‘The Many Passions of Michael Hardwick’ recalls a pivotal moment in LGBTQ+ activism and the Supreme Court

Courtesy NortonAuthor Martin Padgett has a way of summoning back an Atlanta that now only exists in memory historical archives and YouTube videos In his first book A Night at the Sweet Gum Head Padgett tapped into the intersection of the gay rights movement and the drag scene that flourished in the city in the s Now in his new nonfiction book The Numerous Passions of Michael Hardwick Sex and the Supreme Court in the Age of AIDS Padgett recreates Atlanta in the s and cements Hardwick as a historical figure whose selfless act of defiance still reverberates in nowadays s politics The book details Hardwick s arrest for sodomy in his Virginia-Highland apartment and his fight to have the arcane law overturned by the Supreme Court An unassuming bartender and artist Padgett writes that Hardwick wasn t looking for the spotlight or to have his name associated with gay rights But the swell of anger over the invasion of his privacy put him in the headlines across the country in the s Hardwick ultimately lost the occurrence and would die of an AIDS-related illness in before Georgia at last overturned its sodomy law in It would be a new century before SCOTUS ruled in the Lawrence v Texas situation which struck down sodomy laws nationwide in However Georgia is one of states that never officially repealed their sodomy laws which opens the door for those statutes to be resurrected if the courts move against LGBTQ rights Hardwick galvanized the gay rights movement in the s with the loss of his situation decried as one of the Supreme Court s the bulk reviled rulings and led to protests here and across the U S In the current era privacy rights remain under fire by conservative politicians and the churches that back them Abortion contraception and marriage equality are all still in play under the Trump administration so Hardwick s story is a good primer on where this fight began There are elected personnel in Georgia who aid reinstating the sodomy law and turning back the clock on privacy and civil rights Martin PadgettPadgett had already been researching for his book on Hardwick while still promoting A Night at the Sweet Gum Head in The key was finding family and friends who could flesh out a portrait of Hardwick and reveal the man behind the headlines and court documents Michael only spent four years in Atlanta in total Padgett mentioned It was a puzzle to solve because Michael lived in so several places as he endured the pain and society humiliation and later his illness Padgett would eventually land an interview with Hardwick s last surviving sister Susan and then later with his attorney Kathy Wilde who led him to more legal contacts who had worked or had knowledge of the court occurrence Like with Sweet Gum Head Padgett returned to the archives of the Atlanta History Center Georgia State University and Emory University to create a backdrop of Atlanta in the s Long-gone LGBTQ party haunts like Backstreet and The Cove where Hardwick worked as a bartender are rendered in rich detail and Padgett even has a Spotify playlist on his website with dance tunes of the era Padgett who lived in Atlanta for more than years before relocating to Penscola FL declared he s still shocked by the onslaught of anti-LGBTQ rhetoric and attempts to roll back rights unleashed after Trump s second voting I thought we had won all these things in when Obergefell v Hodges ushered in marriage equality Padgett declared I steadfastly presumed we wouldn t be here at this moment up until last Nov Former President Joe Biden appears in the epilogue of The Multiple Passions of Michael Hardwick answering a question sent to him by Padgett in Biden states that he s never been more optimistic about the future of America The note from Biden is a bittersweet what could have been Padgett explained It will take a generation to overcome the obstacles put in our way these next four years Padgett will discuss The A multitude of Passions of Michael Hardwick with Philip Rafshoon on Tuesday June at p m at St Mark United Methodist Church Peachtree St Find out more about the event at A Cappella Books The post The A multitude of Passions of Michael Hardwick recalls a pivotal moment in LGBTQ activism and the Supreme Court appeared first on Rough Draft Atlanta