by Collin Kelley
(Collin Kelley is the new editor of the Georgia Voice, based in Atlanta. The following “Editor’s Note” was published in the January 2025 issue of the newspaper and appears here with permission.)

If you’re a regular reader — or a new one — greetings and salutations. Over the holiday period, the Georgia Voice officially became part of the Rough Draft Atlanta media family and transitioned to a monthly print schedule.

We’ve freshened up the look, but the mission to provide the LGBTQ+ community in metro Atlanta and Georgia with vital news and entertaining features continues. If you haven’t already, be sure to visit the new website (which you can still find at thegavoice.com), which will be updated regularly.

As the new editor of the Voice, let me introduce myself: I’ve been a journalist for nearly 40 years, which is a shock even to me. My career began at 16 when I had my first story published in the long-gone Sunday Magazine in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Since then, I spent a dozen years with the Marietta Daily Journal and Neighbor Newspapers, before becoming editor at the Voice’s sister publication, Atlanta Intown, in 2002.

Along the way, I’ve published six poetry collections and three novels, as well as freelancing for publications too numerous to list here. Journalism was my first love, so the fact that I’m still leading a print publication after all these years is humbling and a privilege.

And while I am excited to take the helm of the Voice, I also recognize the challenges that lie ahead over the next four years.

The Republican Party used LGBTQ+ people — especially the trans community — as a divisive and fear-mongering wedge issue. There are legitimate fears about medical care, marriage, and other hard-won rights being stripped away by the Trump administration. At least one member of the Supreme Court has expressed his interest in overturning Obergefell v. Hodges, the landmark decision that made same-sex marriage the law of the land.

The Voice will offer news, opinion, and features for and about the LGBTQ+ community in the state. We’re not going to shy away from the politics and decisions being made at both a state and national level that will affect the readers who depend on us. We will welcome letters and editorials to express a wide range of opinions and views in the pages of the Voice.

Since we were putting this issue together over the hectic holidays, not all of the familiar voices are here, but Melissa Carter and Maria Helena Dolan’s columns will return soon, as will Gregg Shapiro’s entertainment features. Katie Burkholder and Jim Farmer are still with us, and you’ll notice some additional bylines from our Rough Draft team and our media partners, including the Washington Blade, Georgia Recorder, Capitol Beat, Healthbeat Atlanta, WABE, and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

We’re also excited to launch Crosswalk, a free weekly newsletter curated by Dyana Bagby, a former editor of the Voice and its forerunner Southern Voice. The newsletter will hit your inbox every Wednesday. You can sign up at roughdraftatlanta.com/newsletters.

Having lived through the AIDS pandemic and a frequent presence at marches and protests over the last 35 years, this ain’t my first time at the rodeo. The water might seem deep, but my goal is to continue to make the Voice a lighthouse in the storm.

The LGBTQ+ community must pull together and support each other more than ever. We are resilient and stronger than the hate and division. United we stand.

GUEST COMMENTARY
Volume 27
Issue 2