Merry Christmas and Happy Hanukkah! Gay Life in New Orleans After Katrina Gayest Neighborhoods Spared; Lesbians and Blacks Hit Harder By Rex Wockner Contributing Writer . NEW ORLEANS — A few Christian political activists blamed Hurricane Katrina cm gays, noting that it hit imme diately prior to gay-friendly New Orleans' famed "Southern Decadence" gay festival But, in fact about the only parts of the city that weren’t severely damaged by the massive flooding from burst lev ~ eeswere the gayestareas. AndtheNew Orleans gay scene appears to be bounc- 1 ing back faster than the city in general. "The 20 percent of the city that Was spared, 80 percent of those parts of the city are gay [neighborhoods]," said Lany Bagneris, executive director of the New Orleans Human Relations Commission. "The benefits of living in that environment — the French Quartet; the Marigny, the Bywatei; Uptown — where most gay people live, they were spared the water. We've come back not only to dry land, but to our jobs. "All those preachers who blamed the Belinda Hernandez (I) and Brobson Lutz. The Bourbon Pub is up and running,but tourists are hot coming, as available hotel rooms are limited. Many locals have failed to return to the city. gay community for Katrina — our neighborhoods were the ones that had the rainbow over us and were blessed," Bagneris said. But many gay people didn't live in those gayest neighborhoods — especial .. Photos by Rex ly lesbians, blacks and men who don't frequent gay bars. "The flooding hit a lot of the commu nity that is less visible than the bar crowd," said Randal Beach, co-chair of the Lesbian and Gay Community Center of New Orleans. "A lot of the people whose social activities revolve around the bar scene live in and around the French Quarter, and they were for tunately spared the flooding. But many others in the community — particularly the women's and trans[gender] com munities — lived in areas that were badly flooded. New Orleans also has a large black community, and the over whelming majority those people lived in neighborhoods that were severely damaged." Former city Health -Department director and well-known French Quarter figure Dr. Brobson Lutz agreed that "gay people of color were more prone to live in areas that were more susceptible to the flooding." Lesbians took a harder hit, Bagneris said, because "more lesbians lived in [the flooded] Mid-City and Lake view [areas], and many have kids that have to go to school." Most schools have not reopened, which prevents people with school aged children from coming home, even if they have a home to come home to, which most evacuees do not The city's lesbian population is likely to remain depleted for some time, said Belinda Hernandez, an openly gay executive producer at WDSU-’^fcaMMMH "A lot of the lesbian population relo cated — and we don’t even know where they are,” she said. "Lakeview is gone. Much of Mid-City was under water as well." ' Gay Community Center Threatened with Collapse The fact that most evacuees still haven't been able to come home also has thrown the Lesbian and Gay Community Center into dire financial straits. It may, in fact; have to dose if help doesn't arrive soon. 'It's devastating," Beach said. "We have met several times trying to figure out how to keep the doors open. The base of our support has always been in the community itself, we've never had a lot of corporate support [and] many of our heavy donors are scattered around the country. Many we haven't been able to talk to. We don't even know where they went "Also, it's hard to ask people for money when they don't even nave a house," he said. The center has 100 to 150 core donors but has been able to contact "no more than half a dozen of them," Beach said. The all-volunteer facility, located in the unflooded Faubourg Marigny neighborhood, operates on $30,000 to $50,000 a year. If 2,500 people from the gay community around the country - V continued page 4 Visit us tfnrthe web arwww.frontpagenews.com