Meet the New Board Members of the Atlanta Pride Committee
The board members of the Atlanta Pride Committee (APC) are an integral part of organizing gay Atlanta’s biggest event of the year: Pride! The APC board members are responsible for overseeing four primary categories: strategic direction, finance, organizational oversight, and visibility.
On January 26, APC announced that four new LGBTQ activists and other figures would be joining the board. The newest members join the likes of Will Bryant, Trisha Clymore, Earl Fields, Glen Paul Freedman, Justin Gavette-Boring, Emily Porter, Traci Romero, Elaine Marie Serrano, and Dan Wilkerson to make a total of 13 members.
Meet the new representation on APC’s board: Justin Averette
Justin is a gay cisgender man originally from Greensboro, Alabama, but now residing in Midtown. He’s an awardwinning multimedia journalist — he’s even interviewed Oprah! — and now works in corporate communications for Southern Company. In his free time, you can find Justin playing in the Hotlanta Softball League, traveling, hiking, or taking photos.
“Every day, I’m learning more about the Atlanta Pride Committee and how I can help the organization, particularly in this difficult time of COVID,” Justin said in a release from APC. “I’m not sure when it will be, but I look forward to the day when we can all gather in person again.”
Chris Ruiz
Chris is a queer Chicanx educator originally from Northwest Texas. He moved to Atlanta to pursue his dreams of working in higher education and has found a chosen family here. Chris works as the Area Manager of Residence Life at Georgia Tech, and he’s worked with APC for seven years. He served on the Entertainment Committee as a general volunteer for one year, a lead volunteer for two years, and the co-chair for four years. In this position, he was able to meet talented performers and work with some of Atlanta’s most amazing drag artists.
In his free time, Chris enjoys watching TV, sci-fi, sports, and “RuPaul’s Drag Race,” and he visits breweries.
Quita Tinsley Peterson