Lambda Legal Applauds Atlanta's Mayor for Naming the Atlanta Eagle an Historic Landmark

Lambda Legal applauds the City of Atlanta for designating the Atlanta Eagle as an historic landmark. Like the Stonewall Inn in New York City, the Atlanta Eagle is an historic gathering place for LGBTQ people in Atlanta and it has become a special spot in the story for our struggle for freedom and dignity.

Making the Atlanta Eagle an historical landmark this year resonates even more given the recent challenges Black people in the city, many of whom are queer and trans, have experienced at the hands of police. In 2010, Lambda Legal, along with Dan Grossman, the Southern Center for Human Rights (SCHR) and Robins, Kaplan, Miller & Ciresi L.L.P, sued the City of Atlanta for raiding the Atlanta Eagle and unlawfully searching, detaining, and arresting dozens of patrons. We won a settlement in the Atlanta Eagle raid lawsuit that forced the Atlanta Police Department to rewrite unconstitutional policies regarding arrest, search and seizure, and make other changes to protect the public from police misconduct, but it’s clear that our work to fight against police violence is not over.

“Understanding the Atlanta Eagle's significance to the LGBTQ community, Lambda Legal supports ongoing proactive efforts to protect and defend this historic safe space,” said Greg Nevins, Lambda Legal Senior Counsel. “Too often, historic preservation efforts have not preserved everybody’s history, leaving marginalized communities out of the history that future generations will yearn to know. The designation of the Atlanta Eagle is a beautiful reconciliation that the harm done to our community in recent years is in our past.”

We thank Mayor Bottoms for designating the Atlanta Eagle a historical landmark.