Okay, what the hell is this? Atlanta has an opening day every day? I know we first saw this ad during the Superbowl, and lately, I’ve seen it all over Atlanta on billboards and quite recently, at the airport. Who the hell thought of this and why? If you go to the website, you’ll even find the official Atlanta theme song. Atlanta has a theme song? And in two versions? R&B *and the Blues? Oooooooo, I gotta have both!
Check out the website… What an incredible waste of taxpayer dollars. It offers nothing, and in fact isn’t even complete yet. Most of the pages that would be helpful to a visitor (neighborhood maps), are listed as “COMING SOON”. As if that screams “WE WEREN’T READY YET!”, I don’t know what does. Everything else is just silly. Links to websites that aren’t a part of this one, government resources, theres a place for all the political pandering Atlanta Not-For-Profits, and then there’s this little blurb:
Atlanta is the ideal gay travel destination. Our gay and lesbian travel guide includes gay and lesbian special events, community organizations, gay neighborhoods, vacation packages, specials, accomodations and more.
Wow, as if that’s not a way to drive away the right-wing family-oriented tourists! I mean, it’s good to be diverse and all, but I wouldn’t go so far as to call Atlanta the “ideal gay travel destination”. I’ve lived here for 14 years and I know all of Atlanta is not the gay-frockling utopia that they would have you think it is.
Not that Atlanta has much to offer tourists anyway. We do have the some of the country’s best restaurants… and um… Six Flags, and oh yeah, the zoo… but most cities have a zoo. Oh yeah, how about the Aquarium? That’s new… good luck getting a ticket. Oh, and then we have the world champion sports teams here like the Hawks, the Thrashers, the Falcons, and the Braves . Oh yeah, I forgot, none of them can win championships. Um… what else do we have?
Well, a recent check of the Atlanta website says that we have “The Stinky Cheese Man” here in town. Wow! I can’t wait, mom can we get tickets? Oh, and don’t forget we have shopping, and the famed Atlanta nightlife stripclubs.
So, if you like boobies, Atlanta is the place to be… so I guess every day is a (bra) opening day!
21/02/2006 at 8:16 am Permalink
You’ve obviously not been to Burkhart’s on a Saturday night lately or you’d have no doubt that gay people love ATL(well, I know you and I doubt you’ve been there ever). Atlanta is indeed a gay mecca, despite the Right-wingers in the suburbs. I don’t buy that Atlanta is the “city that’s too busy to hate” but my gay friends love it here. Heck, I know several gay couples that have moved here purposefully for no reason other than Atlanta is the hot Gay place to be!
As for stuff to do, there’s the High Musuem of Art, which just open its new wing, the Botanical Garden, which is presenting Niki in the Garden all summer, tons of playhouses all over town and as you mentioned some of the best restaurants! The city is what you make of it. Sure, some people sit in the suburbs, go to Wal-Fart, eat at Chilis and go home to watch cable every night but there’s plenty to do if you give it a chance. As a native Atlantan, the thing I hate most is hearing people bitch about there’s nothing to do when they don’t get out and try new things!