Atlanta LGBTQ+ activist and historian Dave Hayward dead at 76

Dave Hayward Photo courtesy Georgia LGBTQ History Project Dave Hayward an activist historian and witness to much of Atlanta s early LGBTQ rights movement has died at Hayward co-founded the nonprofit Touching Up Our Roots the LGBTQ story project and self-guided audio tour featuring sites critical to queer Atlanta A frequent guest speaker at local LGBTQ -related protests and events Hayward was an early member of the activist group Georgia Gay Liberation Front and was one of the co-founders of the city s chapter of ACT UP the political group formed in the late s to end the AIDS pandemic Born in New Hampshire Hayward arrived in Atlanta in when the city s gay rights movement was still in its nascent phase A lover of history and storytelling Hayward began to befriend and chronicle the city s queer history and the people who were making it Hayward participated in the city s first sanctioned Pride march in RELATED My Roots are Rambling A Portrait of Touching Up Our Roots Co-Founder Dave Hayward I m in a position now where I can talk about what happened fifty years ago and how it relates to currently Hayward commented in a interview There s a great deal of privilege and responsibility in that position For me preponderance of all in terms of being a witness it s remembering our holocaust We lost so several people as a aftermath of AIDS So a large number of groups so a great number of initiatives have been forgotten as a development of that loss For each one of us if we could just use our voices in whatever way we can You can t live for anybody You can t bring anyone back to life But you can call them up call them forth call them out in the present moment to honor and remember them as you educate the future In a declaration to Georgia Voice longtime activist and friend Lorraine Fontana called Hayward a seriously and wonderfully single-minded brother in his devotion to history He seemed to know why he was here and devoted himself to fulfilling that purpose He was a curious mixture of generosity and suspicion But he also exuded vulnerability and seemed to be compassionate when he saw that in others Fontana recalled He sadly may have cared more about the LGBTQIA communities and that our stories be preserved than he did about his own vitality May his Spirit be free and unencumbered wherever it finds itself Rest in Peace and Power dear brother LGBTQ and feminist rights activist Maria Helena Dolan was a close friend and sent this personal declaration in memory of Hayward In this incarnation since about Dave became my Virgo brother who I DID things with organizing kvetching partying solving global issues and stuff around the neighborhood watching movies tag teaming Atlanta Queer History rendering invisible people seen dealing with the personal and the political and learning that it takes a lot for politico-cultural warriors to make a revolution including LEGS IN AIR The Atlanta LGBTQ Locality Center Feasibility Review distributed a comment via social media Dave was a force in our movement and a historian among us The greater part lately Dave served as a subcommittee member of our Exploratory Committee helping us develop a strategy to preserve and amplify Atlanta s queer history View this post on Instagram Before his death Hayward was helping to coordinate a screening of Andrew Durham s award-winning film Fairyland on Dec at p m at The Tara Theatre The film tells the true story of the late Atlanta activist and writer Steve Abbott whom Hayward befriended upon his arrival in the city Fellow historian Wes Nimmo disclosed he hoped the Fairyland screening which will feature a talkback with longtime LGBTQ activists will go forward as a tribute to Hayward Another fellow historian and activist Tom Dibble Dempsey with the Georgia LGBTQ History Project where Hayward was a former board member stated a memorial institution for Hayward would be broadcasted soon Hayward was a frequent contributor to both Georgia Voice and its forerunner Southern Voice For our special Atlanta Pride issue in October Hayward penned a tribute to Atlanta s early LGBTQ activists and a timeline of that early history You can read it here The post Atlanta LGBTQ activist and historian Dave Hayward dead at appeared first on Rough Draft Atlanta