When a detainee at the Fulton County, Ga., jail in Atlanta was found dead in a filthy, vermin-infested cell in September, 2022, the federal Department of Justice announced an investigation into the death -- and into allegations of a pattern of mistreatment and danger at the Rice Street facility in downtown Atlanta.

Even in death, Commissioner Joan Garner continues to make history. On Monday afternoon, dozens of supporters, city officials, and friends gathered outside of Ponce De Leon Library in Midtown for a renaming ceremony in honor of the late Fulton County Commissioner who passed away in 2017 after battling breast cancer. In 2011, Garner became the first openly gay Fulton County Commissioner, representing District 4. Now, she becomes the first Black openly LGBTQ+ person to have a Fulton County public library renamed as the Joan P. Garner Library at Ponce De Leon, in her honor.