• Skip to main content
  • Skip to secondary menu
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
  • All Articles
  • Arts & Culture
  • Health
  • News
    • News
    • Announcements
    • Obituaries
    • The Official Dish
  • Opinions
  • Horoscopes
  • PODCAST
  • Subscribe

Ambush Magazine

The Official Gay Magazine of the Gulf South™

  • Read All Articles
  • Print Archive
  • Old Archived Site
  • Contact Us
  • Advertise

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

July 30, 2019 By Frank Perez

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 bars was organized, and t-shirts were even printed that admonished “Stay Out of the Woods.” 

Lost in the public outcry over one bar owner turning in a rival bar for state code violations was a much more serious issue—gender discrimination.  There was a time when gay male bars did not want female patrons and the reverse was true for lesbian bars.  Many bar owners required multiple forms of identification from women trying to enter, and / or invoked obscure dree code requirements as a deterrent.  There were exceptions, of course—Dixie’s, Up Stairs, Safari Lounge, for example—but gender discrimination was the norm even as recently as the 1980s.

Boycotting gay bars because of gender discrimination is nothing new.  One such boycott occurred in 1980—and it nearly destroyed a brand new political organization created to fight for equality.  In 1980, Roberts Batson, Alan Robinson, and others formed LAGPAC (Louisiana Lesbian and Gay Political Action Caucus).  LAGPAC would go on to achieve great things over the course of its 25 plus year history, chiefly the creation of a statewide conference, the demonstration of the LGBT+ voting bloc, and the passage of a non-discrimination ordinance in New Orleans in 1991.  But shortly after LAGPAC was formed, it faced a crisis that threatened it very nascent existence.

Advertisement

The issue of what we would now call cis-gay male privilege reared its head when Rich Sacher and Henry Schmidt, representing Dignity (a gay Catholic organization) and another group called GLAD (Gays and Lesbians Against Discrimination) proposed to the LAGPAC Board that it boycott Café Lafitte in Exile and the Bourbon Pub for their policies of not allowing women and African-Americans into their bars. 

The Board rejected the proposal citing its mission statement only covered sexual orientation.  But this was only a guise; the real reason was more nuanced.  Some members of LAGPAC felt that at this embryonic and fragile stage of its existence, LAGPAC should not wander into the controversy.  Complicating the matter was the fact that the bar owners, Tom Wood (Café Lafitte in Exile) and Jerry Menefee (the Bourbon Pub), were members of LAGPAC (Menefee served on the Development Committee).  The board’s decision not to join the boycott almost destroyed LAGPAC.  Years later, in a 1990 workshop at the Celebration Conference, Stewart Butler, a charter member of LAGPAC and Board Member, acknowledged the decision was a mistake.

The vote caused a backlash among the general membership and some of the Board of Directors.  Melanie Miranda and Pat Denton abruptly departed the meeting and subsequently resigned from the Board.  In her resignation letter, Denton chastised the Board for its hypocrisy:

Advertisement

“Having thought that this organization opposed and would stand against discrimination based on sex as well as that based on sexual preference. . . . And being further led to believe that LAGPAC stood for full access to public accommodations as stated in its recently set goals, but finding that in actuality (by virtue of its refusing to take a stand against existing and blatant sexual discrimination being practiced by some gay bars—one in particular going so far as to publicly display a ‘Men Only’ sign—it gives tacit approval to discrimination based on sex, I must conclude that the majority of this Board does not stand for full equality for all people.”

Denton’s seat was filled by the appointment of Liz Simon to the Board, but before Simon accepted, she had a few concerns of her own.  Simon had earned a M.A. in Social Work from Tulane University and worked in private practice as a therapist for a primarily gay and lesbian clientele.  Simon was not new to activism; she had previously served as Chair of Women Against Violence Against Women and on the Board of the YWCA Battered Women’s Program.  She had also been involved in the Gertrude Stein Society and was a founding member of LAGPAC.  Simon agreed to join the Board on the condition it conduct a workshop on “Oppression Dynamics.”  Simon also formed a Lesbian-Feminist Caucus within the auspices of LAGPAC.

Despite the Board’s efforts to contain the damage from its controversial decision, several LAGPAC members quit the organization over the issue, some writing excoriating letters.  As Chair of the Membership Committee, Stewart Butler attempted to do damage control by reaching out to several disgruntled members with limited success.  One wrote to him,

Advertisement

“Dear Stew, Thanks but NO thanks, and believe me I’ve ‘carefully considered’ LAGPAC—and discover each time I have only feelings of CONTEMPT for it.  I see its members running around changing everyone else’s house—but nothing is done at home.  I sincerely hope our rich and powerful Bar Owners support LAGPAC in every way—for staying out of their way. . . . If your membership is down, I feel good.  Try C.C.C.—that’s what I tell people—especially if they are black or female.  Sorry Stew, but like I said I have nothing but CONTEMPT for LAGPAC—PLEASE remove my name from your mailing list—and be thankful I stay away.”

LAGPAC received letters not only from its own members but also from other organizations encouraging the it to examine its own prejudices and privilege.  One such letter came from Louisiana Sissies in Struggle:  “By setting goals that will predominantly benefit people of European origins and holding events in gay establishments that are openly racist (Bourbon Pub / Parade Disco) LAGPAC is endorsing the institutions of white supremacists and white racism in America—if not in rhetoric, certainly in practice.”

In retrospect, LAGPAC’s decision not to join the boycott was a mistake.  Nevertheless, it survived that mistake by learning from it, and, ultimately, did manage to become an extremely effective political organization. 

Advertisement

So if you’re still “staying Out of the Woods,” you’re not the first.

Filed Under: Moments in Queer New Orleans History

Related Posts

Armeinius Turns 50
Bienville’s Wet Dream
12th Night & the Mystik Krewe du Rue Royale Revelers

Primary Sidebar

Connect & Join the Conversation

  • Facebook
  • Twitter

Recent Print Editions

  • Volume 38 Issue 17
  • Volume 38 Issue 16
  • Volume 38 Issue 15
  • Volume 38 Issue 14
  • Volume 38 Issue 13
  • Volume 38 Issue 12
  • Volume 38 Issue 11
  • Volume 38 Issue 10
  • Volume 38 Issue 05
  • Volume 38 Issue 04

Recent Articles

  • Trodding the Boards January 24, 2023
  • Under the Gaydar (February Event Calendar)
  • The 71st Miss Universe Pageant
  • Trodding the Boards January 10, 2023
  • Bartender Spotlight

Experience Gay New Orleans

  • Gay New Orleans
  • Gay Mardi Gras
  • Gay Easter Parade
  • New Orleans Pride
  • Gay Appreciation Awards
  • Southern Decadence
  • Gay Halloween

Categories

  • A Community within Communities
  • Announcements
  • Arts & Culture
  • Bartender of the Month
  • Book Review
  • Business
  • Chop Chop
  • Commentary
  • Drag Queen Profile
  • Featured
  • Film Review
  • Financial
  • Geo Doing Geo Things
  • Health
  • Horoscopes
  • Interviews from Key West
  • Letter to the Editor
  • Moments in Queer New Orleans History
  • Museum Spotlights
  • Music
  • Musings by Catherine
  • New to New Orleans
  • News
  • Obituaries
  • Opinions
  • Pride Spotlight
  • Profiles & Spotlights
  • Sports
  • The Here and the Now
  • The Official Dish
  • The Real Cheese
  • The Rockford Files
  • Trodding the Boards
  • Uncategorized
  • Under The Gaydar

Footer

Ambush Magazine Logo

Ambush Magazine is New Orleans' and the Gulf Coast's Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer entertainment, news, and travel guide since 1982.

Publisher TJ Acosta
Editor-In-Chief Reed Wendorf
Founding Publisher/Editor Rip Naquin-Delain
Senior Editor Brian Sands
Distribution George Bevan Jr

Email info@ambushpublishing.com
Phone (504) 522-8049

Recent Posts

  • Trodding the Boards January 24, 2023
  • Under the Gaydar (February Event Calendar)
  • The 71st Miss Universe Pageant
  • Trodding the Boards January 10, 2023
  • Bartender Spotlight

Proud Member

Gulf South LGBT Chamber Logo

Let’s Get Social

  • Facebook
  • Twitter

Copyright © 2023 · Ambush Publishing LLC All Rights Reserved · Website Built by Reed Wendorf · Log in