Report from the Golden Triangle Rainbows barred from Mardi Gras parade Busted Flat in Port Arthur by Ann Walton Sieber

"Don’t compromise yourself. You are all you’ve got." –former Port Arthur resident Janis Joplin

The Beaumont/Port Arthur gay community has been making strides in small-town gay visibility–most recently, the Lamar University Gay and Lesbian Association (LUGLA) decided to make their most public statement yet by riding on their own float in the February 25 Port Arthur Mardi Gras parade. The activists were ready to be out there and proud, and the crowd seemed ready for them ... but parade officials gave the gay group a difficult time, that so far has only galvanized this growing community.

It started when Angie Alvarado sent in an application for a LUGLA float to the Mardi Gras of Southeast Texas association, and she was told it would have to be put to special scrutiny. The LUGLA group had already made the decision not to spell out their acronym. "We were afraid that people weren’t ready for us," Angie said. "So we left out the ‘gay’ and ‘lesbian.’" But in a meeting with MGST president Floyd Marceaux, he told LUGLA members that in order to ride in the parade, they also had to take the rainbow off the LUGLA banner. Marceaux told the (Lamar) University Press that he was concerned that the crowd along the parade route would react negatively.

"The other concern is that, at Mardi Gras of Southeast Texas, we really and truly strive to be a family affair, and we didn’t find that their making a public statement as to what they stood for was consistent with that," he told the school newspaper.

In the same article, the mayor of Port Arthur, Oscar Ortiz, echoed this ridiculous sentiment:

"I have to agree with Floyd, because we said from the very beginning that the Mardi Gras parade was strictly a family function, and when you think of family, of course, you think of man, a woman and her children."

Such "family"-oriented prejudice rings especially false to Angie, whose children have become a familiar sight at LUGLA and PFLAG meetings. "‘Just remember, Scott,’ she said that she jokes with her son, ‘You have no family.’ What gets me is Ortiz, he’s Hispanic," she continues. "You’d think he’d know about discrimination."

The day of the parade, the LUGLA crew arrived in all their resplendent finery, their float decorated to the hilt–the only place they didn’t have rainbows was in the logo, as stipulated. "We wanted to be smart asses, so we put rainbows everywhere else," says Caleb Hutchins, who is president of Beaumont PFLAG and secretary of LUGLA, as well as working as a counselor at the Triangle AIDS Network, "including me, who was wearing a rainbow flag."

The 10 or so in the LUGLA float waited around with all the other parade entrants, but just before it was their turn to push out, they were pulled out of line and told they had to take all the rainbows down because they were in violation of the agreement whereby they were permitted to ride in the parade. Oh, and also, no "cross-dressers" they were told by the parade officials, who meant the two drag queens who had come from the Copa, a local gay bar. The two float riders who were transgendered were okay.

After that showdown, the actual parade went much better than expected, with the crowd cheering on LUGLA’s float and guys shouting out, "I’m straight, but throw me beads!" As the drag queens made their way through the crowd, they were asked by onlookers why they weren’t allowed to participate, and generally shown sympathy and support.

"To be honest," said Angie, " we were shocked that the public received us so well. "Even if it is our last parade, it was worth it.... At first I was so frustrated and down. But then several people came up to me and said ‘You made it possible.’

"My girlfriend’s not out–her family’s big in Jehovah’s Witnesses–and she came up and said, ‘I’m so proud of you. You did something that others can’t do. They want to but they can’t.’ That made it perfect."

The Beaumont/Port Arthur gay scene is growing, but still largely a behind-closed-doors situation, according to Angie and Caleb. Although Beaumont is larger in population, Port Arthur has a bigger gay community, with quite a few gay-owned businesses, although few feel secure enough to be out–especially since Floyd Marceaux is also president of the Golden Triangle Merchants Association.

"Port Arthur is still kind of a little podunk town," Caleb said, who’s spent all his life here. "It’s more than tolerant, but less than accepting."

"We lose a lot of good people because they just can’t deal with the backdoor life," Angie says. "You can go to the clubs at night, but in the day you have to put on a different suit and pretend to be somebody else."

The principle gay organizations are LUGLA, PFLAG, and the gay Church of Kindred Spirits, which meets at the Unitarian Church. Beaumont has three gay bars, the Copa, the Crocker Street Station, and Dion’s. There are two HIV-testing and -treatment centers. Lamar University is somewhat accepting, especially in the more gay-friendly departments, such as theater and nursing.

Angie, Caleb, and the other activists in the area are still trying to figure out what to do next about the Mardi Gras controversy. They consulted lawyer Mitchell Katine, but said he didn’t think their chances were good for a suit against the parade commission. What has happened is that the controversy has helped bring the gay community together with greater urgency. The three gay organizations are starting to meet under the umbrella of the Gay Alliance of Southeast Texas, with the goal of making gay life more visible.

"We put ourselves in the closet," Angie said, "because we’re so afraid of making waves. But if we get together, we can do something about it. We don’t need to take this anymore! That’s our new slogan."

Although small in numbers, the Golden Triangle activists have started putting themselves out there. They had three representatives at the Millennium March on Washington last April, they came to Empower in Houston last fall, and several marched in the Austin lobby day at the end of March. You can show your support for our brave comrades in Beaumont/Port Arthur, because they’re going to be bringing their censored float to Houston to participate for the first time in the June Pride parade–and the more rainbows, the better.