'Christian Patriot' Targets Gay Mardi Gras

Oct. 6 -- During the annual Mardi Gras festival, the atmosphere in New Orleans is clearly "anything goes."

But another wildly popular New Orleans celebration, the annual Southern Decadence festival, or "gay Mardi Gras," is making some people wonder whether the city's "anything goes" attitude should just plain go away.

The Rev. Grant Storms, who calls himself a fundamentalist Christian patriot on a mission from God, is at the forefront of this effort.

Storms says he became interested in Southern Decadence in 2001, when a fellow preacher described lewd sexual acts he'd seen at the festival.

The following year, Storms went to the festival with a video camera, and taped men exposing themselves, having oral sex in public, and barrooms showing homosexual pornography visible from the streets with the doors open.

Storms took his tape to the police, the media and to lawmakers, including state Rep. Danny Martiny, a Republican, who reacted by helping pass a bill that toughens the penalty for public sex.

"When you have an 'anything goes' mentality you draw people into your city who have that same mentality," Martiny said. "The only time we have to step in is when they go over the line … And I think this is clearly over the line."

On a Crusade

Many in the gay community say what Storms captured on camera was an isolated incident, and not the norm.

"It's a party. We get drunk, we hit the bars, hit the restaurants, wear costumes, have a good time, throw beads. That's what it's about," said Rusty LaRoux, this year's Southern Decadence grand marshal.

But Storms, buoyed by the success of his video campaign, says he's preparing to wage what he calls an even "holier" crusade.

Storms told ABCNEWS he wants to end Southern Decadence. "Totally … utterly and totally. We want them out of town," he said.

In a city where almost 40 percent of the population is Roman Catholic, the archdiocese of New Orleans agreed with Storms, and asked officials to ban Southern Decadence. But the head of the mayor's task force on gay and lesbian issues says the city can't afford to ban the festival.