Gay La – Daughters of Bilitis, New Orleans Chapter Newsletters
Gay-La was the newsletter published by the New Orleans (Louisiana) chapter of the Daughters of Bilitis (DOB), the first lesbian civil and political rights organization in the United States. The New Orleans chapter was founded in the early 1970s by Vicki Combs and later led by activist Sharon Dauzat, who chaired the chapter from around 1979 into the 1980s. Like other regional DOB chapters that produced their own periodicals — such as Boston’s Maiden Voyage and Philadelphia’s newsletter — Gay-La served as a local communication lifeline for lesbians in the New Orleans area, providing community news, event information, and a sense of connection beyond the bar scene at a time when simply gathering as openly gay women carried real risk. The name itself is a delightful bit of wordplay, combining “Gay” with “LA” (the abbreviation for Louisiana) while evoking “gala” — a fitting nod to the celebratory spirit of New Orleans. Materials from the New Orleans DOB chapter, including newsletters, were part of Sharon Dauzat’s private collection, which was acquired by the Historic New Orleans Collection (HNOC) in 2024 and is also archived by the LGBTQ+ Archives Project of Louisiana.