"It's New Orleans, man. We're going to celebrate," Matt Menold, a 23-year musician wearing a sombrero and a guitar slung on his back, told the Associated Press.

An account of the small parade on the homosexual newssite 365gay.com noted:

It was a scene like something from a Fellini movie. Amid the death, the destruction, and suffering in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina a small parade behind a tattered rainbow flag made its way up Bourbon Street on Sunday.

The marchers said they were celebrating Southern Decadence. The group – about two dozen people – all said they lived in the largely gay French Quarter. Defiant, they said they were not about to flee the community despite orders from the city to do so.                                     Sick queers partying

"The shocking callousness of New Orleans' gay activists towards the severe suffering of its fellow citizens cannot be adequately articulated in a news report," says James Hartline, a former homosexual, who describes the "Southern Decadence" festival as being "replete with tens of thousands of men and women engaged in public nudity, prostitution, illegal drug use and destructive public S & M sex."

"The idea that human beings are continuing to party while hundreds of thousands of fellow citizens are starving, dying and suffering from a multitude of sicknesses brings into focus the real lack of judgment that these constant advocates of special gay rights demonstrate in a time of crisis."

Hartine himself has AIDS and is now warning homosexuals about the consequences of their lifestyle.

Hurricane Katrina walloped New Orleans just two days before the annual homosexual "Southern Decadence" festival was to begin in the town, an act characterized by some as God's work.

The event has been slated to go on tomorrow in the nearby town of Lafayette, La., featuring "Floatin' Floozies,"  and other nauseating sites.

As writer John d'Addario explained in "Southern Decadence 2005: A How-To Guide":

Parades and non-stop parties aside, Southern Decadence may be most famous (or infamous) for the displays of naked flesh which characterize the event – which is only fitting, since New Orleans in early September is generally the closest thing you'll ever experience to walking around in a steambath outside of a health spa. While police have started to crack down on public lewdness and pressure from a local crackpot conservative religious organization has caused the five-day festival to become a little more sedate than it was in years past, the atmosphere of Southern Decadence has stayed true to its name and public displays of sexuality are pretty much everywhere you look.

The event has been endorsed by Mayor Ray Nagin, who promoted the activities in a letter stating: "There is no place like this on Earth! Southern Decadence XXXII is an exciting event. We welcome you and know that you can anticipate great food, great music and great times in New Orleans."