The French Quarter – this includes the Lower Quarter from St. (1) Starting 296 years ago: 1724 is the year that the first written reference to homosexuality in New Orleans appeared, (2) In 1805 the state of Louisiana outlawed sodomy, (3) 1848 was the year Walt Whitman lived in New Orleans, (4) Then in 1946 Tennessee Williams wrote “A Streetcar Named Desire” – the play that rocked the world, (5) And in 1972 the first Southern Decadence event was held, (6) Also in 1972 Tulane University Gay Student Union was founded, (7) In 1980 the first Gay Pride parade took place in NOLA, (8) The last lesbian bar, Rubyfruit Jungle closed eight years ago in 2012, and finally, (9) Same-sex marriage was finally made legal in the great state of Louisiana in 2015 or five years ago.
