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Rainbow Fleur de Lis: Essays on Queer New Orleans History
Rainbow Fleur de 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.
- GenresNonfiction
346 pages, Hardcover
Published May 1, 2025
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
August 16, 2025
This wonderful and engaging book consolidates Frank Perez’s essays on queer New Orleans that he wrote for Ambush Magazine over the last dozen years. There is a total of seventeen themed sections (such as Activism, Preservation, Southern Decadence, and Interviews). Each section consists of five essays that are roughly three pages long. New Orleans has an incredibly rich queer history that has yet to tap into the mainstream and this books helps put our history into the spotlight. My favorite section was “Preservation” and led me down a rabbit hole of 1920s Dixie Bohemia.
A couple notes on the format of the book. First, the writing style is very easy to follow and interspersed with personal reminiscences which gave a tone of warmth and care to the history being told. The short essays made it easy to devour several sections at a time, or pop in and out in spurts. The format gives an incredible breadth of information, but in my opinion largely serves as a starting point for historical inquiry. There is a focus on breadth over depth (given that the essays are only a few pages long), and I sometimes found myself wanting more information and taking notes to do my own research. There are some footnotes that serve to guide the reader in this regard. The format, as noted by another review, also tends to repeat information across the book since these essays were originally published independently from one another.
The last thing I’ll say is while the title is “essays on queer New Orleans”, the book is largely (but not completely) about gay male history. This speaks more to the canon of queer history that centered and preserved gay male narratives. While this representation is important and interesting, the history of minority groups within the New Orleans queer community warrant future research, which Perez notes is forthcoming in one of the footnotes.
A couple notes on the format of the book. First, the writing style is very easy to follow and interspersed with personal reminiscences which gave a tone of warmth and care to the history being told. The short essays made it easy to devour several sections at a time, or pop in and out in spurts. The format gives an incredible breadth of information, but in my opinion largely serves as a starting point for historical inquiry. There is a focus on breadth over depth (given that the essays are only a few pages long), and I sometimes found myself wanting more information and taking notes to do my own research. There are some footnotes that serve to guide the reader in this regard. The format, as noted by another review, also tends to repeat information across the book since these essays were originally published independently from one another.
The last thing I’ll say is while the title is “essays on queer New Orleans”, the book is largely (but not completely) about gay male history. This speaks more to the canon of queer history that centered and preserved gay male narratives. While this representation is important and interesting, the history of minority groups within the New Orleans queer community warrant future research, which Perez notes is forthcoming in one of the footnotes.
July 1, 2025
Perfect book to celebrate Pride month! I learned so much about LGBTQ+ history in New Orleans. Only docking 1 star because there was a lot of repetitive information due to the format of the book.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews