Acknowledgments
Introduction

Gay Carnival
Dixie’s, Yuga, and Gay Carnival
The Children of Yuga
The Lost Krewes of Gay Carnival
Mardi Gras and Mythology
Remembering Polyphemus
Bars and Gay Spaces
The Queer Quarter: A Moveable Feast
Bourbon Street Gets Its First Gay Bar
The Glory Days of North Rampart Street
The Lavender Line: Jerry Menefee, St. Ann, and Bourbon
The Phoenix Rises from the Ashes of Smoky Mary
HIV/AIDS
How the Greed of an Insurance Company Almost Killed John East
Acting Up in New Orleans
NO/AIDS Task Force
Project Lazarus
Belle Reve
Arts and Letters
Gay Letters and Desire
The Gay Lens: Frances Benjamin Johnston and Pops Whitesell
The Gentlemanly Last Years of George Dureau
Tennessee Williams: Out in the Quarter; In on the Stage
Was John Kennedy Toole Gay?
A Climate of Hostility
Crimes against Nature
Climate of Hostility
The Persecution of Tony Bacino’s Bar
The Gay Bashing Murder of Fernando Rios
The Rose Room, the Goldenrod Inn, and Police Raids
Activism
Activism and Ink
The Gay Liberation Front Marches on City Hall
Anita Bryant Comes to New Orleans
The Southeastern Conference of Lesbians and Gay Men
Gay Bars, Gender Discrimination, and Boycotts—1980s Style
Activists
Lion in Winter: A Tribute to Stewart Butler
Courtney Sharp: Unsung Trans Hero
Queer Pioneer Skip Ward
Remembering Charlene Schneider
Go Your Own Way: The Life of Barbara Scott
Organizations
For the Love of Song—The New Orleans Gay Men’s Chorus
Jeanne Manford and New Orleans PFLAG
Metropolitan Community Church
LGBT Community Center of New Orleans
The LGBT Archives Project of Louisiana Turns a Year Old
The Up Stairs Lounge Fire
Remembering the Up Stairs Lounge Fire
The Saga of Ferris LeBlanc’s Mortal Remains
Recently Discovered Document Sheds Light on the Aftermath of the Up Stairs Lounge Fire
Remembering the Rev. Bill Larson
Interest in the Up Stairs Lounge Fire at an All-Time High
Southern Decadence
How Labor Day Weekend Became Decadent
The Two Sides of Decadence
Grand Marshal Observations
Tiffany Alexander and Southern Decadence 2011
Southern Decadence 2020 Update: The Southern Decadence That Wasn’t
Journalism and Media
Remembering Rip
Rip and Marsha: The Early Years
Rich Magill and His Times
Valda Lewis and Just for the Record
Michael-Chase: Out on the Radio
Preservation
Queer Eye for Preservation
William Ratcliffe Irby: A Gay Man of Consequence
The Gay Twenties and the French Quarter Renaissance
Remembering Clay Shaw
LGBT National Landmarks in New Orleans
Entertainment
Entertainingly Out: Tony Jackson and Patsy Valdelar
My O My! The Most Interesting Women Aren’t Women at All
James Booker: The Black Liberace
Boys on the Bar: The Corner Pocket
John Q. Hustler
Pride
The Archbishop, Sissies in Struggle, and Gay Pride
A Pride Parade to Remember
The Politics of Pride
Reflecting on Pride Month
A Brief History of Pride in New Orleans
Historical Scholarship
The State of Scholarship on Queer New Orleans History
The 1995 Panel on Lesbian and Gay History in Louisiana
The New Orleans Dyke Bar History Project
LaRC: A Treasure Trove of LGBT History
October Is LGBT History Month
Lagniappe
The Historical Closet: Mid-Nineteenth-Century Gay New Orleans
All about the Bears
Here Cums Mr. Bingle
FAB: Faubourg Marigny Arts and Books
Miss Fly, Ms. Do, and the Double Play
Interviews
Race and Gay Spaces: Remembering the Safari Lounge—An Interview with Robert Fieseler
Cruising Public Bathrooms: An Interview with Retired NOPD Officer Larry Williams Sr.
Decadence Past: An Interview with 2010 SDGMs Julien Artressia and Toby Lefort
Local Queer History Goes to the Lammys: An Interview with Deacon Maccubbin
Ricky Everett Recalls the Night He Escaped the Up Stairs Lounge Fire

Index

Rainbow Fleur de Lis

Essays on Queer New Orleans History