"A few months after Hurricane Katrina struck Louisiana in August 2005, Jenna Jordan went on a search for other queer women. She was looking for camaraderie with people like herself who had returned to New Orleans after the storm. Some neighborhoods with sizable gay populations such as the French Quarter were largely spared from flooding, but areas with queer people of color and lesbians, such as Mid-City, weren't as fortunate."
"On a Tuesday night in February 2006, Jordan and a few other graduate students from Loyola University New Orleans and Tulane University hosted a meetup for queer women at a dive bar called St Joe's in the Uptown neighborhood. The gathering was spread via word of mouth and only about 20 people showed up the first time, but within five years it grew into a big dance party with hundreds of people."
Jenna Jordan searched for other queer women returning to New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina, noting that neighborhoods like the French Quarter avoided flooding while areas with queer people of color and lesbians, such as Mid-City, suffered. A February 2006 meetup at St Joe's started with about 20 attendees and grew into Grrlspot, a monthly pop-up event for queer women. The national number of lesbian bars fell from over 200 in the 1980s to 38, and New Orleans lost its last lesbian bar, Rubyfruit Jungle, in 2012. Grrlspot hosts four annual parties across city bars, drawing up to 600 attendees per event.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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