Charlene Schneider, gay-rights champion Submitted by N.O.V.A. January 2007 Times Picayune December 07, 2006 ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://usgwarchives.net/la/lafiles.htm ************************************************ Charlene Schneider, an outspoken gay-rights advocate who ran a bar that was a focal point of New Orleans' lesbian community for 21 years, died Sunday of lung cancer in Bay St. Louis, Miss. She was 66. Ms. Schneider, a Bay St. Louis native who had lived there since closing Charlene's in 1999, was an early and vocal advocate for gay-related causes in the 1970s, said Jim Kellogg, who had been one of the city's first lawyers to handle gay-rights cases. "I can't think of a single demonstration or organization that she was not at," he said. "She not only was there but also was a major backer." The center of her world was Charlene's, the bar she ran at 940 Elysian Fields Ave. from 1977 until early 1999. It became world-famous not only because of Ms. Schneider's effusive personality but also because, in its early years, Charlene's represented something rare: a safe place for lesbians when attitudes toward them were less tolerant, said Jody Gates, a pediatrician and longtime friend. Besides giving women a place where they could socialize and dance, Ms. Schneider had live music, often by female entertainers. Among them was Melissa Etheridge, whom Gates said she saw early in what became a wildly successful rock career. Because of Ms. Schneider's occupation, people were too quick to write her off without considering her activism in politics, charities and the drive for a city law banning discrimination against gay men and lesbians, Gates said. "The world shouldn't be fooled by the fact that she was a bar owner," she said. "It just happened to be the only venue to do the good work that she did." Like other neighborhood bars, Charlene's took on the personality of its owner. "If you went in to see Charlene, you naturally got her slant on the day's current events, local and international, and a good dose of political science in the bargain, plus lots of gossip because Charlene lived to dish," said Jon Newlin, a longtime friend. "She was a grand old gal." Ms. Schneider opened the bar after a series of odd jobs, including stints at Western Union and The Times-Picayune, where she was a hot-type operator. Along the way, she had firsthand experience with discrimination. In the mid- 1960s, after being arrested in a raid on a gay bar, Ms. Schneider lost her job as a cryptographer, as well as her security clearance, with NASA at Michoud. "This was what radicalized her," Newlin said. As a result of her experiences, one of her causes was the anti-discrimination ordinance, which the City Council passed in 1991. After closing her bar, Ms. Schneider and her companion, Linda Tucker, moved to Bay St. Louis, where she operated an establishment called On the Coast. For her anti-discrimination work, Ms. Schneider received the Human Rights Campaign Equality Award and the Forum for Equality Community Service Award. In addition to Tucker, survivors include two sisters, Marsha Schneider Ladner and Dianne E. Schneider, both of Picayune, Miss. A memorial service will be held today at 10 a.m. at Edmond Fahey Funeral Home in Bay St. Louis. Burial will be in Bayou Caddy Cemetery in Ansley, Miss.