Café Lafitte in Exile: Queer New Orleans and the Story of America's Oldest Gay Bar

Café Lafitte in Exile tells the story of queer New Orleans through the lens of its most legendary gay bar. The bar has held a central place in New Orleans’s queer scene for many years, with a profuse mythology entwining its history. Café Lafitte in Exile endeavors to set the record straight.

The story begins long before the founding of gay bars, with an exploration of Indigenous sexual and gender roles, colonial views on queerness, and the notable gay writers, musicians, and activists of nin...