09/06/2005
Celebration: Necessary or Disrespectful?
While the annual New Orleans Southern Decadence party was officially cancelled in the wake of Hurricane Katrina's destruction, over the weekend about two dozen motley marchers took to the streets in an assortment of costumes, beads, and hats "determined to fight back against overwhelming despair" according to the Fort Worth Star Telegram. They stopped at Johnny White's Sports Bar & Grill, one of the only open bars in the French Quarter.
"The revelers found no ice or air conditioning once they got to the bar, where the cigarette supply had badly dwindled, but a drink of hard liquor was just what some of them needed. 'Everyone's drinking. We're all happy,' said Andy O'Brien, 23, a bare chested carpentar's apprentice who has been getting by on canned goods, borrowed food from shuttered bars and help from friends and neighbors."
But was this kind of celebration far too premature to be in good taste, or was it a necessary stress release for those in the thick of the disaster? Nearby, bloated corpses still floated in the water and submerged homes concealed still unknown horrors. Those were the obvious questions raised by this typical New Orleans display as rescue efforts went on unabated, just blocks away.
If this is what's being shown as the "gay reaction" to the disaster, as a gay man I'm fairly horrified (though I will say there's something to be said for a show of spirit among the ruins). It is, however, certainly apparent you don't see the brutally affected poor black population taking part in this party.
The gay reaction in Houston, however, is an entirely different story.
Gay Parade Goes On, Despite Katrina [fort worth star-telegram]
Houston's Operation Gay Lifeline In Full Gear [365gay]
Barbara Bush to NPR on evacuees: "Almost everyone I’ve talked to says we're going to move to Houston. What I’m hearing is they all want to stay in Texas. Everyone is so overwhelmed by the hospitality. And so many of the people in the arena here, you know, were underprivileged anyway, so this --this is working very well for them." Audio.
Anne Rice: "To my country I want to say this: During this crisis you failed us. You looked down on us; you dismissed our victims; you dismissed us. You want our Jazz Fest, you want our Mardi Gras, you want our cooking and our music. Then when you saw us in real trouble, when you saw a tiny minority preying on the weak among us, you called us "Sin City," and turned your backs."
New York Times on Vanishing Cities: "Changes in climate can make a friendly place less welcoming. Catastrophes like volcanoes or giant earthquakes can kill a city quickly. Political or economic shifts can strand what was once a thriving metropolis in a slow death of irrelevance."
Posted 10:08 AM EST by Andy in Current Affairs | Permalink
Comments
The photographs taken at this year's Southern Decadence have been used widely to illustrate articles on the chances of survival of New Orleans' culture and way of life. In this way, I think newspapers, etc. recognise the small parade as an inspiring event -- an ember of hope and resiliance that survived the flood. If the marchers had flown in from Chicago and San Diego, it would be different. These people live in the destroyed city. As someone living on a whole other continent, I wouldn't want question how New Orleans residents give expression to what they're feeling.
Posted by: Joachim | Sep 6, 2005 10:49:35 AM
Anne Rice is SOOOOO right! and i don't see anything wrong with them celebrating!
Posted by: Roy | Sep 6, 2005 10:54:42 AM
we think of the band playing as the titanic sank as a heroic story of human spirit.. I agree Joachim, who are we to decide on how they decide to show resilience in incredible adversity? They were still alive and hopefully will carry that sprit of New Orleans with them where ever they end up.
Posted by: vincent-louis Apruzzese | Sep 6, 2005 11:05:05 AM
But the band didn't, that's an urban legend. Though they did stay-behind so others could take their places in the boats.
I think that it was too-soon to party in the French Quarter. But I'm heartened by the communal support and outreach within the gay community in Texas and elsewhere.
Posted by: Ted B. | Sep 6, 2005 11:14:32 AM
Of course, the national news clip I saw interviewed only the exhibitionist gender fuck male. So, it's all in the eye of the beholder, or what America is allowed to behold and I say, once again, attention freaks like this have given us a black eye and made us look ridiculous and craven among all those bloated floating bodies. I just hope some national nongay outlet picks up the story on the LGBT groups in Houston reaching out to our own. An account of their carrying small rainbow flags around the Astrodome to try to alert any of our people that someone was specifically there for them, e.g., someone with AIDS who'd lost his/her meds, brought tears to my eyes.
Posted by: Leland | Sep 6, 2005 2:19:03 PM
I was aware of the titanic legend, which I why I said story (my mistake for not being clearer), but I totally understand why anyone would think it was too soon to do anyhting remotely festive. I guess my point was it will be how it is remembered years from now in a broader perspective . It could be viewed as an act of incredible bad taste, or a brave act of defiance... or totally forgotten as this tragedy really sinks in.
Posted by: Vincent-louis Apruzzese | Sep 6, 2005 5:57:14 PM
It reminds me of 2 Samuel chapter 6:
[King] David, wearing a linen ephod, danced before the Lord with all his might, wile he and the entire house of Israel brought up the ark of the Lord with shouts and the sound of trumpets. . . . Michal daughter of Saul watched from a window. And when she saw King David leaping and dancing before the Lord, she despised him in her heart. ... When David returned home, Michal came out to meet him and said, "How the king of Israel has distinguished himself today, disrobing in the sight of the slave girls of his servants as any vulgar fellow would!" David said to Michal, "It was before the Lord, who chose me rather than your father or anyone from his house when he appointed me ruler over the Lord's people Israel--I will celebrate before the Lord. I will become even more undignified than this, and I will be humiliated in my own eyes. But by these slave girls you spoke of, I will be held in honor." And Michal daughter of Saul had no children to the day of her death.
Posted by: Brian | Sep 6, 2005 8:04:28 PM
Why not celebrate amidst the dead and dying? Bodies floating in the flood waters beside feces and confetti seems pretty festive to me. It really doesn't matter that there were people only blocks away, trapped in their attics, struggling for a breath of fresh air, dying for a drink of clean water. At least these party animals had some liquor. They were happy.
Makes me proud to be gay.
Posted by: jay | Sep 6, 2005 11:03:38 PM
George Bush tries daily to put an uplifting "happy, happy, joy, joy" spin on his abject failure of leadership, so in a sense, he's holding his own kind of daily Ghoulish "blood on his hands" Media Parade in celebration of his "fabulousness" leading the disaster relief effort. So, if it's good for Bush, why not... I probably wouldn't personally have participated (right now) in a celebration parade through the streets of the new City of Sadness, but, hey, if it makes them happy and helps lift their spirits, who am I to criticize.
Posted by: Robert In WeHo | Sep 7, 2005 9:06:32 AM
As a quarter resident, this was one of the few things that has given me hope in past few bleak days. The quarter is a unique place to live and seening that some of it's spirit is still alive was heartening. Although SD has become a huge and primarily gay event, it started out as just a few friends (gay and straight) who wanted to celebrate. It's that spirit that makes the quarter special. Without it there would just be old buildings and bars and those of you who've been there know it's so much more than that.
Posted by: Jimmy (Atlanta temporarily) | Sep 8, 2005 8:17:00 AM
That is me in those above pictures, and to clarify, we had no safe means of leaving the city. there was no way to leave before or after the hurricane if you didn't own a car. we hadn't showered in days and regardless of the theme of decadence, all of us were straight. I suppose that is the funny part of the whole situation. Had this fallen on Halloween or Mardi Gras or anything else no one would have made anything but positive remarks. All the see is "look what the gays have done now" On that Sunday we wanted to show the world that part of New Orleans was still alive. For one week no one in the world knew if I was dead. It took hungry media to get to people I loved. We were celebrating sadness just as they do in New Orleans. There was no disrespect and we couldn't go more than 6 blocks without being in extreme danger. No one helped any of us, even if we weren't under water.
Robin
Posted by: Robin Cates | Sep 29, 2005 2:53:21 PM
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