In 1997, Louisiana earned the distinction of being the first state in the Deep South to pass a hate crimes law that covered sexual orientation, and New Orleans Mayor Marc H. LGBT rights were (finally) recognized by New Orleans City Council in 1991, with the passing of a gay non-discrimination ordinance. The Gertrude Stein Society, which began in 1975, brought together a group of men and women who were instrumental in developing an active community infrastructure in the 1980s: the Louisiana Gay Political Action Caucus (1980), the State Gay Conference (1981), the New Orleans Gay Men’s Chorus and a local chapter of P-FLAG (both in 1982), and the NO/AIDS Task Force (1983). Gay Pride Contest in 1981, long before she came out publicly in 1997.Ī climate of change across the United States fomented gay activism in the early 1970s in New Orleans as well, with groups like the Gay Liberation Front of New Orleans, a local chapter of the national lesbian organization, Daughters of Bilitis, gay pride events and the founding of the Tulane University Gay Students Union.
Ellen DeGeneres, a native of nearby Metairie, emceed the New Orleans Mr. Pioneering photographer Frances Benjamin Johnston retired to New Orleans in 1940, living in her Bourbon Street townhouse until her death in 1952. Notable gay locals and residents included Tennessee Williams, who came here in 1938 and wrote “A Streetcar Named Desire” from his home at 1014 Dumaine St.
