In 1972, the Tulane University Gay Students Union was established. It would not become openly known as a 'gay pride' event until 1978, when the pride events became the annual Gay Pride New Orleans.
In 1971, members of the Front presented a 'Gay In' picnic in February in City Park. In 1970, the Gay Liberation Front of New Orleans was formed.
In 1967, District Attorney Jim Garrison arrested Clay Shaw, a local openly homosexual businessman, and charged Shaw with conspiring to assassinate John F. Īfter the closure of a bar at the Lafitte Blacksmith Shop on Bourbon Street, gay patrons moved to a bar around the corner, known as the Café Lafitte in Exile, and turned the bar into the oldest gay bar in New Orleans. Other krewes formed despite the oppressive atmosphere, such as the Krewes of Amon-Ra, Ganymede, Armeinius, Apollo, Ishtar (the first lesbian krewe), and Olympus. The Krewe of Yuga disbanded after a police raid on their fifth ball in 1962, but the Krewe of Petronius continued to hold balls. The Krewe of Yuga was the first gay Carnival club in 1958, followed by the Krewe of Petronius in 1961. In 1949, the Fat Monday Luncheon, a private event for local gay men, was first held in New Orleans.
