With winds topping 140 miles per hour as it roared ashore Aug. 29, Hurricane Katrina devastated portions of the Gulf Coast and New Orleans.

Subsequent levee breaks along Lake Pontchartrain flooded the city that traditionally would be gearing up to host thousands of mostly gay men celebrating Labor Day weekend.

In addition to flooded streets, a lack of fresh water and no electricity, New Orleans Councilmember Jackie Clarkson told the Associated Press on the Wednesday after the hurricane struck that the French Quarter had been “attacked” and “looting is out of control.”

Yet even the destruction left behind by Katrina didn’t keep about two-dozen people from celebrating Southern Decadence, the annual Labor Day Weekend gay festival in New Orleans shut down by the storm. On Sunday, the handful of participants, which each year often number in the thousands, marched through the French Quarter as military helicopters buzzed above.

The city’s 34th annual Southern Decadence festival was cancelled Aug. 31, according to one of the event’s organizers, Johnny Chisholm.

The celebration, which began as a Labor Day party among friends 34 years ago, was expected to draw more than 100,000 participants from Aug. 30 to Sept. 5.

“I regret to inform you that due to Hurricane Katrina, Southern Decadence in New Orleans has been officially cancelled,” Chisholm wrote in an e-mail on Aug. 31.

Chisholm noted that festival-goers that were charged for weekend passes will receive refunds.

Chisholm owns Oz, New Orleans’ largest gay dance bar, which is located on Bourbon Street in the French Quarter. He stated in the e-mail that the bar suffered damage, and the club hopes to reopen by Halloween. However, based upon recent news reports and the forced evacatuation of the city, Chisolm's plan for reeopening by Halloween seems overly optimistic.

In addition to the thousands expected for Southern Decadence, more than 600 people had pre-registered for Convergence 2005, an event during Southern Decadence for plus-sized gay men and their admirers.

In a posting on its Web site, convergence2005.com, the group cancelled its “Big & Easy” celebration. The organization notes that it may take time to issue refunds, due to venue cancellation policies. The group suggests donating any refunds to the Red Cross/New Orleans Disaster Relief Fund.

Steve Kay planned on having a great time at the largest gay Labor Day celebration in the South. Now, having a good time is far from his mind. Kay suggested that people who purchased passes to many of the parties donate their refunds to building a “better Southern Decadence” next year.

Customers who booked hotels at locally owned properties should “have sympathy first,” said Tom Nibbio, North American sales manager for the International Gay & Lesbian Travel Association.

“We need to be considerate of their immediate situation,” he said. “If you’re not in immediate need of a refund, put it on the back burner.”

But Nibbio noted that direct bookings through airlines should be dealt with immediately.

While gay Internet sites have been inundated with postings exhibiting concern for the city, one anti-gay organization seized upon the calamity to promote its agenda.

Philadelphia-based Repent America issued a statement calling Hurricane Katrina an “Act of God” that destroyed a “wicked city” just days before Southern Decadence.

The group blames the city’s previous three mayors, and every citizen in New Orleans, for tolerating and welcoming such “wickedness” as Southern Decadence and Mardi Gras.

As the magnitude of destruction caused by Hurricane Katrina continues to unfold, offers of assistance from gay men and lesbians are flooding Internet message boards.

On the Web, from Yahoo message boards to postings on Craigslist, many of the items indicate a desire to help that overshadows political concerns and criticism from some gay men usually aimed at the Food & Drug Administration and the American Red Cross for a ban on blood donations.

In 1985, the Food & Drug Administration banned gay men from donating blood for fear of HIV entering the nation’s blood supply. The ban, which the American Red Cross adheres to, prohibits "males who had sex even once with another male since 1977."All blood donations are still screened for HIV, as well as syphilis and hepatitis.

A spokesperson ...

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