Author Martin Padgett speaks at Margaret Mitchell House + dinner before

Author Martin Padgett will talk about his new book, 'The Many Passions of Michael Hardwick: Sex and the Supreme Court in the Age of AIDS. Padgett tells the story of Michael Hardwick, whose misguided 1982 arrest in Atlanta on sodomy charges eventually led to the (equally misguided) 1986 Supreme Court decision Bowers v. Hardwick, which upheld Georgia's sodomy law. That decision was overturned in Lawrence vs. Kansas (2003), though the statute had already been struck down by the Georgia's Supreme Court in 1998.

Padgett's book traces how Hardwick became a political symbol, first by chance, then by his own choice, even when it made him an object of derision and scrutiny. Some of you may have read Padgett's previous book A Night at the Sweet Gum Head, a history of 1970s gay Atlanta focusing on its lively drag clubs and burgeoning rights activism.

Game Plan

5:15 - Dinner - Café Intermezzo (optional)

• Address: 1065 Peachtree St NE, Atlanta, GA 30309
• This is a block and a half from Margaret Mitchell House
• The Café does not accept reservations, but I'll plan to arrive early to ask for a large seating

6:45 - Gather at Margaret Mitchell House

• Address: 979 Crescent Ave NE, Atlanta, GA 30309
• Padgett's talk begins at 7:00pm

Tickets

• Tickets for Padgett's talk are $12 (or $6 if you are a member of the Atlanta History Center)
• Purchase tickets online here.

I hope to see some of you there.