Ambush Magazine

The Official Gay Magazine of the Gulf South™

Moments in Queer New Orleans History

The Rose Room, the Goldenrod Inn, and Police Raids

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There have always been queer people in New Orleans, and while the city currently looks favorably upon us, it wasn’t always so.  It wasn’t too long ago that rainbow flags on Rampart Street and Mayoral proclamations for Pride and Southern Decadence would have been inconceivable.  The New Orleans Police Department was still raiding gay bars as recently as the … [Read more...] about The Rose Room, the Goldenrod Inn, and Police Raids

The Gentlemanly Last Years of George Dureau

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I recently had an especially memorable and quite perfect lunch with Katie Nachod.  Although Katie is a long-time reference librarian with a career’s worth of experience at Tulane University and the Louisiana Supreme Court Law Library, and although I serve as President of the LGBT+ Archives Project of Louisiana, and although we both have degrees in English, and although we … [Read more...] about The Gentlemanly Last Years of George Dureau

Courtney Sharp: Unsung Trans Hero

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Like so many trans people, Courtney Sharp’s journey to self-realization was a long one.  Growing up, she knew she was different but couldn’t quite put her finger on it.  All she knew for sure was that she had better keep that difference secret.  Her family was religious, and this was North Louisiana, after all.  When her “difference” began to manifest, her … [Read more...] about Courtney Sharp: Unsung Trans Hero

Dr. Peter Putnum and Houma’s Connection to Stonewall

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Across the street from the historic Stonewall Inn in Greenwich Village in a small gated area called Christopher Park, stands the Gay Liberation Monument—a sculpture depicting a seated lesbian couple and a gay male couple standing.  The couples are innocently yet affectionately touching each other.  If you’ve made a pilgrimage to Stonewall, you’ve undoubtedly seen the … [Read more...] about Dr. Peter Putnum and Houma’s Connection to Stonewall

Gay Bars, Gender Discrimination, and Boycotts—1980s Style

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The recent controversy surrounding Wood Enterprises seems to have quieted down.  For those readers who have been in a coma or may not otherwise know, Tom Wood aroused the anger of a significant portion of the leather community earlier this year when it was revealed that he was responsible for the closure of the Phoenix’s upstairs darkroom.  A boycott of Wood owned … [Read more...] about Gay Bars, Gender Discrimination, and Boycotts—1980s Style

Police Can Be So Adamant

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Now that Pride month is over and the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall uprising has come and gone, the marking of this milestone year will now be written into the history books.  The most significant—perhaps “remarkable” is the better word—legacy of this year’s celebration is the official apology issued by the NYPD.  Commenting on the raid that helped spark the modern … [Read more...] about Police Can Be So Adamant

Acting Up in New Orleans

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As the 50th anniversary of Stonewall approaches, my mind is not so much on the gay liberation movement of the 1970s, but rather on the AIDS epidemic of the 1980s.  How did the disease affect the movement?  How might LGBT+ history have unfolded if there had been no epidemic?  And what was happening in New Orleans at the time? In some ways, AIDS had the … [Read more...] about Acting Up in New Orleans

1977: Pageants and Rags and Courts—O My!

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In 1983, Valda Lewis moved to New Orleans and began working at a Randall’s Record Shop on Toulouse Street importing and selling British punk rock music. Here in New Orleans, she found the freedom to be her true self, a lesbian, that proved so elusive in her hometown of Rayleigh in Essex County back in England.  After Randall’s, she took a job bartending and met her … [Read more...] about 1977: Pageants and Rags and Courts—O My!