Gay Cemetery Planned for Atlanta

An Atlanta cemetery plans to reserve a special section for LGBT couples and families who want to be buried separately from other people.

The Georgia Voice reports on the plans for Dignity Memorial cemetery, where John Suggs, who is gay, believes that increasing mainstream acceptance will prompt LGBT people to stake their burial grounds with their own sense of community.

"We have to make our traditions,” he said. “In a way this is a way to honor our relationships in a simple but proud way. Being able to be next to your partner at end of life is important, comforting and a reassuring thing to know.”

The Voice reports that Suggs’s company purchased Crest Lawn Memorial Park in downtown Atlanta and plans to section off part of the cemetery for same-sex couples, their children, single people, and other LGBT people who want to be with their chosen families.

Details such as the available number of plots are not yet known. The world’s only other known gay cemetery opened in Denmark in 2008.