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LGBT+ History: A Local Timeline

November 9, 2023 By Frank Perez

The following timeline starts with the founding of New Orleans in 1718, but it’s important to note that queerness was common and revered in Bulbancha (what New Orleans was called before it was colonized). Colonial visitors in the Gulf South observed that Indigenous Nations recognized and respected the existence of more than two genders. The acceptance of LGBT+ people has a deep history locally. That, of course, changed with the arrival of Christianity. 

New Orleans has a long and rich, and sometimes sad and ugly, queer history. What follows are some highlights.

1724                First written reference to homosexuality in New Orleans

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1805                Sodomy outlawed in Louisiana

1848                Walt Whitman lives in New Orleans

1876                Tony Jackson born

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1907 Rev. Carl Schlegel defrocked for advocating for gay rights

1920 Storme’ DeLarverie born

1922                William Spratling moves to New Orleans

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1930                George Dureau born

1933                Café Lafitte opens

1939                James Booker born

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1940                Frances Benjamin Johnston moves to New Orleans

1946                Tennessee Williams writes A Streetcar Named Desire

1947 The Caldonia opens

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1947 Truman Capote writes Other Voices, Other Rooms while living on Royal Street

1949                Dixie’s Bar of Music relocates to Bourbon Street

1949 Bob Demmons hosts first Fat Monday Luncheon

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1950s Patsy Vidalia hosts annual Gay Halloween Ball at the Dew Drop Inn

1953                Steamboat Club founded

1955                NOPD Superintendent declares homosexuals NOLA’s “Number 1 vice problem”

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1958                Krewe of Yuga founded; birth of Gay Carnival

1958                Fernando Rios murdered in Pirate’s Alley

1958                Mayor Morrison creates “Committee on the Problem of Sex Deviates”

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1958                Tony Bacino’s raided six times

1960                New Orleans chapter of Daughters of Bilitis founded (year is approximate)

1961                Krewe of Petronius founded

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1962                Tee Corrinne attends Newcomb College Institute

1963                John Rechy’s City of Night published

1965                Krewe of Amon Ra founded

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1967                Claw Shaw charged in the JFK assassination

1968                Krewe of Armeinius founded

1970                Gay Liberation Front local chapter founded

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1970 Krewe of Apollo founded

1971                GLF holds a “Gay-In” at City Park

1971                Barbara Scott runs for State House of Representatives

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1971                New Orleans Metropolitan Community Church founded

1972                First Southern Decadence party

1972                Tulane University Gay Student Union founded

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1973                Up Stairs Lounge arson

1973                Gay People’s Coalition founded

1974                Gay Services Center founded

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1975                Gertrude Stein Society founded

1977                Anita Bryant protest and march

1977                Charlene’s opens

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1977                Impact founded

1977                Serial killer murders four gay men

1978                Faubourg Marigny bookstore opens

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1978                Pink Triangle Alliance hosts city’s first Gay Pride rally

1979                Gayfest founded

1980                Louisiana Lesbian and Gay Political Action Caucus (LAGPAC) founded

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1980                First Gay Pride Parade in New Orleans

1981                First Louisiana State Conference held at the Country Club

1982                Ambush founded

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1982                New Orleans chapter of PFLAG founded

1982                New Orleans Gay Men’s Chorus founded

1983                NO/AIDS Task Force founded

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1983                Lords of Leather founded

1983                Celebration founded

1985                Lazarus House opens

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1987                Krewe of Queenateenas founded

1988                AIDS Memorial Quilt displayed in New Orleans

1989                Forum for Equality founded

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1990                ACT UP New Orleans shuts down Loyola Ave. to protest lack of AIDS funding

1990 Larry Bagneris becomes first openly gay candidate for City Council

1991                City Council passes non-discrimination ordinance

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1991                Women With a Vision founded

1992                Lesbian and Gay Community Center of New Orleans founded

1993 Lesbian Avengers New Orleans chapter founded

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1993                Belle Reve opens

1994                New Orleans Bears and Bear Trappers Social Club founded

1995 Brotherhood Inc. opens Trinity House

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1995                Louisiana State Museum sponsors panel on gay and lesbian culture

1997                J.B. Harter’s Encounters With The Nude Male published

1998                Krewe of Mwindo founded

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2002                Cavaliers Motorcycle Club founded

2003                Saints and Sinners Literary Festival founded

2006                GrrlSpot founded

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2011                BreakOUT! founded

2012                Last lesbian bar in New Orleans (Rubyfruit Jungle) closes

2012                Renegade Bears of Louisiana founded

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2013                Last Call: Dyke Bar History Project founded

2013 Krewe de la Rue Royale Revelers founded

2013                Krewe of Narcissus founded

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2014                LGBT+ Archives Project of Louisiana founded

2014                Club New Orleans closes

2015                New Orleans Advocates for GLBT Elders (NOAGE) founded

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2015 Big Easy Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence founded

2022 New Orleans City Council recognizes victims of Up Stairs Lounge fire

Filed Under: Arts & Culture, Moments in Queer New Orleans History

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