Georgia Voice

About Georgia Voice

When Atlanta's primary LGBT newspaper vanished overnight in November 2009, the community refused to stay silent. The Georgia Voice — which debuted March 19, 2010 — was born from the ashes of Southern Voice: founded by Chris Cash, Laura Douglas-Brown and Tim Boyd, three veterans of the paper that Window Media's bankruptcy had killed without warning. It continued Southern Voice's mission of serving Atlanta's LGBTQ community — and 15 years later, under new owner Rough Draft Atlanta, it remains "the media outlet of record for the LGBTQ community in Atlanta and throughout the state."

1988: Southern Voice

The story starts with Southern Voice — "SoVo" — launched March 1, 1988, by Christina (Chris) Cash with a small group of volunteers, originally a project of Southeast Arts and Media Education (SAME), buoyed by the activism of the 1987 National March on Washington. Cash's motivation was personal: "born from my personal need to take action against the system that deemed my then partner as an 'unfit' mother because she was a lesbian. We lost custody of our son in 1987." At its height, Southern Voice employed dozens of staff, published weekly, carried national advertising and distributed more than 25,000 copies per week across Atlanta and the Southeast. Cash credited its success to offering news and imagery of both women and men, limiting sexual and alcohol advertising, and "being a paper you could read on MARTA and take home to Mom." Profitable since 1993, Cash sold it to Window Media in 1997 — which declared bankruptcy in November 2009, and Southern Voice ceased publication without warning on November 16, 2009.

2009–2010: the community builds a new paper

Cash reached out that same day — November 16, 2009 — to Laura Douglas-Brown, who had been serving as editor of Southern Voice, and to Tim Boyd, a former sales executive. Within days, Cash held a community meeting to choose a name for a new LGBTQ newspaper; the overwhelming choice was Georgia Voice. Six of the original seven staff members were former Southern Voice employees. The new paper debuted March 19, 2010 — just four months after SoVo's sudden death — ensuring Atlanta was without an LGBT newspaper for the shortest possible time. As one account put it, the founders "launched a newspaper to fill the void and to create a media company to serve all of LGBT Georgia."

What the Voice covers

"Local news and politics, by far," Cash told Press Pass Q when asked what readers loved most. "Our readers look to us as the most trusted source of news and events in their local community." The paper's geographic coverage spans Atlanta and Georgia's other major cities; its print run was 8,000 (10,000 for special issues like Pride, Black Gay Pride and Best of Atlanta), with a 10-by-10.5-inch format averaging 36 pages. Its readership demographics: 57% male, 40% female, 3% other; 76% college graduates; half with incomes over $75,000. The paper also produces "Destination: Gay Atlanta," the city's official LGBTQ travel guide, in collaboration with the Atlanta Convention and Visitor's Bureau. Editorial staff has included editor Darian Aaron, deputy editor Patrick Saunders and art director Rob Boeger, plus dozens of freelancers; publisher Tim Boyd and managing partner Chris Cash ran the business side.

Chris Cash: Hall of Fame

In 2022, Chris Cash was inducted into the NLGJA LGBTQ Journalists Hall of Fame for her decades of work in LGBT journalism — an honor for the woman who built not one but two of Atlanta's gay newspapers. "The LGBTQ Journalists Hall of Fame was launched to honor outstanding LGBTQ journalists who have exemplified the association's mission to advance fair and accurate coverage of LGBTQ communities and issues," the association noted; Cash joined 51 honorees "who have left a lasting mark on their profession through their own courage and mastery of the practice of journalism." From the custody battle that inspired Southern Voice to the bankruptcy that inspired the Georgia Voice, Cash's career is the history of Atlanta's LGBT press.

2024: Rough Draft Atlanta acquisition

In December 2024, the paper was acquired by Rough Draft Atlanta, the local hyperlocal news organization headed by publisher Keith Pepper, after founder Tim Boyd sought a buyer as he approached retirement. Cash and Douglas-Brown were no longer affiliated with the paper at the time of the sale. Following the acquisition, the paper moved to Rough Draft Atlanta's website, launched a weekly newsletter, and shifted to a monthly print edition under executive editor Collin Kelley. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution covered the sale as the changing of the guard for "Atlanta's landmark LGBTQ newspaper" — now part of a hyperlocal news company, with a monthly print rhythm and continuous digital updates.

The archive: Out in the Archives

Southern Voice and Georgia Voice's history is preserved in Georgia State University's "Out in the Archives" exhibit — documenting SoVo's 1988 founding, its growth from 5,000 to a claimed 100,000 circulation at its peak, and the Georgia Voice's 2010 launch "taking over where Southern Voice left off." In 2020, the Georgia Voice celebrated its tenth anniversary, recommitting to its mission as the LGBTQ community's outlet of record. The continuity matters: Atlanta has had an LGBT newspaper, under one name or another, since 1988 — nearly 40 years, interrupted only by the four months between SoVo's death and the Voice's birth.

Best of Atlanta and community rituals

Beyond news, the Georgia Voice built the community's rituals: its annual Best of Atlanta readers' poll, its Pride issues (with 10,000-copy special print runs), its Black Gay Pride coverage, and "Destination: Gay Atlanta," the official LGBTQ travel guide produced with the Atlanta Convention and Visitor's Bureau. These weren't just revenue products — they were community infrastructure, the shared calendar and shared honors roll of LGBTQ Atlanta. A newspaper that names the community's best bars, best activists and best allies is doing more than reporting; it's curating belonging.

Two papers, one mission: the Cash legacy

Chris Cash's achievement — founding Southern Voice in 1988, then founding the Georgia Voice from its ashes in 2010 — makes her the central figure in Atlanta's LGBT press history. Her NLGJA Hall of Fame induction in 2022 recognized "decades of work in LGBT journalism," but the deeper honor is the continuity itself: Atlanta has had an LGBT newspaper since March 1988, with only a four-month gap, because Cash refused to let the community go voiceless. From a custody battle in 1987 to a bankruptcy in 2009, personal necessity became community institution — twice.

Still the voice of LGBTQ Georgia

From Southern Voice's 1988 debut through the Window Media collapse, the community-built rebirth of 2010, and the Rough Draft Atlanta acquisition of 2024, the Georgia Voice has kept Atlanta's LGBTQ community informed — through marriage equality, the Pulse massacre's aftermath, the transgender-rights battles and the local politics that shape daily life. It publishes daily online and in print every other Friday (now monthly under Rough Draft), remaining what its founders intended: the media outlet of record for LGBTQ Georgia. Its official website is thegavoice.com. From SoVo's MARTA-readable pages to the Voice's digital-first present, one mission has held for nearly 40 years: serving LGBTQ Georgia with journalism the community can trust.