A new concert from the Atlanta Gay Men’s Chorus aims to highlight the challenges and triumphs transgender people experience.
“TRANSformation” will be performed Saturday, April 6, at 7:30 p.m. at the Byers Theatre at Sandy Springs Performing Arts Center. AGMC trans members and trans people from the broader community selected all the songs for the performance.
The timing of this concert is intentional. Over the past two years, hundreds of pieces of anti-LGBTQ legislation targeting transgender and non-binary people have been filed in Georgia and across the country.
“Our artistic director, Don Milton, understands us to be not just a musical organization, but an advocacy organization,” said AGMC member Gellin Hughes.
“Our slogan literally is, ‘Changing hearts and minds through music,’ and that has everything to do with positive queer visibility and advocacy for the queer community,” said Hughes. “And right now, trans folks are the category of folks within the LGBTQ community that are the most targeted, at least politically.”
The concert follows an arc that begins with the pain and isolation many trans people feel before becoming their authentic selves. That feeling can be heard in the song “Iris” by the Goo Goo Dolls and its lyric, “I don’t want the world to see me ’cause I don’t think that they’d understand.”
The story arc ends with songs such as, “All I Know So Far” by Pink, and “This Is Me” from the movie “The Greatest Showman” because they express the courage and joy trans people experience when they understand their true selves.
“I think that seeing the AGMC sing these songs in the context of a concert about the trans experience will hopefully open some people up to the idea that trans people aren’t that different, that we’re actually relatable, because these are our stories, too,” Hughes said.
The AGMC Board of Directors worked with the City Springs staff to ensure bathrooms are gender neutral for the concert. Pronoun stickers will also be available for attendees to wear when they enter the venue.
An event called The Trans Expo will be set up in the lobby at 6:30 p.m., an hour before the concert begins. More than a dozen organizations will be on site to provide information on issues such as housing and healthcare accessibility. Other groups will have information on trans athletics and social activities.
“Some people may come to the concert to feel a sense of belonging and not know these organizations existed — the expo is where people can gain resources they may need,” said Andi Monroe, operations and programs manager for the OUT Georgia Business Alliance.
The alliance is the only LGBTQ chamber of commerce in Georgia. It is also one of a handful of LGBTQ chambers in the country with a TGX360 initiative that focuses on employment and entrepreneurship for Georgia’s transgender and gender expansive community, Monroe said.
The Trans Expo also ensures those attending the concert, like families with trans kids or trans adults without a community, realize there are places where they are welcome and belong.
“We don’t want people to just come and go on this emotional journey with us and then be left alone,” Hughes said. “We want them to leave with resources and leave with a sense of community.”
Tickets for the concert can be purchased online.
