Ambush Magazine

The Official Gay Magazine of the Gulf South™

Moments in Queer New Orleans History

The Diary of a Bank Robbing Lesbian

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“I saw a man on the sidewalk and my dream of spending Xmas at home ended.  He identified himself as F.B.I. and we went in where about 10 others were waiting with a warrant for my arrest. The charge? Bank robbery. The look on mom’s face nearly killed me. Never have I seen her so hurt. I would have rather spent 10 years in jail than to put her through that day.” Thus wrote … [Read more...] about The Diary of a Bank Robbing Lesbian

Southern Decadence 2020 Update: The Southern Decadence That Wasn’t

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In a normal year, this column would introduce you to the year’s Southern Decadence Grand Marshals. But as we all know, 2020 is anything but normal.  With the bars closed and City Hall not issuing parade permits, Southern Decadence 2020 has effectively been canceled.  Or has it? That question has generated a lot of discussion on several Southern Decadence Facebook … [Read more...] about Southern Decadence 2020 Update: The Southern Decadence That Wasn’t

The Forgotten Gay Riot Against the Police at Dixie’s

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Back in January, I was contacted by a researcher, Lasse Lau, editor of Queer Geographies, who was conducting research on Dixie’s Bar of Music, the fabled gay bar that once occupied the corner of St. Peter and Bourbon Streets.  Lau asked me if I knew anything about the gay riot against the police that happened there in 1955.  I responded by asking “What riot?” While … [Read more...] about The Forgotten Gay Riot Against the Police at Dixie’s

SCOTUS, Trans Inclusion, & the “Network of Mutuality”

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The recent Supreme Court ruling in Bostock V. Clayton County, GA affording job protection to LGBT+ people was a landmark decision that represented the culmination of a decades-long struggle.  The fact that it was handed down this month in the midst of the Black Lives Matter movement is appropriate considering its origins in the 1950s during the social turmoil of the civil … [Read more...] about SCOTUS, Trans Inclusion, & the “Network of Mutuality”

Larry Kramer and Acting Up in New Orleans

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I remember exactly where I was the first time I heard Larry Kramer’s name: my friend Eddie’s deathbed in an AIDS hospice in Wichita, Kansas. I was working as a bartender at the time and Eddie was in construction.  We, along with a few other guys, were sharing a house, and Eddie & I had become the best of friends.  He was positive when I met him and seemed healthy as a … [Read more...] about Larry Kramer and Acting Up in New Orleans

The Archbishop, Sissies in Struggle, and Gay Pride

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In 1978, the Pink Triangle Alliance hosted the first Gay Pride rally ever held in New Orleans. The Pink Triangle Alliance was the public face/political name of the Louisiana Sissies in Struggle, a group that came out of the Mulberry House Collective in Fayetteville, Arkansas, when Dennis Williams, Dimid Hayer, Stacey Brotherlover, and Aurora relocated to New Orleans. The … [Read more...] about The Archbishop, Sissies in Struggle, and Gay Pride

The Big Easy Sisters

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Of all the nuns and orders of nuns in New Orleans, the most fabulous is The Big Easy Sisters, Parish of the Muddy Waters.  The Big Easy Sisters are an order of 21st century queer nuns. Their primary goal, in their own words, is “to promulgate universal joy and expiate stigmatic guilt or, in other words, we are the clowns of our community and we banish any negative … [Read more...] about The Big Easy Sisters

It’s a Wonderful Life, Historically Speaking

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The enduring appeal of Frank Capra’s classic holiday film It’s a Wonderful Life is its premise—that the quality of a person’s life is measured by how it affects others.  George Bailey’s guardian angel, Clarence, tells him, ““Dear George, remember no man is a failure who has friends.”  By that measure, Charlene Schneider, legendary lesbian bar owner, was amazingly … [Read more...] about It’s a Wonderful Life, Historically Speaking