Transcripts
DJ Sir Daniel: The views, thoughts, and
Speaker:opinions expressed are the speaker's own and do not represent the views,
Speaker:thoughts, and opinions of Queue Points.
Speaker:Welcome back to I Come Alive: Stories of Black Gay Atlanta Nightlife.
Speaker:I am your host, DJ Sir Daniel.
Speaker:This series strives to tell the stories of Atlanta's gay nightlife from the
Speaker:perspective of the people who lived it.
Speaker:Our featured guest for this episode, is a reluctant leader as most pioneers are.
Speaker:Mashaun D.
Speaker:Simon has the distinction of being an OG peach holder for he is
Speaker:Atlanta born and Decatur raised.
Speaker:He has a unique story of duality.
Speaker:How does one answer the call of the almighty and still enjoy
Speaker:being Black and queer in Atlanta?
Speaker:You'll soon find out.
Speaker:Enjoy the show.
Speaker:You have the distinction of being the only human being.
Speaker:born and bred subject that I've spoken to so far on this project.
Speaker:Oh, wow.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:And that's a big deal because as a native son of Atlanta, like what grade would
Speaker:you give your city for its treatment of its black and queer citizens?
Speaker:Mashaun D. Simon: Oh, wow.
Speaker:What grade would I give?
Speaker:You know, it's, hmm.
Speaker:What grade would I, is this like on a normal scale of like a to like D or, yeah,
Speaker:DJ Sir Daniel: just you can give it or we can do, uh, e, s and, and u.
Speaker:Excellent.
Speaker:Satisfactory, unsatisfactory, whatever you want to do.
Speaker:Teacher s Yes, exactly.
Speaker:. Whatever you want to do, professor.
Speaker:Mashaun D. Simon: Um, I would say that where we are now as it pertains
Speaker:to the city and what's available to those who identify as black and
Speaker:queer, however you line up on that, um, um, I would give the city a seat.
Speaker:I think the city does really well around being somewhat inclusive, um, politically
Speaker:for the LGBTQIA community at large.
Speaker:But I think when it comes to, and what I mean by that is the ways in
Speaker:which it protects, um, the overall community in a lot of ways, especially
Speaker:when we think about like Midtown 14th street, et cetera, et cetera.
Speaker:Um, it's support for gay pride in the city, et cetera.
Speaker:And the ways in which businesses come together.
Speaker:But I think when it comes down to those of us who are also black and
Speaker:brown, um, I cannot say that the city has done or the city has Invested as
Speaker:much energy, commitment, care, and concern for us, what we need, what
Speaker:we want, and what's available to us compared to the community at large.
Speaker:I will say though, that what I find to be interesting is that
Speaker:this project that you were doing, um, there seems to be this trend.
Speaker:Um,
Speaker:Mashaun D. Simon: and so, um, maybe it was about a year ago, I participate in
Speaker:these conversations that the City of Atlanta were doing about Black Gay Atlanta
Speaker:and the history of Black Gay Atlanta, and I found that to be intriguing.
Speaker:Um, and so I think there is something happening where there are certain people
Speaker:in certain spaces with a certain amount of access that are bringing this conversation
Speaker:to life, and I do appreciate that.
Speaker:Um, but those pockets are few and far between.
Speaker:DJ Sir Daniel: Hmm, so let's put a pin in that because we're
Speaker:going to come back around to
Speaker:Black gay Atlanta the treatment of this the city as a whole I do
Speaker:find it is rare that we do run into someone that is a native of the city.
Speaker:So how do you feel, and we're going to get to our main topic, but how do you feel
Speaker:when you see those disparaging comments about Atlanta, knowing that most of the
Speaker:people living here are transplants now?
Speaker:You know, we love that saying Atlanta is not a real place.
Speaker:And at times it is, it is mythological.
Speaker:At times it does go, you feel like, okay, are we in Oz right now?
Speaker:But yes.
Speaker:How do you feel about more so the disparaging comments about the city
Speaker:of Atlanta, whether it's about the infrastructure, um, traffic or the
Speaker:fact that there is a, such a large and visible black gay community here.
Speaker:Mashaun D. Simon: Yeah.
Speaker:I tend to, I tend to take it personal in a lot of ways.
Speaker:Um, I have taken notice as to lately, this has actually happened a few days ago where
Speaker:a colleague of mine who lives in San Juan, Puerto Rico, every time, um, according to
Speaker:him, people from Atlanta visit San Juan.
Speaker:Like he, he claims that he just knows that they are people from Atlanta.
Speaker:Like he's like, I know that these are Atlanta Negroes.
Speaker:For these reasons, dot, dot, dot.
Speaker:And I'm always like, no, stop.
Speaker:Cause one, all of us are not like that and not, and you can add whatever the
Speaker:stereotypes you want to add to that.
Speaker:Um, but two, as you said, a lot of the people who now claim
Speaker:Atlanta, we're not born here.
Speaker:Like there are not that many natives still living in the Metro area.
Speaker:Um, I used to joke and say.
Speaker:And I know this to be true because I feel like I'm related to most of them.
Speaker:Um, because I'm just still finding more and more family as I get older.
Speaker:But, uh, yeah, like I find myself taking it jokingly and subtly personal, um,
Speaker:because I think it is slightly unfair that all of these things are tacked on to my
Speaker:city, um, from the perspective of someone.
Speaker:Now, let me be very clear.
Speaker:And I always do this.
Speaker:I'm Atlanta born and Decatur bred.
Speaker:Um, because my family was adamant about raising me, um, in a
Speaker:different kind of environment.
Speaker:And so a part of that is in my DNA, like I am a Decatur boy, um,
Speaker:but I still claim Atlanta proudly because I was born in this city.
Speaker:I, um, have been greatly influenced by this city politically,
Speaker:economically, socially, culturally.
Speaker:Um, and so I like to take ownership of the fact that I am one of
Speaker:the very few who are still here.
Speaker:DJ Sir Daniel: And it's funny you bring up claiming, you know, how Atlanta
Speaker:has influenced you socially, as long as you and I have known each other.
Speaker:And that's been for a minute now, as long as you and I have known each
Speaker:other, you really haven't been much haven't been one for going out a lot.
Speaker:And so I'm wondering how has like the pursuit of the titles that I
Speaker:named that I rattled off earlier, like the pursuit of those titles.
Speaker:How have they informed?
Speaker:your connection to the gay scene here in Atlanta?
Speaker:Mashaun D. Simon: Um, well, yeah, I was here.
Speaker:I, I, I was many of them.
Speaker:I was a club kid.
Speaker:I went to the Bulldogs and tracks and, uh, and the phase ones.
Speaker:And I went to Loretta's.
Speaker:I've been to the Marquette once I survived.
Speaker:DJ Sir Daniel: I
Speaker:Mashaun D. Simon: never want to go back
Speaker:DJ Sir Daniel: again.
Speaker:Um, I think we have to go back as adults just to Just to, to, to gauge
Speaker:the amount of growth, our growth and the, the growth of the Marquette,
Speaker:because I think the Marquette,
Speaker:well, but see, here's the thing.
Speaker:I think there's still a place, there's a place for not necessarily the stabbing
Speaker:and
Speaker:DJ Sir Daniel: the being dragged out on the streets.
Speaker:But there is a place for that.
Speaker:That segment, that demographic of the community to feel seen and
Speaker:to have a space for them as well.
Speaker:And I think it, and I think it is something to, it's also a
Speaker:way that we gauge ourselves and you know how far we've come.
Speaker:Cause I haven't been there since 1995, 96.
Speaker:So yeah.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Mashaun D. Simon: I don't even remember when I went to be quite honest.
Speaker:I just know I've been in there once and I was like, Oh, this is what this is noted.
Speaker:I never have to come back here again.
Speaker:DJ Sir Daniel: I wonder how much the fact that it was co ed, like
Speaker:it was very much, it was unspoken.
Speaker:Like this is not just for you boys.
Speaker:This is also for the lesbians, the, the studs, especially when, when I was going
Speaker:in, it was on, um, Right there by the AUC across the street from that McDonald's.
Speaker:Um, Job Corps had a headquarters here in Atlanta at that time.
Speaker:And so a lot of the young ladies The studs the young and budding studs that
Speaker:used to go to job Corps would come to job I mean would come to the Marquette
Speaker:and frequent the Marquette and they kind of outnumbered the boys as it were, you
Speaker:know so There's a lot I said for that environment, but you were saying about how
Speaker:the scene and your pursuit of Your dreams your goals How how did one inform the
Speaker:other like Did you find at one point you were like, okay, can't do this as much as
Speaker:anymore because I'm concentrating on this.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Mashaun D. Simon: Yeah.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:That's very true.
Speaker:That is very, and I was having a conversation with
Speaker:someone recently about this.
Speaker:Um, my, my husband and I have just recently celebrated 10 years together and
Speaker:There was a conversation being had with one of my ministry
Speaker:colleagues out of North Carolina.
Speaker:Uh, About how rare that is seen in our community.
Speaker:And it caused me to go down this rabbit hole of a lot of the choices
Speaker:I made for a lot of different reasons as it pertained to, as you said,
Speaker:the levels of status I was chasing.
Speaker:And I was that young man who had been conditioned to believe that um, you had
Speaker:to be presented in a certain kind of way.
Speaker:Respectability politics, you had to.
Speaker:Operate a certain kind of way.
Speaker:You have to lose certain way.
Speaker:Um, and so when I started seminary, um, back in 2010, um, I like to say that my
Speaker:life, my nightlife ended in that moment.
Speaker:Um, I had been, you know, hanging out with my people, going to the
Speaker:Bulldogs, going to, um, the spots.
Speaker:Um, I remember the days of going to the palace.
Speaker:I remember the days of phase one.
Speaker:I remember the days of all of those moments.
Speaker:Um, but when I decided to surrender to what I perceived to be a call on my
Speaker:life to ministry, um, I chose to submit to this idea that people in ministry
Speaker:didn't need to be in certain spaces.
Speaker:And the club is one of the places that we did not need to be in.
Speaker:Um, and when I started preaching regularly, um, when I started
Speaker:pastoring, um, um, um, um, All of that came to an abrupt end.
Speaker:I would still, every now and again, do like a First Fridays at the
Speaker:Eagle, um, with certain people.
Speaker:Um, when my now husband and I got together, there were a couple times
Speaker:where he and I went as a couple or when family of his was in town for like a
Speaker:pride, uh, a Black Gay Pride weekend or, or, or Labor Day weekend, we would go.
Speaker:So a First Friday experience.
Speaker:But yeah, I completely stopped.
Speaker:Doing all of that because it was perceived that that was not something for someone
Speaker:of my stature to be doing unless I Was gonna be what a lot of people call it.
Speaker:Not my city sissies.
Speaker:So if I went out of town
Speaker:DJ Sir Daniel: I Was I was just about to bring that I was like do you so do you
Speaker:were you one of the ones that you felt?
Speaker:You can't you can let down your hair in another city because yeah, that's what we
Speaker:would see here in Atlanta Yeah Yeah, and
Speaker:Mashaun D. Simon: yeah, I became a not my city system.
Speaker:DJ Sir Daniel: I'm not my city, sissy.
Speaker:And I will say that you, you and Elvis, your husband have always, um, would come
Speaker:out for events that I was a part of.
Speaker:Like if I would be spinning at a, at a bulldogs for, like you said,
Speaker:for pride weekend, yes, you guys would come out and support me.
Speaker:And I always appreciated that because I was well aware of your journey.
Speaker:And.
Speaker:It's funny that you have that kind of conflict within yourself about, you
Speaker:see a friend on the journey and you're like, well, it's not that serious.
Speaker:You know, he could, he could do such and such, he could come out.
Speaker:And, but then you don't realize you have to take into consideration
Speaker:that people are really on.
Speaker:Their life's paths and you need to and we have to respect that and I and that only
Speaker:comes with growth And you know getting older and just living life because as I
Speaker:step away from Nightlife, you know and not being a part of it as much as I did
Speaker:mostly because you know growing older and things starting to Change or be the
Speaker:same and you know, you're trying to, you don't really feel like you fit in anymore.
Speaker:Um, do you deal with that of the aging out thoughts of, you know, nightlife?
Speaker:Is that a thing for you?
Speaker:Do you feel like you feel like you've aged out?
Speaker:Because I still, like we say, there's a first Friday and that's
Speaker:where we'll see people our age or older, you know, that will come out.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Mashaun D. Simon: Um, yes.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:It's interesting.
Speaker:So I think it's interesting space now where I, I feel like I am, I am having,
Speaker:is it a one 80, not quite a three 60.
Speaker:I don't know.
Speaker:Like I am, right.
Speaker:And you know, I did that great when I was in high school, what's what's one
Speaker:plus one again, uh, I, I am having a moment in my life now where, um, I've
Speaker:been on this interesting journey.
Speaker:The past couple of years of stripping myself of a lot of that baggage.
Speaker:Um, certain people in certain religious spaces call it deconstructing.
Speaker:There's this argument that maybe it's not quite deconstructing.
Speaker:Maybe it's something else.
Speaker:Whatever.
Speaker:The reality is, um, I am finding myself divorcing myself of a lot of that baggage.
Speaker:Um, and so because I am what a lot of people like to press to be this public
Speaker:figure, Uh, I do not as much allow some of those things to hinder me as much as
Speaker:they used to because my own work and my own research has caused me to consider
Speaker:that that level of conditioning may not have anything to do with anything
Speaker:beyond people just trying to control or people just trying to, um, create.
Speaker:It's a world or society or individual or being that makes them most comfortable.
Speaker:Um, so the reasons why I don't go out much now is because I'm busy.
Speaker:Like sleep is very important to me.
Speaker:Like you
Speaker:DJ Sir Daniel: said,
Speaker:Mashaun D. Simon: sleep is a commodity.
Speaker:Um, and so it's, it's, and sometimes, yes, there are certain spaces.
Speaker:I'm just like, this ain't for me.
Speaker:Like.
Speaker:I don't know who this artist, I don't know who a little sexy red is or what
Speaker:have you and so that doesn't move me.
Speaker:Um, you give me, we went to a gathering not too long ago, um,
Speaker:that my brother had this party.
Speaker:And my brother is in his late 50s, early 60s.
Speaker:And I was like, oh my gosh, I just realized that I am
Speaker:of the bridge generation.
Speaker:Like, I, I am that in between from my brother's generation.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Cause I'm a cusp, I'm a Gen X er, so I'm a cusp millennial.
Speaker:Um, and so there are some millennial music and some Gen Z music that I am familiar
Speaker:with the Canadian because I'm, because I have young nephews and nieces, et cetera.
Speaker:Um, and then I'm in this interesting Gen X pocket, where there are certain
Speaker:kinds of music that move me, but then it generates the music of my brothers and
Speaker:sisters and even my parents generation.
Speaker:Some of the, what we call oldies move me as well.
Speaker:And so if I find a space.
Speaker:What's all of that operates, then I'm very happy.
Speaker:I'm very comfortable.
Speaker:I'm living my life and, and that's no issue.
Speaker:But when you get to some of this other stuff, like I enjoy make the stallion, um,
Speaker:I ain't got her knees, but I love my boss.
Speaker:Um, but like the 60 reds of the world, I don't know who the people
Speaker:are in that musical movement.
Speaker:So those are the reasons, like the music, um, that I enjoy sleep.
Speaker:Those are the reasons that sort of keep me from going as much compared to.
Speaker:These concerns around me being a preacher or me being a pastor or me being, um, the,
Speaker:this individual that, that, that people have tapped, um, a, a title and some level
Speaker:of authority to, um, I, I, I am of that person that nowhere is scandalous because
Speaker:if I'm supposed to be doing the work of being amongst God's people, then I should
Speaker:be able to be anywhere amongst God's people and, and that not be a problem.
Speaker:So yeah, I thought that really answered your question, but yeah.
Speaker:DJ Sir Daniel: Um You mentioned, you mentioned your brother and I know
Speaker:that you, you've acquired quite a few spiritual brothers on your journey.
Speaker:Um, but tell us about Hollis O.
Speaker:Simon the second.
Speaker:Why
Speaker:Mashaun D. Simon: are you doing this?
Speaker:DJ Sir Daniel: Um, I, this is, I think this is, um, You'll see
Speaker:where I'm going in a second.
Speaker:Tell us, tell us about Hollis O'Simon the second.
Speaker:Mashaun D. Simon: Um, Hollis O'Neill Simon, the second born for my
Speaker:father, Hollis O'Neill Simon, um, was, is, uh, for all intents and
Speaker:purposes, my only biological brother.
Speaker:Um, I have learned in the past few years since my father died, father
Speaker:and I had a lot of parallels.
Speaker:My father had only one biological brother.
Speaker:I only had one biological brother.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:Even though I have these other siblings from the other situations,
Speaker:et cetera, et cetera, yada, yada, but for all intents and purposes,
Speaker:he's my only biological brother.
Speaker:Um, he asked in 1992, the early 1990s, um, from complications to HIV, um, he
Speaker:had full blown AIDS by the time he died.
Speaker:He was a educator, he was a special education teacher.
Speaker:Um, but he was also a designer.
Speaker:He was a seamstress.
Speaker:He made clothes for some of my siblings, for his mother, for cousins.
Speaker:Um, he was working, um, to develop a name for himself in the fashion world.
Speaker:Um, he was my guide in a lot of ways.
Speaker:Uh, uh, he, I mean, he was just amazing.
Speaker:He was an amazing individual, um, full of life, full of love.
Speaker:Um, and when he became diagnosed with HIV, um, He is probably one, one of the
Speaker:reasons why I am at this age of 40 plus 45 plus live to the extent that I live
Speaker:because my brother wanted to live so bad.
Speaker:He was so creative.
Speaker:Um, when I had projects at school that displayed boards, I would have him draw my
Speaker:display boards for my school assignments.
Speaker:Um, I mean, he probably was for all intents and purposes.
Speaker:The first best friend I had before I knew what a best friend was.
Speaker:Yeah, he was my big brother.
Speaker:DJ Sir Daniel: He was your big brother, and did he identify as a gay man?
Speaker:He was.
Speaker:He was a black
Speaker:Mashaun D. Simon: gay man,
Speaker:DJ Sir Daniel: um,
Speaker:Mashaun D. Simon: as well.
Speaker:DJ Sir Daniel: So, um, I brought him up and I asked about Hollis because
Speaker:one, I know how important he is to you.
Speaker:And I just wondered, did you ever imagine what your life would have been like if
Speaker:he were to, if he were alive to help you navigate through those black queer spaces,
Speaker:you know, through those, through the club scene, through the, you know, your
Speaker:first date, your first hookup, whatever.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Tell me about that.
Speaker:Mashaun D. Simon: I think about that a lot.
Speaker:Um, it is part of the reason why the D is in my, in my name, in my signature.
Speaker:Uh, I learned after my brother died,
Speaker:he
Speaker:Mashaun D. Simon: either named me or had something to do with my naming.
Speaker:Um, and so to honor him and to honor his memory, um, I made my
Speaker:middle initial a part of my, my, my brand, my identity, my signature.
Speaker:Um, but there have been numerous times.
Speaker:Especially when I was having like relationship problems.
Speaker:Oh my god.
Speaker:I'd be like, if my brother was here, um, the conversations we could have
Speaker:had, um, the moments we could have had when I could have just driven over to
Speaker:the house and then just been like, let me tell you about what this negro did.
Speaker:Um, I just really feel like there were these missed moments.
Speaker:Um, especially Because I wasn't, I was young when my brother died.
Speaker:I was 13 years old when my brother died.
Speaker:I was 13.
Speaker:He was 33.
Speaker:Um, and so I had not quite come.
Speaker:I knew who I was.
Speaker:Um, and I knew what my identity was, but I had not been brave enough to let
Speaker:others in on that or let others back.
Speaker:Um, so he was a huge part of why I came out when I came out.
Speaker:Um, and I, for many years, I found myself in a space of just
Speaker:contemplating the what ifs.
Speaker:How would, how would have things gone?
Speaker:There was a good time.
Speaker:A lot of people don't know this.
Speaker:Um, I think I've only told this to one, maybe two other people in my life.
Speaker:There was a period of time in my into late teens where I
Speaker:had a health scare of my own.
Speaker:I, I, I had been exposed to HIV.
Speaker:One that I was dating at the time.
Speaker:And so I was really, really concerned, um, and had just really spiraled.
Speaker:I was just like, Oh my God, I did the same thing.
Speaker:My brother did.
Speaker:Oh my God, my family is going to be so disappointed in me.
Speaker:Yada, yada.
Speaker:I went through all of that stuff and I had these moments of if Hollis was still
Speaker:here, what I have made some of these mistakes, what I have dated this person,
Speaker:what I have, what I have done these things and how was I going to navigate?
Speaker:My way through after that, thank God I was spared.
Speaker:Um, I was not positive.
Speaker:I am not positive.
Speaker:Um, but it, it triggered this way of just sort of being Set apart.
Speaker:Um, and so even when you talk about These decisions that I did not make because
Speaker:of the life that I was chasing like not going out as much etc, etc Losing my
Speaker:brother also had a large part in that because I wanted And that health care
Speaker:because I wanted to I wanted to provide a different narrative than the one
Speaker:people around me had been so used to.
Speaker:Um, and so I became the well organized, driven, highly successful, well
Speaker:attached, well connected person that I did, especially for my family,
Speaker:especially for my mother and my father, because of the loss of Hollis.
Speaker:Um, I needed them to look me in a different kind of way so they
Speaker:could say that I had done the same things that him and many others
Speaker:had been, um, judged for doing.
Speaker:DJ Sir Daniel: Hmm.
Speaker:I think, uh, I actually relate to that in the sense of, you know,
Speaker:the way I would move the way I would like even just going out.
Speaker:It was more so of, okay, I'm going here.
Speaker:I'm going to be on my best behavior because I don't want the narrative to
Speaker:be what he was down at such and such.
Speaker:And he was there, you know, and you always think, Oh God, what if something happened?
Speaker:What, what is my mother going to say?
Speaker:And that's, you know, and it says something, um, dire happens.
Speaker:Oh God, is this going to be.
Speaker:The story that they tell my mother.
Speaker:Is this going to be the story, the legacy that I'm going to leave behind
Speaker:with such and such got caught up in, at this party or at this club.
Speaker:And, but I, you know, I,
Speaker:I love that about you and Hollis.
Speaker:And again, I mentioned that you pick up spiritual brothers along the way.
Speaker:Um, Myself included, you know, and I think part of that, those moments that
Speaker:we get to share in those spaces become part of that bonding process because I'm
Speaker:thinking of a moment Where I witnessed you get free once I'm on a dance floor,
Speaker:I'm not gonna go any further than that
Speaker:But I do I do want to know for you because it didn't necessarily happen
Speaker:with me, but What and I've been asking every all my subjects this question
Speaker:about the music aspect because I'm a DJ So I'm gonna ask this like what song do
Speaker:you remember that really set you free?
Speaker:In, in the space with your, in the queer space with other black men.
Speaker:Mashaun D. Simon: Uh, Oh my gosh.
Speaker:What song has really set me free?
Speaker:Um, um, there, there are three that come to mind for me because they present
Speaker:themselves at very different points
Speaker:in my
Speaker:Mashaun D. Simon: life.
Speaker:Um, So back in the day Back in the day it was splat pack square of the ground
Speaker:Yeah, it was back in the day it was that and part of that was because
Speaker:of the influences of being around my sister So I have an older sister
Speaker:Um, who was an exotic dancer?
Speaker:Um, and so she introduced me to a lot of that music back in the day So it
Speaker:was just something about that song that whenever it came on I was just like
Speaker:You I was just black and gay and free.
Speaker:Um, um, back that ass up.
Speaker:Um, it's another one that I think was the one that came on the night that
Speaker:you were talking about in question.
Speaker:Um,
Speaker:DJ Sir Daniel: Actually it was the, the aforementioned song,
Speaker:but I was, it was, but I wasn't going to bring it up, but yeah.
Speaker:And now you see why you acted a fool.
Speaker:Mashaun D. Simon: You brought all that back.
Speaker:Here's the thing though, for the listeners that are out there.
Speaker:This night that he is talking about in particular was at the
Speaker:end of an academic semester,
Speaker:and
Speaker:Mashaun D. Simon: I was really str I was in the second year of seminary, I was in
Speaker:the first I was at the end of the first semester of my second year of seminary,
Speaker:and I was afraid that I was going to fuck out that semester, like, that That
Speaker:level of study was so rigorous, it was the hardest something I had ever done
Speaker:in my life, in my life at that time.
Speaker:And so, I was stressed.
Speaker:And on this night in particular, I let these people talk me into going out.
Speaker:I had just gotten my grades, I had just found out that I passed this
Speaker:class, this one class in particular.
Speaker:I had all these goals for my last year of seminary, I was scared.
Speaker:And so I got really drunk that night, me and B.
Speaker:Ford got really drunk that night and we let loose and
Speaker:it was, it was what I needed.
Speaker:It was a great evening.
Speaker:It was a great night.
Speaker:It was what I needed.
Speaker:Um, so I am grateful to have that.
Speaker:Um, but now these people will never let me live that down.
Speaker:DJ Sir Daniel: Um, Mashaun, what is your take on the disappearance of black
Speaker:owned queer clubs, bars in Atlanta?
Speaker:What is your take on that?
Speaker:Mashaun D. Simon: I think it is heartbreaking.
Speaker:Um, I think it is unfortunate.
Speaker:I think it is frustrating.
Speaker:I think it all speaks to the reality of access.
Speaker:I think it speaks to this divide, um, that we have in, in, in society overall.
Speaker:You know, now, now you, now you down my, you down my, you down my road.
Speaker:You're down my avenue.
Speaker:Um, 'cause I do a lot of work around equity.
Speaker:Mm-Hmm.
Speaker:and, and supremacy, white supremacy and the, and, and how it, how it,
Speaker:it is alive and well in our society from what we believe in religion
Speaker:to our economics, et cetera.
Speaker:And I think this is one example of that like.
Speaker:Part of the reason why we don't have these spaces is because we
Speaker:don't have access to have it.
Speaker:Like, the city is having a boom in its real estate and so it's hard to
Speaker:afford a space to do something like that and to create an environment.
Speaker:And we don't have that many people in our city who can afford to do it.
Speaker:Um, we don't have a lot of space to do it.
Speaker:Like, Because we're getting all these high rises and buildings and spaces
Speaker:being built, um, all of the property that could potentially be a space for
Speaker:us, um, is being smashed up very quickly.
Speaker:And so I think it is, it is heartbreaking and speaks to the problems in our society
Speaker:at times, to creating opportunity for such a thing and, and, and having the
Speaker:support, not just from the community.
Speaker:Um, but our, our political figures, our, our leaders in the city, um, and across
Speaker:the city to create opportunities for us to have these kind of, um, um, access points.
Speaker:I think, what I am experiencing is that a lot of us are creating it
Speaker:on our own, so we're having house parties and gang nights, you see.
Speaker:Organizing events for us to get together because we crave it so much and we
Speaker:don't really have somewhere that is our home to really do it at the caliber
Speaker:of what it once was some years ago.
Speaker:Trax is gone because of the Olympics.
Speaker:They bought up all that property to attract the Olympics and got rid
Speaker:of, uh, a pop, a popular thriving.
Speaker:Black club experience,
Speaker:DJ Sir Daniel: a historical landmark actually
Speaker:Mashaun D. Simon: in a historical landmark.
Speaker:And so now you have what available, you have bulldogs and what else?
Speaker:Um,
Speaker:DJ Sir Daniel: the new Eagle,
Speaker:Mashaun D. Simon: the new Eagle, which came out of that night of one
Speaker:night and it, and it died in the pandemic and it's not coming back.
Speaker:You have, um, mix
Speaker:mix.
Speaker:Mashaun D. Simon: You
Speaker:DJ Sir Daniel: just dated yourself colors.
Speaker:Mashaun D. Simon: Um, but I don't know too many people who go to mix anymore.
Speaker:And I know that product is older.
Speaker:Um, so you don't have many of these spaces like you used to.
Speaker:And I think a part of it was because we don't have the support from our
Speaker:leadership or the financial ability.
Speaker:To create these spaces because they're concerned about
Speaker:making Atlanta something else
Speaker:DJ Sir Daniel: But there is that conversation happens though Like,
Speaker:you know, all of you rich gays need to get together and buy a
Speaker:building Is is it that simple?
Speaker:I don't think it's that simple When you don't think it's
Speaker:Mashaun D. Simon: that simple, but I but I do think it is a start um But it there's
Speaker:something to be said for the fact that nobody is trying to do it And it makes
Speaker:me wonder why nobody wanted to do it.
Speaker:Do they, do we in the community ourselves even see any value in doing such a
Speaker:thing because it hasn't happened?
Speaker:Um, and so I don't know, but I, I, I do think it is unfortunate and disheartening
Speaker:because I am fully aware, especially in the work that I'm doing now, that
Speaker:there is a craving for someplace.
Speaker:to build community, interact, fellowship, hang out, meet up,
Speaker:date, drink, party, be free.
Speaker:Um, there's not that many options.
Speaker:I remember a point in time when a group of us were you a part of this conversation?
Speaker:When there were a group of us, um, we were talking about how we were going
Speaker:to get people together and we were going to take over the straight club
Speaker:and we were just going to make the straight clubs have like gay night.
Speaker:And we just don't get all of our friends together.
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:And go to the popular straight club and just party.
Speaker:I don't know if you were part of that conversation.
Speaker:DJ Sir Daniel: I don't remember.
Speaker:I don't recall that.
Speaker:But so like a rave takeover where people would just, yeah, you know, they, I'll
Speaker:never, one night I was at, um, tracks and all of a sudden I just noticed like, This
Speaker:trickling in a trickling in in of white kids just young white kids coming over
Speaker:and next thing you know, it was a full on rave and the look of yeah the look of
Speaker:Confusement and yes, I did say confusement on everybody's faces was like what is
Speaker:going on, but it was an organized rave takeover and Huh, could that happen today?
Speaker:Well, see that's the thing You Because of progress and I raise air quotes when I
Speaker:say progress because of progress It feels like it looks like a lot of the young
Speaker:people Don't need anyone's permission to take up space Where they don't take
Speaker:up space and so A lot of places are integrated for lack of a better word with
Speaker:of both gay and straight patrons and it doesn't seem to be That big of a deal.
Speaker:So then it, maybe that is the question of, is it a big deal anymore?
Speaker:Because the younger, younger people who are really the ones that are going out
Speaker:aren't necessarily feeling the need to be sick, to have a safe space because they
Speaker:feel like they can go anywhere anyway.
Speaker:Mashaun D. Simon: Yeah.
Speaker:That's a good point.
Speaker:I hadn't thought about that.
Speaker:I don't really know where they go to be quite honest.
Speaker:Some of the young, some of the young ones who are younger than me, I
Speaker:associate with are the ones who will do the Bulldogs, the Eagle experiences.
Speaker:Um, there's another one that it was in my mind a few minutes
Speaker:ago and I completely forgot it.
Speaker:Um, it may come back to me.
Speaker:Um, but yeah, I don't know.
Speaker:I don't, I don't know.
Speaker:Oh, I don't know where the young people are these days.
Speaker:Um, so you, you make a great point.
Speaker:Some of them are probably hitting up the spots that they just consider to
Speaker:be the popular spots, regardless of if they are gay, straight or otherwise,
Speaker:and I'm perfectly okay with that.
Speaker:DJ Sir Daniel: Yeah.
Speaker:Hmm.
Speaker:Interesting.
Speaker:It's a interesting and ongoing conversation, and I'm very honored
Speaker:that you took the time to share your point of view with me, to share
Speaker:your history with our listeners, and to give them a perspective of you.
Speaker:The quote unquote church boy, you know, because there is that church,
Speaker:that church person, um, arc of people here in Atlanta that have that same
Speaker:experience of wanting to be free, but having their, you know, their mores,
Speaker:their social mores and, and the, the people that they associate with them.
Speaker:Always staying, taking up residence in their brain and influencing those
Speaker:decisions of whether or not I'm going to socialize and be around other people that
Speaker:I identify with and can be free around.
Speaker:So I appreciate you sharing that because somebody is going to see themselves in
Speaker:you when they hear that conversation.
Speaker:So, yes, thank you.
Speaker:I appreciate it.
Speaker:You know, I
Speaker:Mashaun D. Simon: love you.
Speaker:DJ Sir Daniel: I love you too.
Speaker:You
Speaker:Mashaun D. Simon: know how I feel you and I would never part
Speaker:DJ Sir Daniel: And uh, hey now we will not
Speaker:Thank you for listening to I Come Alive: Stories of Black
Speaker:Gay Atlanta Nightlife brought to you by Queue Points Productions.
Speaker:Special thanks to the Counter Narrative Project 2024 Media
Speaker:Roundtable for their support as well.
Speaker:Make sure you become a Queue Points subscriber so that you don't miss
Speaker:the next episode of I Come Alive.
