George Roth will receive the Lifetime Achievement Award at the annual Gay Appreciation Awards on August 16.
Roth has lived a legendary life, playing key roles in Gay Carnival, early bathhouse culture, the New York drag scene, Fire Island, and showbusiness.
Born in 1936 and raised in New Orleans where he attended St. Aloysius High School, Roth then attended Louisiana State University. While in college, Roth served as a cheerleader for the Tigers. After attending L.S.U., Roth moved to New York City and secured a job as a dancer at the fabled nightspot, Club 82. Roth briefly taught school in Connecticut before returning to New Orleans. Roth’s career then took him to San Francisco, where he opened two bathhouses in the 1970s—Bulldog Baths and Club San Francisco. Roth also had a career in the casino industry. He handled costumes for Siegfried and Roy in Las Vegas and he later helped open the Beau Rivage on the Mississippi Gulf Coast as the head of wardrobe for Cirque du Soleil. In 2017, he joined Local 478, a motion picture and television union.
He continues to work part-time as the doorman at the Corner Pocket. He has lived in the French Quarter since 1990.
Roth’s place in gay history is remarkable not only for the scope and breadth of his long tenure, but also because he is a link to the origins of Gay Carnival, a uniquely New Orleans phenomenon. In the late 1950s, Roth was a member of the Krewe of Yuga, the first gay krewe in New Orleans. Roth’s involvement in Gay Carnival stretches from its humble beginnings to the present day. Last year, Roth was named King Queen of the Krewe of Queenateenas.
The photographs used in the documentary, The Sons of Tennessee Williams, in which Roth was featured, were Roth’s. Roth has also been featured in two other documentary films: Cherry Groves Stories (about Fire Island) and P.S. Burn This Letter Please (about the history of drag in New York City). Roth was crowned the third “Miss Fire Island” in 1969 and later Ms. Fire Island in 2000.
The 35th annual Gay Appreciation Awards will take place on August 16 at the Marigny Opera House. Tickets are available on Eventbrite and can be purchased by clicking on the link here https://www.eventbrite.com/e/35th-annual-gay-appreciation-awards-tickets-1501272509489?utm-campaign=social&utm-content=attendeeshare&utm-medium=discovery&utm-term=listing&utm-source=cp&aff=ebdsshcopyurl
