From drug addict to LGBTQ activist, the founder of Macon Pride is a survivor

When Scott Mitchell was growing up in a rural farm community in Middle Georgia, he was in an atmosphere that was that was friendly to racial and gay jokes.

“I knew from a very early age that I was different from other kids, and it was tough,” he said.

Decades later, Mitchell, 45, said he enjoys being able to be a role model for LGBTQIA+ youth and people in Middle Georgia as the founder of Macon Pride and owner of Travis Jean Emporium.

“I truly do love being able to be in a position in my life where I can be that role model that I didn’t have as a kid. I can be a place where every young LGBT kid in Middle Georgia comes and buys their first pride flag. There’s really something special about that,” Mitchell said. “It feels refreshing. It feels like you have a purpose, which is always good.

“It also lets you know that maybe you’re making it a smidge bit easier on the next generation and maybe they won’t have to go through some of the stuff that you had to go through.”

‘Lots of fire and brimstone’

Mitchell grew up outside of Barnesville, and he attended a private Christian school that didn’t have a diverse student body.

He was raised in a strict Southern Baptist environment, which was detrimental to his mental health, he said, because he realized he was gay when he was around 12 years old.

“I was told my entire childhood and youth that I was going to hell, that I would burn in hell, lots of fire and brimstone. In school, I got picked on, he said, adding he was regularly called a gay slur. “I was an outcast, pretty much.”

After his parents divorced, he attended Lamar County High School, which is where he graduated, and he did everything he could to fit in, he said. He received a full scholarship to the University of Southern Mississippi.

“So when I went to college, I did the same thing. I so wanted to fit in. I didn’t tell anyone I was gay. I hid it by being drunk all the time, to the point where I’d blackout or pass out. I dated girls. I was miserable, but I wanted to fit in,” he said. “That truly started this downward spiral of my life.”

The path to addiction

He dropped out of school, came back to Georgia and enrolled in Gordon State College for about a year before getting a job in Atlanta.

“I met a lot of people there who introduced me to the club scene in Atlanta. I started using drugs,” he said. “I was addicted to drugs and just my life spiraled out of control. I became homeless. I was homeless for about a year and a half or so.”

Mitchell had lived his entire life not being able to be his authentic self out of fear of being ostracized, he said.

“It was very hard, very mentally straining. I can’t even begin to tell you. Your whole life is a lie,” he said. “I was not okay. I would have given anything for that same group of friends that I had to know who I was.”

Eventually, Mitchell was arrested for drug-related charges, he said.

“I was a completely different person. I don’t even know that person anymore… I did anything and everything to get drugs,” he said. “I got sick and tired of being sick and tired, and reached out for help and realized I had not burned every bridge that thought I had and went to rehab.”

Overcoming drug addiction

After going to rehab around 2004, Mitchell stopped using drugs, he said.

“When I got clean, I was clean for a year, and my court dates came up,” he said.

Although Mitchell was sober and had several people speak for him in court, the judge sentenced him to five years in prison.

When he went to prison, he went through the prison’s rehab program and started Narcotics Anonymous and Alcohol Anonymous groups for other people there. He also became a GED tutor.

“I just worked and did what I was supposed to do so I could get out and not ever go back. That’s been a really hard part for me out here is seeing people go back in. I can’t even fathom that,” he said. “It was the worst thing I’ve ever had to go through.”

Mitchell fought for 16 years to get his record expunged, but he’s glad to tell his story to give others hope and encouragement, he said. Mitchell has also been drug-free for 16 years.

When he was released from prison, he became a grill cook at McDonald’s and worked his way up to operations manager.

“I was operations manager for a franchise that covered most of Middle Georgia except for Macon, and so that’s how I kind of wound up in Macon because my office was on Pio Nono, and I had stores all over the Middle Georgia area, just not in Macon, but that’s how I wound up in Macon which is kind of a cool thing,” he said. “I met my now husband online and fell in love, moved to Macon.”

Mitchell met Bill Reynolds around 10 years ago, and they were married in December 2016 after the U.S. Supreme Court legalized gay marriage.

“Well I knew he was somebody very unique and different and special,” Reynolds said. “He cares about people in the community… I was very active in the community as well, and so we just had a lot in common. We love Georgia football games. We love theater. We love travel… It’s kind of nice to have a partner in life that you enjoy doing the same things. It’s kind of rare to find somebody like that.”

Mitchell jokes that when he called Reynolds for the first time and heard his ringtone was the UGA fight song, he knew it was meant to be, Reynolds said.

‘I really wanted to create something that was me.’

Mitchell started working at what is now Travis Jean Emporium in 2014 when it was an antique shop.

Because the antiques weren’t selling well, Mitchell started adding Georgia made products to the store, and he used the antiques as displays, he said.

In 2018, he bought the store and started the journey of transforming the store into what it is today.

“When I first bought the store, there was still a lot of what it used to be, and it wasn’t really Scott, and I really wanted to create something that was me,” he said.

Although the store isn’t perfect yet, Mitchell said it is about 90% of the way there.

When Mitchell organized Macon’s 2019 Pride festival, the first in 20 years, he decided to put a pride flag in the window of Travis Jean to show his support for his community.

“A lot of my business coming out centered also around Macon Pride starting. I was influential in founding Macon Pride and at this point in my life, I am Travis Jean Emporium,” he said. “Every single trauma from growing up came back in when I was even beginning to make a decision to brand myself as an LGBT-owned business. I thought about it a lot, prayed about it.”

Reynolds said he has been very proud of Mitchell for coming out as an LGBT-owned business because he said it’s important to have representation for other members of the LGBT community.

“There’s so many transient people that come in and out of our community but for some reason, they always are drawn to Scott because he exudes that part of himself to the people that he’s there for them to talk to, and I think that’s what makes him really even more successful,” Reynolds said. “If you ever need somebody to talk to or, as he’ll always tell people downtown, if you need a big hug, come to Scott because he loves to hug.”

Although Mitchell struggled to be his authentic self when he was a child, Reynolds said he is completely open and genuine now. He cares about his community and is deeply involved in his faith community at Centenary United Methodist Church.

“He puts his whole heart into everything he does. If he starts something, he’s gonna see it all the way through,” Reynolds said. “He’ll do anything he can to make this a better place for all of us, not just for any particular group but for every person in this town.”

Becoming a community activist

When DeMarcus Beckham moved to Macon around seven years ago, he looked for LGBT-friendly spaces and eventually came across Mitchell’s business.

“When you go in there, you feel a culture, you feel a culture of acceptance,” Beckham said. “It’s great to see places like that, that really speak to the local economy but also are very open and very freeing and very welcoming to all.”

Beckham is the southern Georgia field organizer for Georgia Equality, one of the largest LGBTQ+ advocacy groups in the state, and he started working with Mitchell in 2017 on an ordinance in Macon-Bibb County to give civil rights protections for county employees.

A small business owner showing his support for the LGBTQ+ community was powerful, Beckham said.

“Small businesses in Macon are the backbone of our communities and to have an out and proud business owner in town who is creating culture and for him to speak and be open like that, it takes a great amount of courage,” Beckham said.

Mitchell was influential in creating the Comprehensive Civil Rights Ordinance that was passed before the Macon-Bibb County Commission in November 2020, but it was vetoed by Mayor Robert Reichert. Mitchell has continued to work to educate people in Macon about comprehensive civil rights by helping organize the “Understanding Comprehensive Civil Rights” event in April.

“He is a person who has suffered loss, he’s a person who has suffered prosecution, a person who has suffered homelessness, drug addiction, all these things, but he’s overcome and he has created a loving space for others,” Beckham said.

When Mitchell came out as an LGBT-owned business, he said he was worried about people’s reactions and ultimately whether he would lose customers.

“I actually have more people shop here now because I put my values on my business. They shop here because they know what I stand for,” he said.

Beckham said Mitchell has empowered other businesses to show their support for the LGBTQ+ community in Macon and has created a space where all people feel welcomed.

“We’ve had tons of pioneers in Macon do this amazing work who started a strong community in Macon and what Scott has done is he’s carrying the torch for the next generation of leaders and advocates… He’s showing that people of the LGBT community have a voice, and we have power, and we have a say in our community,” Beckham said. “I think the world of Scott, and he is truly appreciated in our community.”

This story was originally published July 14, 2021 at 5:00 AM.