‘A gay Mardi Gras’: the lesbian pop-up bar in New Orleans that was born after Hurricane Katrina

Grrlspot, a monthly event in New Orleans, stemmed from a desire to create spaces for queer women to gather after the storm devastated the city in 2005

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. Grrlspot, a monthly pop-up event for queer women in New Orleans that still exists today, was born.