What was the spark to start researching local queer history? 

I stumbled into becoming a local queer historian because I was looking for a day job and realized doing walking tours would give me a flexible schedule.

I originally planned to just be a gimmicky tour where I gave tours in drag, but in researching the city I was shocked by not only how queer New Orleans history was but how much New Orleans was in queer history was. I began to take the research more seriously as I got more and more questions, and realizing how much I didn’t realize there was to know.

Real quick, what is one of your favorite tidbits you’ve learned as a teaser for your tour?

My favorite part of New Orleans queer history is how far back you can find obvious queer references— with a drag queen crashing a wedding in 1729, sex workers living in fairly open lesbian relationships in the 1850s, and onward.

So much of the history of music styles like jazz, blues, and rock’n’roll passed through New Orleans and queer people played integral roles in all of them. Every time I hit the archives I come away with a story more fascinating or salacious.

I just finished reading about one burlesque performer whose pet monkey was officially cited by the police for “performing too industriously”.

Did you always plan on turning this knowledge into a walking tour?

I started tours before I took queer history research seriously in any way. Though I am a nonfiction girl, I had never dove quite this deeply into any topic. It was by realizing the gap between what was available to know and what the average person has access to that hooked me.

Entertainment was the goal at the beginning which I think makes me a bit of an oddity in the research world. I am focused more on what will make people laugh, cry, or become interested than I am to prove any thesis. 

I love coming from a place of emotion first, as someone who has been on the tour it’s one of the most engaging walking tours I’ve done!

How could someone bring this element of entertainment into other historical research subjects?

I think approaching writing history as a form of creative nonfiction has helped me. Lurking beneath every history story are flawed people trying their best to get what they want. I also find that texturing history with tales of local scandals and gossip is a much more effective key to understanding than the major historical events.

Most people’s understanding of history is limited, the more interesting pieces allow people to remember the major events more viscerally. 

What role do primary sources play in finding these stories?

Living history is vital to my work. The great thing about history tours is how humbling they can be, at any time someone can join who might have lived through the moment.

I’ve been corrected plenty of times. Living history means I am able to help rebuild the past with texture, sharing a collective memory. Some of my favorite bits I tell on the tours were shared by past guests.

So when you’re developing your content from other sources and hit a roadblock, what do you do to clear a path to the answer?

When it comes to history, the best answer is often a better question. I’ve learned that the more you study history, the more you realize what you don’t know.

Doing queer history is often about discovering subcultures, and this process sometimes means abandoning current ideas about queer life to find our kind of people in the past. I use the historical record to give context to imagine what else might be possible in that era, and in doing so I often stumble across the perfect path forward

That’s such a good point, words and usage change throughout time and it’s important to get into that mindset first. I imagine already being in the Queer world brings existing background familiarly to form those questions but with such a large array of subculture and morphing history, where do you find support for uncovering the right question to unlock the set of answers you need?

I tend to imagine the past being roughly similar to the present, with similar emotions and human feelings even without the same language and technology. I accept as obvious that there were people with nonconforming gender and sexualities, so I used a lot of imagination in my research process.

When possible, I also just go find someone who was alive at the time and ask them. Sometimes it takes getting a little nosy, people often know way more than they remember they know. I always listen for casual mentions of bars or restaurants and dive deeper from there, for example. 

Before we wrap up, are you working on anything?

My big focus these days is adapting history to film, whether the TikToks/Reels I publish online or some longer projects I’ve been investing in. I’ve found that film is a fantastic medium to create some of the magic I have been able to create on the tours over the years. 

I can’t wait to see those longer projects come out! And I know it’s a lot but what are you currently reading?

I’ve been reading an anthology about the history of the Radical Faeries called Fire in the Moonlight, which has expanded into a pile of books including everything from the complete works of Walt Whitman and Edward Carpenter to a history of Celtic folklore.

I’m sure by the time this article is published the stack of books will only be higher.