echoes

charlene's 940 elysian fields, new orleans

1977-1999

charlene schneider was a friend of mine.  she was more than that really.  she was a mentor a protector a confidant a hero a gay rights activist and a mother. she never bore any of her own but she was mother to scores of young women struggling with their sexuality and the social complexities of being gay.  for 23 years she owned and operated the bar that was her name sake…most of us just called it “chucks.”

charlene’s was situated on the corner of elysian fields and n. rampart in the marigney section of new orleans.  it is here i met her in the late 1980’s. i “came out” at her bar…drug there initially by friends it soon became my haven. it was a safe place to go and interact with other women.  the sidewalk out front was where charlene held court.  it was here that you went for her council and to hear the latest gossip.  it was also here that i first learned about gay civil rights and new orleans politics.

charlene herself come out in 1957…thirty years before me.  still in high school she had fallen in love and knew she was gay after going to her first bar.  after high school she worked as a cryptographer.  working for a civilian company contracted to the federal government she had top secret clearance.  she lost that job and her security clearance in the mid 1960’s after being arrested in a gay bar that was raided by police. her boss told her that had she been a whore instead of a lesbian he could have saved her job.  it was this event seemingly that seeded her activism.

I went to my first gay pride then called pride fest in new orleans in 1989.  I did not march in the parade but instead rode in the support truck as it snaked its way through the french quarter before ending at washington square park.  it is here that I heard speeches by charlene and city councilman johnny jackson.  they talked about their forward if temporarily stunted progress in getting passed the anti-discrimination ordinance.  this ordinance would protect new orlean's gays lesbians bisexuals and transgender citizens from discrimination in both jobs and housing.  the ordinance did finally pass in 1991. 

today “don’t ask don’t tell” officially ends.  i think of my friend charlene…a ghost now on her sidewalk. i wonder at what she would say about this day so historically significant to gay rights.  dadt was a misguided policy intended i believe to prevent the outright discharge of suspected gays from the military.  by the time in final draft that it became law it forced us deeper into the closet.  i think she would tell me to remember her voice this day…and those of the others long gone.  they are the heroes who impacted mine and the lives of so many.  the sidewalk still echoes her words.  i wonder what today would be like had they been silent.