Discover LGBTQ+ New Orleans: Ultimate Guide to Hidden Gems & Authentic Experiences
New Orleans doesn’t seduce you. It dares you. To wear mesh in 90% humidity. To order a third cocktail before noon. To look someone in the eye on Bourbon Street and mean it.
This is a city where queer history isn’t sectioned off—it leaks through the walls. Every bar, balcony, and backroom is part of the story. Whether you’re here for Mardi Gras, Southern Decadence, or just to disappear for a while, New Orleans doesn’t ask who you are. It lets you find out.
Watch the Episode
To cut through the tourist fluff, Grindr went straight to the source—asking real Grindr users in New Orleans where they eat, drink, dance, and recover. Take a look below for our curated travel guide:
Best Places to Eat Before (or After) the Bash
The Country Club (Bywater)
📍 634 Louisa St
Gay-owned and brunch-obsessed, this landmark is the Bywater gay bar that doubles as a restaurant, pool, and social hub. Come for the Drag Brunch. Stay for the crowd at the pool. Wear something that could pass as swimwear or an outfit for a Mardi Gras float.
Clover Grill (French Quarter)
📍 900 Bourbon St
This greasy spoon is part diner, part gay bash recovery unit. Open since 1939, it sits smack between the best gay bars in the French Quarter. Order a burger under a hubcap and soak in the post-exile confessions of the parade crowd still in their party glitter.
Elizabeth’s Restaurant (Bywater)
📍 601 Gallier St
Just beyond Dauphine and not far from a favorite local LGBTQ bar or two, this brunch spot serves up Praline Bacon and comfort food. It’s perfect for hungover queers, burnt-out drag queens, and anyone who’s just survived a Southern Decadence weekend.
Where the Bars Slap Hardest
Let’s talk bars—because New Orleans gay nightlife doesn’t mess around.
Oz (French Quarter)
📍 800 Bourbon St, at Ann Street
A top-tier gay bar and dance club, Oz has it all: RuPaul viewing parties, drag shows, and the occasional go-go boy crowd-surfing down Bourbon Street. This is the epicenter of the New Orleans gay scene. One foot out the door and you’re already at the next bar.
Phoenix Bar (Marigny)
📍 941 Elysian Fields Ave
The Phoenix is a leather daddy fortress of flirtation, known for its upstairs cruising floor and legendary gear nights. It’s also a prime example of how the gay community thrives in every NOLA neighborhood—not just the French Quarter.
Golden Lantern (French Quarter)
📍 1239 Royal Street
Where drag meets legacy. It’s the birthplace of Southern Decadence and a bar that hasn’t lost its soul to tourism. Tip the queens. Order a cocktail. Make friends. This is your friendly bar—queer, local, and open 24/7.
Corner Pocket (French Quarter)
📍 940 St. Louis St
This is the pub where boys dance on the bar and strangers tip like they mean it. New Meat Fridays are iconic. The gay community doesn’t just go here—they gather here.
Beyond the Bars: Culture, History, and Everything Else
Studio BE (Bywater)
📍 2941 Royal Street
This massive warehouse space is filled with Black art, political murals, and deeply moving pieces. It’s a cultural reset after one too many cocktails. It also sits near Marigny and Bywater’s queerest corners.
JAMNOLA (Marigny)
📍 940 Frenchmen St
A museum of NOLA weirdness and joy, with enough air conditioning to save your soul. Bring your tourist friend and your best outfit. The gay bash continues, just more colorfully.
LGBTQ+ History Walking Tour
📍 Near Jackson Square
Led by Frank Perez, the city’s unofficial gay historian, this tour winds through the French Quarter past Rampart, Royal Street, and Lafitte’s legacy. It connects every drag show, gay bar, and hookup to the rich gay community history behind it.
Where to Work Out (or Pretend To)
New Orleans Athletic Club (Rampart, French Quarter Adjacent)
📍 222 N Rampart St
Built in 1872, this gym is practically a historic landmark. Come for the architecture, stay to lock eyes with someone by the dumbbells. The LGBT community has always had a thing for cardio and cruising.
Crescent Park (Marigny/Bywater Riverfront)
Jog along the Mississippi with a view of the city skyline and your own guilt. Located near the Elysian Field edge of Marigny, it’s a popular path for locals, dancers, queers in friend bars, and occasional exiles from Bourbon St chaos.
Ochsner Fitness Center - Downtown
📍 13th Floor, Hancock Whitney Center
Less cruisy, more functional. But the skyline views are unmatched. Great for visiting queers who need to sweat out last night’s pub crawl.
Hidden Gems & Queer Corners
QiQi (Uptown)
📍 1515 Aline St
This is a lesbian-friendly, sarcastically staffed, cocktail-heavy queer bar that feels like your coolest friend’s basement. Uptown queers swear by it.
The Friendly Bar (Marigny)
📍 2301 Chartres St
This local dive wears its name well. No frills. Just pudding shots, cheap drinks, and regulars who remember Mardi Gras 1997 like it was yesterday.
GrrlSpot & Her Haus (Pop-Up Events)
NOLA lacks a permanent lesbian bar, but these femme-forward dance parties fill the gap. Catch them in the French Quarter, Marigny, or even the Phoenix upstairs.
The Bottom Line
The Big Easy isn’t easy. It’s intense. It’s layered. And it’s incredibly queer.
Across every corner—from Lafitte’s Blacksmith pub to brunch in Bywater, from a dance club in Marigny to a friend bar in Uptown—New Orleans gives you permission. To be messy. To be sexy. To be loud. To be lost and found and found again.
Now get out there. Hydrate. Dance. Tip. Repeat.
