Southern Decadence
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Southern Decadance is a week-long, predominantly gay-male event held in New Orleans, Louisiana and its environs by the gay and lesbian community in early September, climaxing with a parade through the French Quarter on the Sunday before Labor Day. Most events take place in or around the French Quarter neighborhood of New Orleans, centering especially on the intersection of Bourbon and St. Anne streets.
Crowds range from 100,000 to 300,000 revelers from across the United States. In 2004 there were over 100,000 participants and the economic impact on the City of New Orleans was estimated at over $95 million. It is the last national circuit party of the season. Other circuit parties take place in Palm Springs, California, Miami, Florida, and on Fire Island.
Decadence, as it is known by participants, is marked by widespread public nudity, parades, bead tossing and street parties. The festival is highly sexual in nature, with overt advertising insinuating (though rarely outright stating) that public sex will be common and liquor flowing heavily. It is aptly known as gay Mardi Gras for its similarity to Carnival week earlier in the year.
Decadence crowds typically match or exceed Mardi Gras crowds, leading some residents of the French Quarter to leave the city over Labor Day weekend, like some do for Mardi Gras itself.
In the past several years religious and conservative groups have rallied against the festival. In 2003 there was a formal petition filed to have the event terminated, with video footage handed over to officials depicting hundreds of men engaged in public sex acts. However there was an extremely vocal response from business owners and hoteliers in New Orleans in support of the festival which is the biggest money maker for them after Mardi Gras. As some of them put it: it brings almost all of the money of Mardi Gras with far less destruction and litter. Ultimately the police made a show of posting notices clarifying public sex was forbidden, but very little actual enforcement ensued.
A History of Southern Decadence indicates that the festival started in 1972 as a costume party to honor the departure of one of a group of friends in New Orleans. It is named after the first theme--a tribute to decadent southern ladies, such as Blanche DuBois from the Tennessee Williams play A Streetcar Named Desire.
Hurricane Katrina
2005's Southern Decadence was officially canceled as a result of Hurricane Katrina; however, a very small group of residents who still remained in the French Quarter celebrated the event anyway. [1]
On August 31, 2005, the evangelical Christian group Repent America released a press release entitled, "HURRICANE KATRINA DESTROYS NEW ORLEANS DAYS BEFORE ‘SOUTHERN DECADENCE.’" Most of the press release concerns Southern Decadence. New Orleans is described as a "wicked city," noting its tolerance of Southern Decandence, Mardi Gras, Girls Gone Wild and abortions.
After mentioning New Orlean's high murder rate, it goes on to say:
- "We must help and pray for those ravaged by this disaster, but let us not forget that the citizens of New Orleans tolerated and welcomed the wickedness in their city for so long... May this act of God cause us all to think about what we tolerate in our city limits, and bring us trembling before the throne of Almighty God." [2]
It is worth noting, however, that the French Quarter, the epicenter of Southern Decadence, was one of the few areas largely undamaged and unflooded by the hurricane.
