Gays Defiant In Katrina's Wake

(New Orleans, Louisiana) It was a scene like something from a Fellini movie. Amid the death, the destruction, and suffering in the aftermath of hurricane Katrina a small parade behind a tattered rainbow flag made its way up Bourbon Street on Sunday.
The marchers said they were celebrating Southern Decadence. The group - about two dozen people - all said they lived in the largely gay French Quarter. Defiant, they said they were not about to flee the community despite orders from the city to do so.

The French Quarter, the oldest neighborhood in New Orleans, sits on higher ground than most of the city and escaped the worst of the flooding. Still water permeated the first floors of most buildings. The winds that accompanied Katrina ripped signs from buildings. Windows are shattered and broken, and many buildings had their roofs blown off.

Most of the marchers were among the poorest citizens of the neighborhood - the barbacks, clerks, part-time waiters and the unemployed who lived above the shops and clubs in the Quarter. The rainbow flag was taken from the front of one bar. It was ragged and worn but it had survived the hurricane, just as the plucky marchers had.

Matt Menold, 23, a street musician wearing a sombrero and a guitar slung over his back, summed up the sentiments of the other marchers. ``It's New Orleans, man. We're going to celebrate,'' he told the AP.

Another marcher carried a sign reading "Life Goes On?"

Southern Decadence would normally have filled the streets of the French Quarter this Labor Day weekend. The biggest LGBT event in the South it normally attracts thousands of people from across the country and pumps millions of dollars into the local economy. Last year more than 110, 000 attended the event.

This would have been the festival's 33rd year.

Last week an evangelic group blamed Southern Decadence for causing the hurricane. (story)

"Although the loss of lives is deeply saddening, this act of God destroyed a wicked city," said Repent America director Michael Marcavage. "From ‘Girls Gone Wild’ to ‘Southern Decadence’, New Orleans was a city that had its doors wide open to the public celebration of sin. May it never be the same."

Food stores in the French Quarter have been stripped bare of non perishables as those who refuse to leave, or have not yet been rescued, struggle to survive.

Other stores and bars have been looted. There was sporadic gunfire reported Sunday as National Guard troops struggled to gain control of the area.

It is unlikely those who remain in New Orleans can hold out much longer. There is no electricity or running water.

Only blocks from the French Quarter homes are flooded up to their roofs. National Guard helicopters continued Sunday to pluck people waving sheets and towels from their rooftops.

Bloated bodies flow in the water and city officials fear the outbreak of an epidemic.

Any hopes that the city would soon return to normal were dashed Sunday by the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

Dan Craig, FEMA's director of recovery said it could take up to six months to get the water out of New Orleans, and the city would then need to dry out, which could take up to three more months.

Then the city would need to rebuild. That could take up to an additional year. In all it could be two years or more before people would be allowed to return to the city.

Among those struggling to get out of the ravaged city there is growing frustration with what they see as federal government inaction.

"The first few days were a natural disaster. The last four days were a man-made disaster," said Phillip Holt, 51, who was rescued from his home Saturday.

Next Story: Houston Gay Rescue Operation in Full Swing

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