Gay Kisses and the Governor' Mansion

 

My life here is very dull, errands, the beach and so on, so let me tell you a tale of old. Something that happened nearby this silly Baton Rouge landmark.

Last night the husband and I were talking about Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry's recent invite for the children of Greenland to just visit the Governor's mansion in Baton Rouge. I was laughing over the complete absurdity of the offer with him, and remembering another visit to the Governor's mansion. One not taken by me, but by folks I met at a party in the downtown area.

Back around 1980, back in the Stone Ages, I had friends that flipped houses before anyone ever heard the words "Flipper" before. They'd take these old grand dames of a turn of the century homes, buy very cheap, move in and renovate and then turn around and resell. I'd been pressed into service painting more than once. One of their big traditions was a huge party after the renovation although it might have made more sense to hold it pre reno.

The last of the parties I attended turned out to be huge, hundreds of folks. Being Louisiana the liquor and food flowed. I remember stumbling through the house clutching my red Solo cup filled with wine and just observing. I remember this was the first time I saw gay men openly displaying public affection towards each other. Making out on the dance floor. Huh, I thought, just looks the same as straight folks so why is everyone so afraid of this? I was mind blown because through the years seeing gay men at Mardi Gras and elsewhere I had little clue what they actually did. So painfully ignorant I was at that time.

The other reason that this party was memorable was because several of my friends after enough chemical intoxicants decided to go visit the Governor of the great state of Louisiana in the middle of the night. They tried to descend on the Louisiana Governor's Mansion.

This one:

 Right off the jankiest of interstate exits and curves.

Look at how filthy dirty the concrete is on the nearby overpass. Gee thanks Exxon and other big polluters.

You could throw a rock and hit the mansion exit from that bridge.

Jeff Landry wasn't in power then, and whoever the governor and his security staff was they didn' It take it kindly. My friends spent the rest of the night in the pokey sleeping it off in the drunk tank.

I woke up the next morning under a bush I'd crawled under with a good friend of mine. I don't even remember what we'd been talking about that night, one of those long setting the world to right conversations. The bush we were under was on the grounds of that tall building in the first photo, the Louisiana State Capital. We crawled out and made for home. I wasn't hung over because I think I only had a single wine before they ran out of refreshing adult libations. 

The party was so epic there were many arrests for all sorts of things. I realized pretty quickly that as much fun as it was I was completely over partying and drinking. To this day I'm not a drinker. Very rarely do it. I enjoy it, but somehow I realized at a young age that this was dangerous behavior for someone with a pile of alcoholics in the family.