A01=Frank Perez
activism
Ambush Magazine
Anita Bryant
Author_Frank Perez
Bear Culture
Category=JBSJ
Category=NHK
Category=NHTB
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Frances Benjamin Johnston
French Quarter Journal
George Dureau
HIV AIDS
James Booker
John Kennedy Toole
Mardi Gras Carnival bars Louisiana
Metropolitan Community Church MCC
Parent Families Friends of Lesbians and Gays PFLAG
police raids
preservation
Pride Parades
Southeastern Conference for Lesbians and Gay Men SECLGM
Southern Decadence
Tennessee Williams
Tony Jackson
Up Stairs Lounge fire
Product details
- ISBN 9781496857583
- Dimensions: 152 x 229mm
- Publication Date: 01 May 2025
- Publisher: University Press of Mississippi
- Publication City/Country: US
- Product Form: Hardback
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Rainbow Fleur de Lis: Essays on Queer New Orleans History is an anthology of eighty-five short, easy-to-read essays that originally appeared in Ambush Magazine and French Quarter Journal. Author Frank Perez has collected essays on a wide variety of topics in LGBTQ history and arranged them into multiple sections. Each section contains five essays and begins with a brief introductory overview that ties the individual pieces together.
The book opens with Gay Carnival and provides a unique glimpse behind the scenes of this distinct New Orleans tradition. "Bars and Gay Spaces" examines the ever-shifting queer centers of gravity throughout the French Quarter. The section on the AIDS epidemic demonstrates how, by the end of the 1980s, New Orleans was a model city for providing AIDS-related services. "Arts and Letters" highlights figures such as lesbian photographer Frances Benjamin Johnston and playwright Tennessee Williams. The next section looks at homophobia in New Orleans in the 1950s. "Activists and Activism" traces the birth and rise of queer activism in New Orleans. Historical surveys of several organizations are then provided, followed by a unit on the Up Stairs Lounge fire. A section on Southern Decadence follows before the book turns its attention to how gay men saved the French Quarter a hundred years ago. Several legendary entertainers are then featured, as is the history of Pride in New Orleans. The book closes with a section on historical scholarship and several interview transcripts. Altogether, these essays provide an invaluable resource on New Orleans LGBTQ history.
The book opens with Gay Carnival and provides a unique glimpse behind the scenes of this distinct New Orleans tradition. "Bars and Gay Spaces" examines the ever-shifting queer centers of gravity throughout the French Quarter. The section on the AIDS epidemic demonstrates how, by the end of the 1980s, New Orleans was a model city for providing AIDS-related services. "Arts and Letters" highlights figures such as lesbian photographer Frances Benjamin Johnston and playwright Tennessee Williams. The next section looks at homophobia in New Orleans in the 1950s. "Activists and Activism" traces the birth and rise of queer activism in New Orleans. Historical surveys of several organizations are then provided, followed by a unit on the Up Stairs Lounge fire. A section on Southern Decadence follows before the book turns its attention to how gay men saved the French Quarter a hundred years ago. Several legendary entertainers are then featured, as is the history of Pride in New Orleans. The book closes with a section on historical scholarship and several interview transcripts. Altogether, these essays provide an invaluable resource on New Orleans LGBTQ history.
Frank Perez is cofounder and current executive director of the LGBT Archives Project of Louisiana. He is an instructor in the Office of Professional and Continuing Studies at Loyola University New Orleans, owner of Crescent City Tour Booking Agency, and columnist for Ambush Magazine and French Quarter Journal. He is author of Treasures of the Vieux Carré: Ten Self-Guided Walking Tours of the French Quarter and Political Animal: The Life and Times of Stewart Butler, the latter published by University Press of Mississippi; and coeditor of Southern Decadence in New Orleans; My Gay New Orleans: 28 Personal Reminiscences on LGBT Life in New Orleans; and In Exile: The History and Lore Surrounding New Orleans Gay Culture and Its Oldest Gay Bar.
