Gay life in Louisiana (New Orleans, Baton Rouge: fit in, best neighborhood, crimes)

[Iconographer]

Originally Posted by miserylovesco.

Eat @ the Clover grill and you'll understand.

HA! The Clever Girl...I miss the Hubcap Burgers there...
do you know if Earl still works there?

[jaybee1982]

First of all-I'm not gay, but in the mid to late 80's there was a adult video store in Gretna(on the Westbank Expressway) that many of the gays frequented. The meeting place was in the back where they had individual booths with cheap XXX movie viewers.(I know this because I went there one particularly drunken night) The cops raided the place every so often until it finally closed down in ,I think 1990. I believe the two main gay bars had closed down also, one on BelleChase Highway, the other in old Gretna. There was a huge gay nightclub just outside the parameters of Lakeside Mall in Metarie that closed in the mid 80's. I'm not sure about "Westbank" tolerance, but I know a lot of my old "Gretna Post Office" workers made fun of the gay bar not to far down the street from our 4th and Huey P Long location, but never with malice. Of course that was back in 1985!!

[Kajonangel]

ok i have lived in bossier city, Shreveport, Greenwood, Lake Charles, and Lafayette and I think that Lafayette is an awesome place for Gays... I am a straight female but I have had a lot of gay friends and they rock! lol
they have a few gay bars there and I love to go and have fun... Gay people always seem to know how to brighten up the party!

Kajonangel

[SouthernBelleInUtah]

Originally Posted by Ellwood

My son and his wife, who is Asian, have found terrible racism in Louisiana. There are times she is in a store and no one will come to the counter to help her. She is American born and holds a graduate degree. I sincerely doubt you would be welcomed with open arms. It is shocking in this day and age.

Where do they live? My daughter-in-law is in Metairie and she is from the Phillippines. We could maybe put them together if she is near and Filipina.

[Daisy8]

I would also say that Covington / Mandeville are good if you are looking to live near the city but not in it. SBC is right about New Orleans proper being best, but we have a gay couple in our very suburban neighborhood who are well accepted. Covington, while being a small town, seems to be very open-minded, in my opinion. It's very artsy.

[pit_crew]

Hello to one and all. I'm in the Monroe area and although straight, I see no reason why gay couples couldnt set up house around here. We have a University setting and several clubs. Many are in the medical setting as well that I know personally. HA!! Gays are way more accepted than PITBULLS!!
but, yes the rural thing does go on and it sure isnt NO or Lafayette. I think the absolute worst place would be Alexandria.

[cydney]

I am selling my house and it is a gay mans dream house or gay couple dream house

[cydney]

I know that Gay men like to fix up a house and this is a real house to fix up and quite unique

[Innotech]

Originally Posted by Ellwood

My son and his wife, who is Asian, have found terrible racism in Louisiana. There are times she is in a store and no one will come to the counter to help her. She is American born and holds a graduate degree. I sincerely doubt you would be welcomed with open arms. It is shocking in this day and age.

You need to consider that about 40% of Louisiana is black population. It is a far greater percentage than most states. Because of this, there is definitely a degree of racism by default. however, what it also means is that Louisiana is more tolerant of other races as a society by necessity. If we were truly a state of racists, then 40% black population could not live here. Yet they go about their lives every day side by side with white people and other races. There is a lack of subrbs in most places in Louisiana, owing to the fact that whites have generally accepted blacks and learned to live in the same areas.

Similarly, I see gay couples around Lafayette sometimes and I have friends who are gay or lesbian and from what Ive experienced from being around them, nobody really seems to care. They certainly are not ridiculed for it. In fact, I work with a gay man whose companion comes to the office to visit occasionally.

[pandorafan5687]

Definitely more accepting in bigger cities, and there is a gay club in Lake Charles called Crystals, on Ryan St. Lafayette is exploding and I can imagine there is a large gay population there. But obviously N.O. would be the most accepting. You'd have more of a problem in Mississippi than you would in Louisiana. Given that you are not out having sex in a public place such as a park *coughs* (Tuten Park anybody). You know, that you not just bearing all your business out.