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Amos Lassen wrote on 11/21/2011:

I just heard about this new documentary which is very special to me being originally from New Orleans. It is a film about the gay men of New Orleans who created a new culture when they created their Mardi Gras balls in the 1950’s. They worked with the traditions of Mardi Gras (and Mardi Gras is all tradition) to bring their gay culture out and into the public and by 1969 there were four gay Mardi Gras krewes that was chartered legally by the state of Louisiana and their sole object was to stage extravagant balls at various public venues around the city. To them and for us this was a form of gay liberation because these organizations were instrumental in bringing down the old laws that targeted our community and they did so by staging a revolution through flamboyantly costumed affairs and the balls became so popular that everyone, including the straight society, begged for invitations.

Tim Wolff uses archival film and contemporary interviews to give us the story of the balls and showing how they were a factor in gay liberation in the South. I have been to any number of these balls but never ever considered how important they were to the freedom of our community and it is now very clear to me.

Beginning in the early 60’s these balls were revolutions minus politics and many feel that the balls were what brought gay New Orleanians out of the closet and at the same time triggered what was to become the Stonewall riots of 1969. Actually it was 1950 when a group of gay men in New Orleans decided to have a Mardi Gras ball of their own and that reflected gay life. The idea caught on quickly and gay Mardi Gras organizations called krewes (just like their straight counterparts) began to spring up. In fact the first gay krewe was founded some ten years before Stonewall. The very first ball came from the Krewe of Yuga (KY) and was held in a rented school cafeteria and the police heard about the plan and mobilized, knowing that someone would break a law, any law. Just as the coronation of the royalty was to begin, the police entered because someone called and said they had seen some cross-dressers entering the site. Krewe members tried to escape but their costumes hindered running and others hid outside. Those that were caught were taken to jail, written up in the local paper and prosecuted with the charge of disturbing the peace. There has not been a raid since.

Because of these balls, New Orleans was the first place in the United States where gays and straights came together socially and to recognize gay culture. The movie shows the early persecutions and the freedoms that came to be because of the balls. We learn that AIDS wreaked havoc on the krewes as many needlessly died and we see how Katrina also devastated membership in some organizations.

The film is a wonderful tribute to the importance of the gay community in New Orleans and it shows how the community moved forward as it dealt with some very heavy odds. Wolff shows a lot about the “crime against nature” crackdown in the 50’s when police raids seemed to be the norm and he shows us that the krewes were formed as a safe place that was apolitical. But we must remember that even with the krewes of New Orleans and the Stonewall riots, we still have a long way to go and the battle is still raging.