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Photograph by Colin Murphy
Since Cliff Norris joined Atlanta Freedom Bands in 1996, he’s done “a little bit of everything.” He served as president of the group for four years and is now the director of marketing and development. But first and foremost, Norris considers himself a tuba player. He’s performed at presidential inaugurations and played with fellow band members across three different continents. “I once checked a sousaphone as baggage to go from Amsterdam and Paris to Sydney,” he says.
Atlanta Freedom Bands, which began in 1994, will serve for the first time as grand marshals at this year’s Atlanta Pride Festival, taking place October 12 and 13. Each year, several people and organizations are nominated by their community and chosen as Pride grand marshals based on their contributions to LGBTQ+ life; other marshals this year include Dr. Elijah Nicholas, founder of The Global Trans Equity Project, and the local nonprofit Lost-n-Found Youth. All four of Atlanta Freedom Bands’ ensemble groups will march together in the parade, performing a slate of iconic pop songs. “It’s all the fan favorites this year,” says marching band leader Candace Weslosky Miller.
Photograph by Colin Murphy
They will also helm the Honor Guard, which carries LGBTQ+ identity flags at the front of the parade. “It’s a huge effort because we’ve got 19 [flags] that we carry,” says Norris. “But it’s a source of pride for us to be able to represent the community that way. We always tell people, We will carry your flag, because we’ve got someone in the band who can identify with every single one of them.”
Over the years, Norris has seen a dramatic increase in the diversity of the bands’ membership—a development not lost on Freedom Bands president Jason Morley. “Atlanta, unfortunately, tends to have a very segregated queer community,” says Morley, “and we love to cross those boundaries and bring people together across the spectrum.”
Photograph by Colin Murphy
At 150 people and counting, Atlanta Freedom Bands has returned to—and now exceeded—its prepandemic numbers. In addition to its trademark marching band and pom-pom-spinning color guard, new members are drawn to the group’s concert band, which performs the works of LGBTQ+ composers and composers of color, as well as its MetroGnomes, a big-band ensemble that headlines jazzy seasonal events, such as December’s “Swing into the Holidays.”
“Band has always been a safe space for LGBTQ+ folks,” says Morley. “As kids in school, band was a refuge for us, and now it’s become our adult refuge. We can get together in a safe space and make music together, regardless of our backgrounds or political persuasions or our gender or sexuality.”
This article appears in our October 2024 issue.
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