Queer Across America: Queer Joy in New Orleans

For this week’s Queer Across America travels, I’m in New Orleans, Louisiana, one of the most LGBTQ+-friendly cities I’ve ever had the privilege to visit on my road trip around the United States to show that, wherever you are, there’s a queer community for you. 

After being in the scorching desert of Texas, I happily welcome the humid air and the drive through  the swamps of Southern Louisiana. I arrive on Canal Street on the border of the French Quarter ready to attend the Creating Change Conference, an annual five-day event gathering LGBTQ+ people from all over the country to participate in a queer leadership workshops, panels on the current state of politics, and a celebration of queer joy. 

I sit for the opening plenary in a room with hundreds of other queer people and allies where I learn that the oldest LGBTQ+ bar in the U.S. is not far from us. There’s no way I won’t be checking that out but, before I could write down the name of it, Kierra Johnson, the director of the conference, takes the stage.

“Lean into complexity,” she preaches. “Lean into change. The purpose of this conference is to be vulnerable enough to be wrong. Let’s be wrong together because we’re learning; we’re practicing.” 

The first workshop begins shortly after. Keeping Sex Education in Curriculums is hosted by a big, tattooed woman from Arkansas where she speaks about the need for sex education in schools including the promotion of gender equality, STI prevention, and ways to generate healthy relationships. 

After the workshop, I zigzag through the queues of queers, taking note of all the features of the conference: an arts and crafts hall, an HIV-testing room, a prayer room with various religions represented, a sober space, a game room, and a Wellness Space where the lights are low and the floor is covered with blankets, pillows, and a reading area where everyone is welcomed to unwind. 

The next workshop I choose is one that centers on bisexual visibility. I’m happy to see representation for the ‘B’ in LGBTQ+ since it’s often overlooked in the community. Throughout the next couple of hours we collectively discuss what it means to be bisexual, how to combat the stigma around it, personal experiences, and a debate over the definition of bisexuality. We decide on Shiri Eisner’s definition:

“We have in (ourselves) the potential to be attracted—romantically and/or sexually—to people of more than one sex, and/or gender, not necessarily at the same time, not necessarily in the same way, and not necessarily to the same degree.”

The next four days go similarly with multiple workshops, panels, and afterparties each day. I’m mentally exhausted from taking in all the information from panels like Disability Justice, Sex Workers Speak, Trans Demands, Harm Reduction in Schools, 2-Spirit Liberation, and many more.

On the final day, I decide to skip a couple of the panels to take a much-needed break exploring the city because, like I learned from a workshop, you can’t pour from an empty cup. So I wander across the cobblestones of Bourbon Street, taking in the majesty of the historic area, passing a walking tour of New Orleans trans history and various queer bars like Golden Lantern, Oz, and Good Friends.

I finally reach the oldest continuously operating gay bar in the United States since 1933: Lafitte’s. The 24-hour bar absolutely lives up to its historic nature. The bottom floor is an intimate space with stools pressed against the dilapidated bar; the pool table upstairs tilts so bad that the balls hang out on one side, and an adorable roach friend scurries across the bar top as I order a $3 tequila. I couldn’t be happier to be within the walls of queer history. 

My New Orleans experience is full of queer past by learning about LGBTQ+ history; queer present by connecting with the local community; and queer future by receiving the education to continue fighting for queer rights. It’s inspiring to see there has always been and always will be a queer community wherever you are. 

Join my journey next week as I continue my travels to Phoenix, Arizona where I attend my first gay rodeo and visit the queer bar that I once got fired from. 

Photos by London Alexander