WUSSY says ‘Fuck These Rainbow Crosswalks’

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?Pride Weekend is upon us and the paint is barely dry on the temporary Atlanta Rainbow Crosswalks. In fact, a ribbon cutting ceremony is planned for 6 p.m. today. But everyone is not filled with pride over the local LGBT community’s latest successful initiative. In fact, WUSSY, the new online magazine covering queer culture and nightlife in the South, is throwing critical shade at the new rainbow-colored crosswalks at the intersection of 10th and Piedmont streets.
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?A crowdfunding campaign raised over $44K in two months to have the rainbow crosswalks painted in the heart of Midtown just in time for Pride 2015. But in a piece titled “Fuck These Rainbow Crosswalks,” writer Julian Modugno questions the purpose of the Atlanta Rainbow Crosswalks campaign, spearheaded by Robert Sepúlveda Jr., when there are more serious issues facing the local queer community:  
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? ?? Well congratulations, gay Atlanta! You’ve finally accomplished something! Finding homes for all those gay teen runaways? Nope, that’s not it! Ending violence against trans women? Sorry, guess again! Painting a couple of crosswalks with rainbow colors for one weekend? That’s right! You did it! You managed to paint some crosswalks.
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? WUSSY editor-in-chief Jon Dean and staff writers including Zaida J aka Cayenne Rouge partnered with Creative Loafing to guest edit this week’s Pride cover package on “The State of Queer Atlanta.” In the opening column, they talked about the “changing social climate” as a younger queer scene emerges with different concerns than the older more established LGBT community in Atlanta.
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?Providing a platform for the less mainstream, more marginalized voices within the queer community is part of the LGBT Institute’s focus as it launches anew at the National Center for Civil and Human Rights, according to interim executive director Ryan Roemerman. 
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?One of Mudongo’s main points of contention in his WUSSY column is that the crosswalks will only be temporary. 
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??? You must be so proud. You crowdfunded over $44,000 to paint some crosswalks ROY G BIV for a weekend before the city makes the organization responsible paint it back. It must be good affecting such temporary change. It’s really important that Atlanta get these crosswalks because we need to join the ranks of the other cities who have done it: Miami, Chicago, San Francisco, Austin, Philadelphia, West Hollywood, Seattle, Northampton, Massachusetts. What kind of gay city would we be if we didn’t follow the same tacky trend of all these other cities? Fuck original thought! I’ll be goddamned if we let Northampton, Massachusetts out-mainstream us! 
?? When Sepulveda initially began the crowdfunding campaign in August, it was under the assumption that the crosswalks would be permanent. Within two months, the campaign surpassed its original $20K goal by double. But the city of Atlanta notified Sepulveda on Sept. 15 that the installation would only be approved as a temporary addition, Project Q reports. Four days later, Sepulveda addressed critics of the Rainbow Crosswalks campaign via YouTube, stating that the plan was never “to spend the money for a temporary project. It just doesn’t make sense,” he said. Promising that “the money will only be spent for the permanent status of the Atlanta Rainbow Crosswalks,” Sepulveda launched an online petition urging Mayor Kasim Reed to make the crosswalks permanent. The petition currently has 746 supporters. That’s 524 more people than the number of donors it took to raise $44,951.
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?In his WUSSY post, Modungo considers what $44K would do for the Lost n Found Youth Inc., another local org in the midst of a crowdfunding campaign with the purpose of trying to end LGBTQ teen homelessness. After 58 weeks, it has only raised 10 percent of its $200,000 goal.
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?You can read Modungo’s entire column at WussyMag.com.