Beloved LGBTQ+ historian and Southern Decadence grand marshal Frank Perez dies

Frank Perez, the writer, educator, and archivist whose work preserved generations of LGBTQ+history in New Orleans and across Louisiana, died Saturday after a sudden battle with cancer. He was 57.

Perez died peacefully at his New Orleans home, according to an obituary published by Ambush Magazine, where he had served as editor-in-chief. He is survived by his partner of 12 years, Chris Trentacoste, and his parents, Louise McCann and Frank Perez.

Perez grew up in Baton Rouge and earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. His obituary says he was outed as gay while involved in campus ministry and forced to attend a conversion therapy camp. Perez ultimately left the program, embraced his sexuality, and dedicated much of his life to recovering queer stories that institutions had overlooked or erased.

After moving to New Orleans following Hurricane Katrina, Perez became one of the city’s most prolific chroniclers of LGBTQ+ life. He co-founded the LGBT+ Archives Project of Louisiana, formally established in 2014 to preserve queer documents, artifacts, and oral histories throughout the state. He served as its executive director.

Perez authored or co-authored more than six books, including In Exile: The History and Lore Surrounding New Orleans Gay Culture and Its Oldest Gay Bar, Southern Decadence in New Orleans, and Political Animal: The Life and Times of Stewart Butler. He also led LGBTQ+ history tours through the French Quarter and taught at Loyola University New Orleans.

Perez was selected as a Southern Decadence grand marshal in 2018 and a New Orleans Pride grand marshal in 2020. He ran for the New Orleans City Council in 2021 and received the New Orleans Advocates for LGBTQ+ Elders Trailblazer Award in 2023.

Robert Fieseler, the author of Perez’s Ambush obituary, described him to Verite News as a “central community node” whose generosity connected younger LGBTQ+ researchers and activists with the people and history that preceded them.