← Autodidact Archive · Original Dissent · Centinel
Thread ID: 9414 | Posts: 4 | Started: 2003-08-30
2003-08-30 21:13 | User Profile
From The Associated Press, available online at: [url=http://www.nola.com/newsflash/louisiana/index.ssf?/newsflash/get_story.ssf?/cgi-free/getstory_ssf.cgi?n1683_BC_LA--SouthernDecadence&&news&newsflash-louisiana]http://www.nola.com/newsflash/louisiana/in...flash-louisiana[/url]
Religious groups demand an end to New Orleans' annual gay festival
By DOUG SIMPSON The Associated Press 8/28/03 6:30 PM
NEW ORLEANS (AP) -- The wet Jockey shorts contest will be followed by drag queen fashion shows, the Mr. Louisiana Leather 2004 Contest and thousands of gay men drinking a whole lot of alcohol.
The Southern Decadence Festival started in the French Quarter for the 32nd straight year on Wednesday and will draw an estimated 110,000 people, mainly gay men, from around the world. To the participants, Decadence is the ultimate Bourbon Street blowout, full of good, not-so-clean fun.
But to a growing number of religious leaders, it's a sinister affair. The city's Catholic Archbishop condemned it for glorifying gay sex. A group of Protestant leaders see the party as little more than five days of indecency, urination and sex acts on Bourbon Street.
The Protestant groups have scheduled protests for Friday and Sunday to demand that the city's government shut the festival down.
"We're going to ensure that they do not turn our streets into another Sodom and Gomorrah, like they have the past several years," said the Rev. Grant E. Storms, pastor of a nondenominational Protestant church in suburban New Orleans.
Storms, who has also protested nudity during Mardi Gras celebrations, said he expected about 1,000 fellow Christians to march Friday through the French Quarter to the intersection at the heart of the festival. He hoped the march would draw attention to what he called the routine violations of indecency laws.
Decadence veterans acknowledged that it's become routine for men to flash their genitals and perform sex acts in public.
"Unfortunately, to an extent, those things do go on, and in a sense, it's sad," said Ben Mach, 34, a New Orleans insurance agent. "Southern Decadence is an opportunity to meet good people from all over the country who are nice and sweet. But not everybody comes for those reasons."
To reduce the amount of flashing and public sex, Decadence organizers have posted and handed out fliers informing visitors that Louisiana has passed a new, tougher indecency law. The law was passed after Storms videoed public indecency at last year's Decadence festival, then gave copies of the videotape to legislators.
The law makes it a crime to have sex in public to intentionally attract a crowd; violators can get a 10-day jail sentence.
"We're trying to inform tourists about the law," said Rip Naquin, a festival promoter. "We don't want to see these tourists have to pay $2,000 or $3,000 to get out of jail. We want them to spend that $2,000 or $3,000 on the local economy."
New Orleans police reported 12 indecency-related arrests during last year's festival. Storms has accused the police of ignoring public indecency violations during Decadence and the six-week Carnival season.
Many gay men consider the Decadence Festival the grand finale of a gay party circuit around the country, including large ones in Miami and Provincetown, R.I. Most events at the New Orleans festival are held in Bourbon Street bars, with a parade on the street Sunday.
Jay Bennett, 38, a corporate trainer from Boston, sipped a daiquiri on Bourbon Street on Thursday, the eighth year he's attended.
"It's a nice trip, where you can have camaraderie with our fellow gay brothers from around the country," he said.
In interviews, Bennett and other men took a blase view of Storms and his protests. Naquin said he and other organizers planned to ignore the protesters when they arrive on Bourbon Street.
"We're just planning to turn our backs on them," Naquin said. "We're going to let them do their protests and we're going to be nonconfrontational."
A number of visitors said the protest was uncharacteristic of the welcome they normally get in New Orleans. David Lupone, 44, a lawyer from Boston, said residents have always been cordial on his three trips to Southern Decadence.
"No matter what section of the city you go to, what hotel, retail establishment, bar or restaurant, we have never encountered any kind of hostility toward us."
On the Net:
Southern Decadence: [url=http://www.southerndecadence.com/]http://www.southerndecadence.com/[/url]
2003-08-30 23:50 | User Profile
Unfortunately, I doubt there'll be any end to this notorious annual gathering... it brings in too much revenue to the city.
**A group of Protestant leaders see the party as little more than five days of indecency, urination and sex acts on Bourbon Street. **
Ah yes, but when is that not happening on Bourbon Street?
I've actually been to New Orleans during Southern Decadence (quite by accident of course)... Insider tip: head a few streets over from Bourbon to Rue Chartres and visit St. Louis Cathedral or the Ursuline Convent instead. ;)
2003-08-31 04:36 | User Profile
Welcome Abbess,
I hope you find this place interesting. I like it. One little function that comes in really handy is My Assistant (in the top right corner), then Today's Active Topics. Using this function you can stay abreast of new posts without constantly trudging through all the different categories . Hope you give this place a chance. There are some excellent writers here.
:)
2003-08-31 05:31 | User Profile
*Originally posted by Bardamu@Aug 30 2003, 22:36 * ** Welcome Abbess,
I hope you find this place interesting. I like it. One little function that comes in really handy is My Assistant (in the top right corner), then Today's Active Topics. Using this function you can stay abreast of new posts without constantly trudging through all the different categories . Hope you give this place a chance. There are some excellent writers here.
:) **
Thank you for the warm welcome, Bardamu!