About The Bienville Foundation:

The Bienville Foundation is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) educational organization whose mission is to preserve, promote, and develop the vibrant cultures of Louisiana. DecaFest furthers that mission. Projects include researching and publishing local history and culture; producing Amazing Place, this New Orleans, the longest-running one-man play in the history of New Orleans theatre; restoring the tomb of civil rights hero Homer Plessey in Saint Louis Cemetery #1. The Foundation presents The Gay Heritage Tour and has also initiated a major effort to collect and archive LGBT history in Louisiana.

About The Gay Heritage Tour:

Featured on PBS Television’s “In the Life,” on OUT-TV, on Canadian PrideVision TV,
Pink-TV in France, and in numerous publications and travel guide books.

The Bienville Foundation presents
Roberts Batson’s

The Gay Heritage Tour
of New Orleans

Fifteenth year!

“To understand the role New Orleans played in gay history, Roberts Batson is the man to see. An engaging guide with theatrical flair, Batson takes charges through a two-and-a-half hour walk, spinning poignant and hilarious tales. It’s great entertainment, but scrupulous research also puts plenty of terra firma beneath the froth.”  -- The Travel Channel

The Gay Heritage Tour

Press comments:

• “Don’t miss The Gay Heritage Tour... Batson strikes the rare emotional pitch of someone who has lived through it all. He did, in fact.” -- Curve
  

• “A spellbinding storyteller. At one moment he has rapt listeners in tears, and a minute later they are erupting in gales of laughter.” -- Our World
  

• “Funny... Passionate... Uplifting... Batson’s tour is like no other, covering everything from
  18th century tales to Ellen DeGeneres’ comedic beginnings.” -- Gambit
  

• “The publicly acknowledged expert on alternative Southern sexuality.” -- The Pink Paper
  

• “An irreverent, comic French Quarter stroll that brings history, gossip, polemics and culture together.” -- Genre
  

• “The highs and lows of gay culture... As much street theatre as history... Batson has been known to break into song on occasion.” -- Out
  

• “One of a kind... A walking tour de force.” -- Passport
  

• “An important part of New Orleans culture.” -- The Times-Picayune
  

• “Explains the personalities, events and sites that helped shape the modern local gay community.” -- QSF Magazine
  

• “A swell idea, filled with jokes, giggles and camp.” -- Ambush Magazine
  

• “A perfect balance... We heartily recommend it.” -- Impact
  

• “Funny, dramatic and emotionally powerful... Batson has clearly found his own place in history.” -- Southern Voice
  

• “Out of the cupboard.” -- The Times of London
  

• “Probably inappropriate for kids.” -- Milwaukee Sentinel Journal

Travel book reviews:

• Time Out Guide:  “A Top Ten Tour. Roberts Batson, New Orleans’ history laureate, leads an entertaining and moving tour that illuminates the vibrant lesbian and gay history and culture.”
  

• Frommer’s:  “Brings New Orleans gay and lesbian history to life.  Highly popular.”
  

• Access Gay USA Guide:  “Covers the history of gays and lesbians in all its colorful, poignant, angry and outrageous splendor.”
  

• Lonely Planet:  “Gets high marks for humor and historical insight... Chock full of colorful anecdotes.”
  

• The Rough Guide:  “Exemplary and informative... A lively scoot.”
  

• The Guide:  “Poignantly tells the horrors, the hilarity, the homophobes and the heroes.”
  

• Avaunt Guide:  “Entertaining and original insights into social history. Get the straight scoop on queer life.”

About Roberts Batson:

With DecaFest and The Gay Heritage Tour, Roberts Batson draws upon his wide experience as writer, performer, tour guide, teacher, political organizer and community activist.

For over 30 years, he has worked tirelessly as an activist to build a strong gay community. In the 70’s he provided the leadership to build the foundations of gay politics in Louisiana, organizing LAGPAC (Louisiana Lesbian and Gay Political Action Caucus) in 1981 and serving as Founding Co-Chair. In 1981 he organized the Louisiana State Gay Conference, which was later called Celebration. Shortly afterwards, he was a founding member of NO/AIDS Task Force. Over the years, he has raised money for all of those organizations, as well as Crescent City Coalition, New Orleans Pride, ACLU, P-FLAG, AIDSLaw, and a number of political candidates.

To help fund local HIV/AIDS and LGBT community organizations in post-Katrina New Orleans, he founded DecaFest, an annual entertainment festival presented at Labor Day

He was an organizer of the effort to pass a New Orleans gay rights ordinance and was elected as an openly-gay member of the Orleans Parish Democratic Committee and as an openly-gay delegate to three State Democratic Conventions. His achievements have been recognized with the Outstanding Service in Politics Award from the Louisiana Council for Equal Rights in 1991, the LAGPAC Founders Commendation in 1995, and the Community Spirit Award in 2006. He was named Honored Citizen by IMPACT News newspaper, and, in 1997, was chosen Grand Marshal for the Pride Parade and was voted Man of the Year by the Gay Appreciation Awards.

Batson began his New Orleans tourism career in 1981 as operations director of Meeting New Orleans, a destination management company. While executive director of a tour company in 1984, he became a licensed tour guide. As Assistant Director of Continuing Education at the University of New Orleans, he designed a professional tour guide certification program and wrote the New Orleans history curriculum for their taxi drivers training program. In 1994 he created the acclaimed Gay Heritage Tour and in 1997 he created The Scandal Tour.

He is the author of more than 400 published articles on New Orleans history, contemporary culture and theatre for publications such as Impact News, After Dark, Outlines, Gambit Weekly, Around the Clock, Southern Voice, The Louisiana Weekly, Whiz, New Orleans Magazine, Preservation in Print and glbtq.com. He has received Sigma Delta Chi and Vice Versa journalism awards, and the Marigny Bywater Current named him Notable Writer of 2003.

In June, 2003 he celebrated his 40th year as a theatre professional. His theatrical credits number over a hundred productions as actor, director, writer, producer and director. He appeared in the film “Three in the Attic,” and on national television in the U. S., Canada, and France. His Louisiana Scandals Tour was filmed by the British Broadcasting Corporation and was seen throughout the world, from Soho to the Sahara. He served as Director of Theatre at Southeastern Louisiana University and as manager of the New Orleans Municipal Auditorium. Since 2001 he has been a voting member of the Big Easy Awards Theatre Selection Committee. His record-breaking show, Amazing Place, this New Orleans is the city’s longest-running one-man play.

Batson received Bachelor of Fine Arts and Masters Degrees in theatre and communications from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and pursued additional advanced training at Southern Methodist University and LSU-Baton Rouge. He taught at Southeastern Louisiana University and Phillips Junior College, where he also served as Associate Dean.

In 1996, he founded The Bienville Foundation and serves as its president.