Atlanta rapper Young Thug shrugs off gay rumors

When Eris Lovell was elected by her peers to Walton High School’s homecoming court last year, it made headlines seeing as she appeared to be the first transgender person in Georgia to do so. This year, she proved it wasn’t a fluke, as her fellow seniors have elected her for a second time.

Lovell, who last year went by Sage before legally changing her name to Eris Amber Sage Lovell, tells Georgia Voice that it wasn’t a total surprise because the same people typically get elected to homecoming court year-to-year.

As for student and community reaction to Lovell’s re-election, it’s been positive.

Lovell was one of five senior girls on the homecoming court, and therefore eligible to be elected as homecoming queen. And while she didn’t take home the honor at halftime during the Oct. 20 homecoming game versus Woodstock, she doesn’t mind that her friend Carly White won.

“I’m super happy for her because she deserves everything,” she says.

Lovell will graduate from Walton next spring and is undecided on which college she’ll attend, but plans on going into interior design and continuing with transgender activism.

Atlanta AIDS Walk and 5K Run marches on for 25th year

The 25th Annual AIDS Walk Atlanta & 5K Run took over Piedmont Park and the streets of Midtown Atlanta on Oct.18. The event, produced by AID Atlanta, is the largest HIV/AIDS-related fundraising event in the Southeast.

Speakers included WSB-TV’s Jovita Moore, openly gay city council member Alex Wan and actress Sheryl Lee Ralph, who fired up the crowd with a spine-tingling spoken word performance.

Organizers set out to surpass the $950,000 in funds raised last year and are accepting donations through Nov. 30 to reach this year’s goal of $1.25 million.

A photo gallery and videos from the big day is available at thegeorgiavoice.com.

If you don’t know who Young Thug is, you should acquaint yourself. The Atlanta trap rapper burst onto the scene last year, guesting on hit singles from T.I., Tyga and Rich Gang before scoring with his commercial debut single “Stoner,” which hit number 16 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100.

The Guardian called him “hip-hop’s next titan” in a profile from earlier this month. It’s in that Guardian profile that Young Thug is asked about ongoing rumors that he is gay. Posting a photo of him and another man to his nearly 2 million followers on Instagram a couple weeks ago with the caption “My bay!” surely hasn’t quieted the speculation.

“I like everything that people say. No matter what they say,” says Young Thug. “You gay, you a punk. You got a nice girlfriend, you’re ugly, you can’t rap, you’re the hardest.”

It’s perhaps a sign of the times, or just a sign of how little he gives a damn.