Dave Hayward – an activist, historian, and witness to much of Atlanta’s early LGBTQ+ rights movement – has died from a heart attack at 76.
Hayward co-founded the nonprofit Touching Up Our Roots, the LGBTQ+ story project and self-guided audio tour featuring sites important to queer Atlanta. A frequent guest speaker at local LGBTQ+-related protests and events, Hayward was an early member of the activist group Georgia Gay Liberation Front and was one of the co-founders of the city’s chapter of ACT UP, the political group formed in the late 80s to end the AIDS pandemic.
Born in New Hampshire, Hayward arrived in Atlanta in 1971 when the city’s gay rights movement was still in its nascent phase. A lover of history and storytelling, Hayward began to befriend and chronicle the city’s queer history and the people who were making it. Hayward participated in the city’s first sanctioned Pride march in 1972.
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“I’m in a position now where I can talk about what happened fifty years ago and how it relates to today,” Hayward said in a 2021 interview. “There’s a great deal of privilege and responsibility in that position. For me, most of all, in terms of being a witness, it’s remembering our holocaust. We lost so many people as a result of AIDS. So many groups, so many initiatives, have been forgotten as a result of that loss. For each one of us, if we could just use our voices in whatever way we can. You can’t live for anybody. You can’t bring anyone back to life. But you can call them up, call them forth, call them out in the present moment to honor and remember them as you educate the future.”
In a statement to Georgia Voice, longtime activist and friend Lorraine Fontana called Hayward “a seriously, and wonderfully, single-minded brother” in his devotion to history.
“He seemed to know why he was here and devoted himself to fulfilling that purpose. He was a curious mixture of generosity and suspicion. But he also exuded vulnerability and seemed to be compassionate when he saw that in others,” Fontana recalled. “He, sadly, may have cared more about the LGBTQIA+ communities, and that our stories be preserved, than he did about his own health. May his Spirit be free and unencumbered wherever it finds itself. Rest in Peace…and Power…dear brother.”
LGBTQ+ and feminist rights activist Maria Helena Dolan was a close friend and sent this personal statement in memory of Hayward.
“In this incarnation, since about 1976, Dave became my Virgo brother who I DID things with: organizing, kvetching, partying, solving global issues and stuff around the neighborhood, watching movies, tag teaming Atlanta Queer History, rendering invisible people seen, dealing with the personal and the political, and learning that it takes a lot for politico-cultural warriors to make a revolution, including LEGS!IN!AIR!”
Activist and attorney Gil Robison, founder of the original Atlanta Gay Center and the first openly gay political candidate in the state, said in a statement, “The news of Dave’s sudden and unexpected death was quite a shock. He was such a part of Atlanta’s gay community for some 50 years – half a century. His commitment never wavered.”
The Atlanta LGBTQ+ Community Center Feasibility Study released a statement via social media: “Dave was a force in our movement, and a historian among us. Most recently, Dave served as a subcommittee member of our Exploratory Committee, helping us develop a strategy to preserve and amplify Atlanta’s queer history.”
Before his death, Hayward was helping to coordinate a screening of Andrew Durham’s award-winning film “Fairyland” on Dec. 6 at 3 p.m. at The Tara Theatre. The film tells the true story of the late Atlanta activist and writer Steve Abbott, whom Hayward befriended upon his arrival in the city.
Fellow historian Wes Nimmo said he hoped the “Fairyland” screening, which will feature a talkback with longtime LGBTQ+ activists, will go forward as a tribute to Hayward.
Another fellow historian and activist, Tom Dibble Dempsey, with the Georgia LGBTQ History Project where Hayward was a former board member, said a memorial service for Hayward would be announced soon.
Hayward was a frequent contributor to both Georgia Voice and its forerunner, Southern Voice. For our special Atlanta Pride issue in October, Hayward penned a tribute to Atlanta’s early LGBTQ+ activists and a timeline of that early history. You can read it here.