Why Isn’t New Orleans’ Mayor Supporting Marriage Equality?
At last week’s U.S. Conference of Mayors, nearly 80 of those in attendance voiced their support for marriage equality. In that number: mayors of places like Lima, Ohio and Hallandale Beach, Florida. New Orleans didn’t make the cut.
Now, I like Mitch Landrieu. I like him a lot. He’s one of the smartest men I’ve ever met, and in less than two years, New Orleans has seen more improvement than it did in its eight-year-long love/hate (but mostly hate) relationship with He Who Shall Not Be Named. But given the size of New Orleans’ LGBT population, you’d think Landrieu might be able to come out in support of marriage equality.
New Orleans has a huge gay base, and we’re surrounded by a warm and welcoming straight community (so long as you don’t count parts of Kenner). As a matter of fact, in a recent poll of travelers taken by American Airlines, New Orleans was named one of the world’s top 10 gay destinations, alongside London, New York, Tel Aviv, and Toronto.
Of course, I know Landrieu didn’t ride into office on a platform of LGBT rights. New Orleans’ queer community is so old and entrenched that gay rights might seem like a non-issue. But we’re here, we’re queer, and we would like some support, please. And let’s not make excuses about Louisiana’s state law forbidding gay marriage: mayors from Texas and Alaska and Michigan and Minnesota were on that list, and they’re in the same boat.
So I ask: Mayor Landrieu, where is the gay love?
Mitch Landrieu is a Jesuit HIgh School boy, part of the undeserving
good old boy network that runs New Orleans and keeps it a mediocre
third-world city. Jesuit is and has always been a living Hell for
gay students. Why would Mitch the Bitch, as we called him at
Jesuit, give a damn. A gay New Orleans refugee living in California
@Frank: To my knowledge, Mitch has always been very friendly with
the LGBT community, and an openly gay friend of mine is one of his
staffers. I have a feeling that his reluctance to register support
for marriage equality has less to do with his personal views and
more to do with New Orleans’ laissez-faire LGBT community. And
FWIW, I hear that even at Jesuit, things are improving — by
inches, if not by miles. No pun intended, obvs.
MItch Landrieu has a 0% record on gay rights. He has never
mentioned them in a campaign. I went to Jesuit and Tulane. I got
called faggot every day at Jesuit by students and teachers. Mitch
Landrieu witness that kind of behavior as routine. I had a federal
employer at a job interview at Tulane try to force me to take a lie
detector test torv screen out gays and when I re the interview,
Tulane tried to revoke my on campus interviewing privileges.
Needless to say, I used my education to get the Hell out of NO. I
got my Ph.D. and now I am a principal scientist at a high tech
firm. Southern Decadence is no substitute for civil rights, and
without those civil rights there always will be a brain drain away
from Louisiana.
Dude, I’m sorry that you’re bitter about your time at Jesuit years
ago, but I’m telling you what I see in New Orleans today. He may
not have stood up for gays in high school, but the guy’s a grown
man now. I’m around Mitch fairly regularly, and from where I sit,
he’s onboard with LGBT rights.
I’d be proud of Jesuit, if they had a gsa. I’d be proud of MItch
Landrieu if he spoke out about the subject. I’d be ashamed to call
someone bitter for complaining about a situation that still leads
to many suicides in high school.
I’ll write Mitch a civil letter and ask him why he can’t be vocal
publicly.