Author 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 1970s.
Now, in his new nonfiction book “The Many Passions of Michael Hardwick: Sex and the Supreme Court in the Age of AIDS,” Padgett recreates Atlanta in the 1980s and cements Hardwick as a historical figure, whose selfless act of defiance still reverberates in today’s politics.
The book details Hardwick’s 1982 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 1980s.
Hardwick ultimately lost the case and would die of an AIDS-related illness in 1991 before Georgia finally overturned its sodomy law in 1998. It would be a new century before SCOTUS ruled in the Lawrence v. Texas case, which struck down sodomy laws nationwide in 2003. However, Georgia is one of 12 states that never officially repealed its sodomy law, which opens the door for it to be resurrected if the courts move against LGBTQ+ rights.
Hardwick galvanized the gay rights movement in the 80s, with the loss of his case decried as one of the Supreme Court’s most reviled rulings and led to protests here and across the U.S..
Today, 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 officials in Georgia who support reinstating and enforcing the sodomy law, turning back the clock on privacy and civil rights.
Padgett had already been researching for his book on Hardwick while still promoting “A Night at the Sweet Gum Head” in 2021. 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 said. “It was a puzzle to solve, because Michael lived in so many places as he endured the pain and public 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 case.
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 80s. 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 20 years before relocating to Penscola, FL, said he’s still shocked by the onslaught of anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric and attempts to roll back rights unleashed after Trump’s second election.
“I thought we had won all these things in 2015 when Obergefell v. Hodges ushered in marriage equality,” Padgett said. “I steadfastly believed we wouldn’t be here at this moment up until Nov. 5.”
Former President Joe Biden appears in the epilogue of “The Many Passions of Michael Hardwick,” answering a question sent to him by Padgett in 2023. 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 said. “It will take a generation to overcome the obstacles put in our way these next four years.”
Padgett will discuss “The Many Passions of Michael Hardwick” with Philip Rafshoon on Tuesday, June 3, at 7 p.m. at St. Mark United Methodist Church, 781 Peachtree St. Find out more about the event at A Cappella Books.
