WHO ARE YOUR

For the first time in two years, Atlanta Pride is back in person from October 7 through 9. This means the return of the festival, vendor market, live music and entertainment, and of course, the Atlanta Pride Parade.

As in years past, Grand Marshals nominated by Atlanta’s LGBTQ community and chosen by Atlanta Pride Committee (APC) members will be honored during the parade, which steps off on Sunday, October 9 at noon. Seven Grand Marshals were announced last year, but because there was no in-person celebration, they will march in the parade this year.

So, if you need a refresher on who this year’s (and also last’s) Grand Marshals are, look no further. Meet the seven people and organizations that are making a difference in Atlanta’s LGBTQ community.

— and won, changing the course of LGBTQ U.S. history.

In 2013, Bostock was fired from his job overseeing the Court Appointed Special Advocates Program in Clayton County after his supervisor learned he had joined the Hotlanta Softball League, a gay recreational softball organization. The stated reason for termination: conduct unbecoming a Clayton County Employee. As he has stated from the beginning, “no one should go to work fearful of losing their job because of who they are, who they love, or how they identify.”

The lawsuit was filed in 2016, and two years later Bostock petitioned the Supreme Court to hear his case after lower courts ruled against him.

In a 6-3 ruling, the Supreme Court decided that Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 bans employment discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity, thus setting the precedent for LGBTQ discrimination protections in federal law.

“When somebody was finally able to put up the first page and only part of that, and I saw the very first few words, I pretty much went

Cantos is an Assistant Professor at the Division of Infectious Diseases at Emory University and an attending physician at Grady Memorial Hospital, Emory University Hospital, and the Grady Infectious Disease Clinic.

Originally from Ecuador, where she completed medical school, Cantos moved to Atlanta for her Internal Medicine residency and Infectious Diseases Fellowship at Emory. Now, her research focuses on HIV prevention in ethnic minorities, with a special focus on the Latino community. She is interested in developing and implementing innovative and culturally responsive strategies to deliver HIV prevention services and overcome systemic barriers to health care access.

She also prioritizes optimizing representation of the Latino population in medical research.

Claiborne is bringing transgender inclusion to the workplace as the co-founder of Transformation Journeys Worldwide, an inclusion training and consulting firm with a trans focus. She helps organizations transform their environments into fully trans-, gender nonconforming-, and nonbinary-inclusive cultures. The firm was recognized as the Out Georgia Business Alliance’s (OGBA) 2018 Small Business of the Year.

Claiborne is a multihyphenate business leader and LGBTQ activist. She serves as Co-Chair of the National LGBTQ Chamber of Commerce’s Transgender and Gender Expansive Initiative, Co-Chair of the Trans Affairs Committee on the City of Atlanta’s LGBTQ Mayoral Advisory Council, Inclusion chair and Board Secretary of the OGBA, Chair of the OGBA’s TGNC360 Workplace Initiative, and Advisory Board