Flamboyantly Spooky Fun in New Orleans

BY LOANN HALDEN

SPECIAL TO THE MIAMI HERALD

I’ve donned a gown to celebrate the coronation of a cross-dressing royal court for Mardi Gras and watched scantily clad gay men celebrate sexuality in the streets of the French Quarter during Southern Decadence, but of all the events to receive a gay twist in New Orleans, I’ll always have a soft spot for Halloween.

With its above-ground cemeteries; voodoo shops that open onto crumbling sidewalks; wrought-iron balconies draped across rows of 18th-century homes; and flickering gas lamps, the city is like a macabre film set year-round. Factor into that eerie mix a central tourist district filled with rainbow-flag-flying gay bars and a local community that seriously embraces getting its wig on, and it should come as no surprise that after Mardi Gras and Decadence, Halloween draws the largest number of gay revelers to the city.

“People who live here have always been a little eclectic — some live it 24/7 — but for those of us who don’t, Halloween weekend is the one time of the year where we can let our freak flag fly a little higher,” says Dustin Woehrmann, who sits on the board for Halloween New Orleans. The volunteer group puts on four days of gay events — including a dance party where costumes are required — to benefit the HIV/AIDS services of Project Lazarus. This year’s theme: Wickedly Ever After.

GAY HERITAGE

Although Halloween New Orleans’s spin on Halloween is in its 28th year, it’s a relative newcomer on the timeline of gay New Orleans. The city’s oldest gay bar, Café Lafitte in Exile, served its first cocktail in 1953 and still attracts a steady clientele that spans all age brackets. Its nearby precursor (now a straight bar) didn’t use the word gay in its heyday, but it provided a haven as early as the 1930s. In 1958, the first gay Mardi Gras organization debuted under the name Krewe of Yuga (purportedly code for “You gay?”) to satirize the aristocratic gatherings of Carnival season.

These historical anecdotes come to life during Roberts Batson’s Gay Heritage Tour, a quirky 2 1/2-hour stroll through the French Quarter that includes grand gestures, quotes from former resident Tennessee Williams, and a reworking of a Sound of Music classic to honor drag queens.

“Queens in pink formals with green satin sashes, Rose or puce mascara on their eyelashes; Young Physique magazines tied up with strings,” he sings, positioning himself next to the most flamboyant photos of local performers in a French Quarter gallery for effect. “These are a few of her favorite things!”

But it’s not all lyrics and laughs, with Batson also chronicling the bar raids and witch hunts that plagued the first gays to peer from the closet. He winds the tour down at the St. Louis Cathedral near Jackson Square, site of the New Orleans community’s first cohesive move toward gay activism in 1977. Thousands gathered there for a march through the French Quarter to protest a local concert by Anita Bryant, who was fresh off her successful campaign to repeal sexual orientation protection in Miami-Dade County.

MODERN-DAY GAY

Today’s gay scene is well integrated into the city’s fabric and echoes its “let the good times roll” vibe. At the intersection of St. Ann and Bourbon Street, the central hub of gay nightlife blends right into the end of the French Quarter’s legendary strip of drunken revelry. The two-story Bourbon Pub, open 24 hours a day, sits across from Oz, known for its late-night dance floor. The square is completed with smoke-free lounge Napoleon’s Itch and Marie Laveau’s House of Voodoo, where gay psychic Phillip Humphries has earned a loyal following for his no-nonsense readings of palms and tarot cards.

Elder statesman Café Lafitte in Exile is one block away, and deserves added props for extraordinary Bloody Marys served with a cornucopia of garnishes. Its across-the-street companion Clover Grill has saved many gay travelers from the downward spiral of overindulgence, slinging out breakfast and burgers 24/7. Meander through the Quarter’s streets and more rainbow flags pop into view: at the two-story Good Friends Bar; the 700 Club, a low-key local hangout; and the stripper bar, The Corner Pocket.

Gay-owned guesthouses and eateries dot the Faubourg-Marigny and Bywater neighborhoods as well. This residential area downriver from the French Quarter is also home to the anything-but-stuffy Country Club, with a gay-friendly bar and pool that provide respite when the bayou humidity soars. Uptown, amid the cool boutiques of Magazine Street, gay actor Bryan Batt ( Mad Men) owns the charming home accessories shop Hazelnut.

In other words, lavish events may draw the biggest crowds to New Orleans, but the possibilities to have a gay ol’ time are limitless. And it’s not necessary to use Halloween as an excuse to dress up. “Everything is a costume party in New Orleans,” Batson says. “They’re even doing the running of the bulls now in July with roller derby women as the bulls.”

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