• 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

Moments in Gay New Orleans History

February 20, 2018 By Frank Perez

300 Years of Local LGBT+ History

1724 – First written reference to homosexuality in New Orleans
1805 – Sodomy outlawed in Louisiana 1848 Walt Whitman lives in New Orleans
1848 – Gaston Pontalba designs cast-ironwork on Pontalba Buildings 1876 Tony Jackson born
1922 – William Spratling moves to New Orleans
1930 – George Dureau born
1933 – Café La tte opens
1939 – James Booker born
1940 – Frances Benjamin Johnston moves to New Orleans
1946 – Tennessee Williams writes A Streetcar Named Desire
1949 – Dixie’s Bar of Music relocates to Bourbon Street
1953 – Steamboat Club founded
1955 – NOPD Superintendent declares homosexuals “Number 1 vice problem” 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” 1958 Tony Bacino’s raided six times 1960 New Orleans chapter of Daughters of Bilitis founded (year is approximate)
1961 – Krewe of Petronius founded 1962 Tee Corrinne attends Newcomb College Institute
1963 – John Rechy’s City of Night published
1965 – Krewe of Amon Ra founded 1967 Claw Shaw charged in the JFK assassination
1968 – Krewe of Armeinius founded 1970 Gay Liberation Front local chapter founded
1971 – GLF holds a “Gay-In” at City Park
1971 – Barbara Scott runs for House of Representatives
1971 – New Orleans Metropolitan Community Church founded
1972 – First Southern Decadence party 1972 Tulane University Gay Student Union founded
1973 – Up Stairs Lounge arson
1973 – Gay People’s Coalition founded 1974 Gay Services Center founded
1975 – Gertrude Stein Society founded 1977 Anita Bryant protest and march 1977 Charlene’s opens
1977 – Impact founded
1977 – Serial killer murders four gay men
1978 – Faubourg Marigny bookstore opens
1978 – Pink Triangle Alliance hosts city’s rst Gay Pride rally
1979 – Gayfest founded
1980 – Louisiana Lesbian and Gay Political Action Caucus (LAGPAC) founded
1980 – First Gay Pride Parade in New Orleans
1981 – First Louisiana State Conference held at the Country Club
1982 – Ambush founded
1982 – New Orleans chapter of PFLAG founded
1982 – New Orleans Gay Men’s Chorus founded
1983 – NO/AIDS Task Force founded 1983 Lords of Leather founded
1983 – Celebration founded
1985 – Lazarus House opens
1987 – Krewe of Queenateenas founded
1988 – AIDS Memorial Quilt displayed in New Orleans
1989 – Forum for Equality founded 1990 ACT UP New Orleans shuts down Loyola Ave. to protest lack of AIDS funding
1991 – City Council passes non-discrimination ordinance
1991 – Women With a Vision founded 1992 Lesbian and Gay Community Center of New Orleans founded
1993 – Belle Reve opens
1993 – Oz opens
1994 – New Orleans Bears and Bear Trappers Social Club founded
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 2002 Krewe of Satyricon founded 2002 Cavaliers Motorcycle Club founded
2003 – Saints and Sinners Literary Festival founded
2006 – GrrlSpot founded
2011 – BreakOUT! founded
2012 – Last lesbian bar in New Orleans (Rubyfruit Jungle) closes
2012 – Renegade Bears of Louisiana founded
2013 – Last Call: Dyke Bar History Project founded
2013 – Krewe of Narcissus founded 2014 LGBT+ Archives Project of Louisiana founded
2014 – Club New Orleans closes
2014 – Louisiana Equality Foundation founded
2015 – New Orleans Advocates for GLBT Elders (NOAGE) founded
2016 – Krewe de la Rue Royale Revelers founded

Filed Under: Commentary Tagged With: Volume 36 Issue 04

Related Posts

Mike Pence Goes to the Olympics
Budget Crisis Could Affect State Hospitals, Public Education
Fight Over LGBT Rights May Go to the Supreme Court

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

  • The Rockford Files: Grammar Yahtzee – Why Syntax Is Sexy
  • Get Ready for a Fabulous Drag Brunch at The Origin Hotel Baton Rouge Downtown!
  • Trodding the Boards June 6, 2025
  • American Scare: An Interview with Robert W. Fieseler
  • The 2025 Official Gay Easter Parade raises over $14,000 for Food for Friends!

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
  • 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

  • The Rockford Files: Grammar Yahtzee – Why Syntax Is Sexy
  • Get Ready for a Fabulous Drag Brunch at The Origin Hotel Baton Rouge Downtown!
  • Trodding the Boards June 6, 2025
  • American Scare: An Interview with Robert W. Fieseler
  • The 2025 Official Gay Easter Parade raises over $14,000 for Food for Friends!

Proud Member

Gulf South LGBT Chamber Logo

Let’s Get Social

  • Facebook
  • Twitter

Copyright © 2025 · Ambush Publishing LLC All Rights Reserved · Website Built by Reed Wendorf · Log in