Frogs, 5 p.m.
Atlanta Harlequins Golf Classic hits the green for the 13th annual competition with the ladies of the lesbian rugby squad. It’s not just golf but bottomless beverages, beer cart girls, infamous raffle and tons of Sapphic friends @ Browns Mill Golf Course, 2 p.m.
For the Kid CAMPaign Wrap Party celebrates with the gays who bring you Toy Party and Backpack in the Park. This time, funds raised send 100 Georgia kids to camp this summer. DJ Sed, bocce ball, food, raffles and endless adult beverages @ Harbour Bar & Fish House, Decatur, 4 p.m.
Atlanta Sisters Give Back Party is the annual throwdown to celebrate the anniversary of the Flaming Sugarbakers chapter of the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence (sixth photo) but to spread the monetary love they’ve been collecting in the form of grants to local LGBT organizations @ Amsterdam, 4 p.m.
The Campaign for Atlanta: An Essay on Queer Migration. From the ever-whirring minds of Atlanta’s gay “idea collective” John Q comes this local queer history live performance multi-media experience about the flow of queers into urban areas including the ATL. On the walls and in the space @ Cyclorama, 6:30 p.m. reception, 7 p.m. performance. No late seating.
Ms. HSL Pageant won’t be pretty. But the burly players of Hotlanta Softball League will delve to find the beauties in their beasts (seventh photo) as they aim to win your hearts, tips and applause with this year’s Decades of Divas theme. Proceeds going to the Gay Softball World Series teams and Lost N Found Youth, and the fun goes to you @ Jungle, 6 p.m. Check out gay CBS Atlanta news hunk Brandon Rudat as a judge.
Theresa Davis & Collin Kelley Poetry Reading brings together the two local gay writers reading from their works @ Bound To Be Read Books, 7 p.m.
Party in the Park with Ellie Goulding. The amazeballs songstress (eighth photo) headlines Passion Pit, Group Love, Yeasayer and the Electric Suns in a daylong concert that will swarm with gay fans @ Centennial Olympic Park, starts 3:15 p.m., Goulding 7:30 p.m., Passion Pit 9:30 p.m.
Female. Amateur. Boxing. Not kidding. Cash prize in a contest while a house full of lesbians drinks and cheers. Dancing, pool and partying before and after, naturally @ My Sister’s Room, 10:30 p.m.
A Tony Evening with Jane Krakowski. The Broadway babe and TV fave headlines the annual fundraiser @ Alliance Theatre, cocktails 6 p.m., dinner 7:30 p.m., show 9:45 p.m.
Randy Roberts Live! welcomes the legendary drag celebrity impersonator and amazing singer (ninth photo) in his one-man show starring Cher, Bette, Joan Rivers and many more (photo) @ Mixx, 7 p.m.
Bedlam: Gender Bender Splender wants you to serve a look celebrating the fluidity of gender, especially your opposite one. DJ Shane V and a performance by Elliott Alexzander @ Jungle, 10:30 p.m. Check out Bedlam’s new website, and get there early for The Q, a new drag talk show featuring Daytime Realness at night with Jay Lishe, Celeste Holmes, Ruby Redd and guests dishing in the Jungle Room, 9 p.m.
DJ Eddie Baez (10th photo) returns to the ATL and all those gay boys who can’t stop moving their feet to his beat. The international spin master, songwriter and producer gets and keeps the place hopping @ Heretic, 10 p.m.
Extravaganza Show is the weekly fabulosity hosted by big, blonde and beautiful Shavonna “B is for Barbie” Brooks and her amazing lineup of entertainers @ Burkhart’s, 11 p.m.
Sunday, May 19
Hotlanta Softball League pitches and catches Atlanta’s gay softball teams through their weekly games in multiple divisions @ Metro Softball Complex, 9 a.m. – 5 p.m.
PALS Pet Cotillion (11th photo) parades the pups to be named spokespet for the gay beloved Pets Are Loving Support. Cocktails, snacks, music, doggies and more @ Piedmont Bark, 2 p.m.
AV200 Finish Line Celebration welcomes back the biker riders from this year’s AIDS Vaccine 200 ride with cocktails, appetizers, cheering for your favorite biking shorts, er bikers, and more @ Emory School of Medicine, 3:30 p.m.
Atlanta Bucks Spring Rugby 101 brings the gay squad together to refresh and teach the basics while rubbing up against each other @ Piedmont Park Charles Allen Entrance, 12 noon – 2 p.m.. Follow all those burly mens to EAV afterward for a beer party at Flatiron. It will be just as fun but not as funny as the Bucks Purple Dress Run last month.
Tribal Tea with DJ Dan DeLeon (bottom photo) throws down a Sunday dance like the circuit glory days with one of the hottest international DJs around. Take off your shirt and get down to round out your weekend with GA Boy Productions @ Jungle, 7 p.m. – 12 midnight.
Flashback Showgirls is the new show that takes you back, all the way back to a new decade each month. Lady Shabazz leads the cast every Sunday @ 10th & Piedmont, 8 p.m.
Miss Barfly 2013: 50 Shades of Tea flounces the floozies of the Armorettes and friends in an especially outlandish competition, even for the weekly camp crazies with the hearts of gold to benefit the PWA fund. The madness goes down @ Burkhart’s, 8 p.m.
Grown & Sexy Sundays with Wassup N ATL and hundreds of sexy black gay men dancing and romancing each week @ the Shelter, 9 p.m.