This dissertation examines same-sex desire through the course of the twentieth century in the city of New Orleans. In some ways the history of same-sex desire and homosexuality in New Orleans is unique and in other ways it is demonstrative of the rest of the country. Chapter one introduces the city itself as a character in this history so that the unique and the ubiquitous can be more easily discerned. Chapter two examines same-sex desire in the 1920s and suggests that same-sex desire existed in many forms and places without an overarching culture of homosexuality. Chapter three discusses cross-dressing at carnival and the implications for the history of same-sex desire in New Orleans. Chapter four and five examine the regulation of homosexuality through formal and informal methods and suggests that 1958 was a pivotal year in the history of homosexuality in New Orleans. Finally, chapter six qualifies the dominant narrative of political activism in the historiography of homosexuality and describes New Orleans's unique contribution to the history of same-sex desire in the United States. The appendix is a discussion of the regulation of same-sex desire and physical acts of sexuality through legislation in Louisiana
